I do not think this is true. I have owned and ridden in cars which had one or more dead cylinders, due to such causes as head gasket leaks or damaged valves after a broken timing belt, and while they certainly didn’t run like new, they were certainly driveable. On the pre-1996 models, it didn’t even make the Check Engine light come on.
I requested compression and leak down and he refused.
I removed the fuel pump and fuel injectors fuses.
The engine was warm, but not much, all plugs were out. Did it with ignition key and closed throttle plate
And who pays for that? The OP doesn’t own the car, send the bill to the daughter?
Daughter is willing to pay for it. She is getting the warranty in writing and is going to Iowa where she will go to a Ford dealership and pay for diagnosis. Then it will be determined whether I made an error or if warranty work will be done here in Michigan.
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Instead of a diagnosis why just not trade the thing in and if necessary get the cheapest vehicle or lease she can afford and be done with it.
Or just drive the thing for 5 months then trade.
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I don’t think my son in law will sell it without discloser of concerns. So either way a diagnosis would be necessary.
Just my 2 cents, but it’s been my experience that when a cylinder is way low (as in this case) it will not be noticeable off-idle because it’s overridden by the 3 good ones.
If the cylinder was low but still bad (say 130 or so) then it would manifest itself as an off-idle lurch.
The trade in value of a ten year old Ford with 220,000 miles is close to zero, it would be better to drive the car for 5 years and then give it away.
Nevada , you are correct it does not have much value . But they seem to have a replacement engine they have little faith in . I doubt if it would run for 5 more years and only has a 6 month warranty . This thing is not worth the price of another engine . Also just how important that they have a dependable vehicle so as to not jeopardize their employment.
This engine has 89,000 miles. Everything else on the car is in excellent condition. It would not be worth paying for another engine though. But for the cost of a dealership checking the integrity of the engine it would be good. If the engine checks out bad the engine installer said his warranty would cover parts and labor to fix it. But I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. Either way with or without a good engine I recommended that they drive it till it drives no more. They keep an emergency fund, so the longer it lasts the bigger the fund is.
Given that fuel wash-down of the cylinder isn’t an explanation for the low compression in cyl 4, a shop repeat of the compression test would be the next thing I’d do w/this problem. A couple months ago I needed to find somebody to remove some weeds. The first guy I talked to, Guy 1, he had too many excuses for why such a thing wasn’t possible; so I moved onto guy 2. Guy 2 mentioned it might be doable, but didn’t know if he had the equipment needed, … hmm… Then I said "I’ll pay you $100 to remove the weeds " … opening my wallet to show him 5 $20 bills.
It was like a micro-second later that he said “ok, I’ll do it” … lol … I presume you understand my meaning.
If you feel very certain your compression test measurements are accurate, skip the shop test and decide if removing the cylinder head for a look-see at the valves, or just installing a used engine is feasible. If not I see no other options than selling the car to a diy’er on the cheap, or the skip.
Since you disable the fuel injection system. I doubt using the key to crank would be a problem. I’ve tested compression on my truck with the throttle plate closed vs open, didn’t measure a whole lot of difference. I don’t know how an 8 cylinder 8.2 compression 302 V8 comparison would translate to your vehicle’s engine though. My guess is the fewer the cylinders and the higher the compression the bigger the throttle position effect would be on a compression test.
Whatever effect the closed throttle plate has will be on all cylinders.
An idle drop test might be informative.
With engine idling disconnect fuel injector wires one at a time.
Idle should be equally affected.
If there’s no CEL and driveability is acceptable I’d drive on and focus on getting some of the value out of it before shelling out more $$.
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Update: Friday they left for a 10 hour trip to Iowa. On hour 10 of the journey I got a call that the engine was lurching with no clunking. The red wrench light came on which indicates throttle control ( fly by wire) and/or transmission fault. I had them check all fluids and continue. They had 2 hours to go. With an hour to go they stopped and said it was stalling when they stopped, and lurching really bad. I told them to keep going and find a speed the car was comfortable with. They found the remainder of the trip at 50 mph did best. They made it. Still no hard evidence of engine failure. The throttle seems to be the problem now. I told them they should take it to a dealership for a leak down and diagnostic. The shop that replaced engine did 100% warranty in writing. But the engine may or may not test good at dealership. I am confident of my compression test but I’ve made mistakes before, especially when I’m in a time crunch.
So have them take the car to a Ford dealer, and have the problem diagnosed, as well as the condition of the engine checked. Then, if necessary, have it shipped back so the engine can be replaced/repaired again under warranty.
If the cylinder tests bad and has not lost any more compression, I would have them pay the dealership for diagnostics and have the lurching fixed at an independent if cheaper. Then drive it back here for warranty work. Shipping costs I would think would be more trouble and cost than its worth for this.