I have a 96 SL2 with 268K on it. The engine was rebuilt at 198K after it blew a head gasket; so there is 70K on the rebuilt motor. The trans has never been rebuilt. I have owned the car since 2000 when it had 50K on it. Recently it was having an issue so I did some troubleshooting. It turns out that there is zero compression on cylinder 3 and zero compression on cylinder 4. My guess would be a bad head gasket but I haven't dug into it further yet. The plugs from cylinder 3 and 4 are oil fouled. I don't notice any oil in the coolant. I don't notice any coolant in the oil. Cylinder 1 has about 190 and cylinder two has about 205. I would like to keep the car running but I don't want to spend a lot of money on it. My thoughts are either I put a new head gasket in the existing engine or I get a used engine (and possibly used trans just in case). Either way I would do the work myself. I would like people to comment with their thoughts on these options (or possibly another option).

 

If you need help fixing it I can help but I can't make up your mind on which way to go.

 

There's always the possibility that you have a broken camshaft. I've seen it happen on older Datsuns, but not on anything I ever owned. One of my best friends had a 77 Datsun 200 sx that started running rough and upon removing the valve cover and having him crank it over, I noticed the camshaft was broken between cylinders 3&4. Of course, that was a SOHC engine and not a DOHC. Or maybe just a couple of burnt or stuck valves? I'd pull the valve cover gasket and look at that. If not that, then you should get in touch with grcauto8453 and follow his advice. He knows his stuff.

 

Not to state the obvious, but you need to diagnose the problem before you can make an informed decision, or request one of us