head gasket

2009 TOYOTA COROLLA
180,000 MILES • 4 CYL • AUTOMATIC
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ROSED99
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my car hesitates and loses power while driving. check engine light codes say cylinder one misfires. I replaced four ignition coils and spark plugs. Car sounds like it is missing a little and once in awhile it still loses power. No leaks and it is not overheating. A compression test was done on it and couple cylinders were not good. I was told head gasket was bad and to replace it. How does he know that is problem? why does it not act bad all the time? Could it be anything else?
Feb 20, 2017 at 11:26 AM
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CARADIODOC
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If the compression was real low on two adjacent cylinders, the head gasket is likely leaking between them.

A cylinder leakage test is much more informative than a simple compression test. It takes up to an hour to test all the cylinders, but you can identify the cause of the low compression.
Feb 20, 2017 at 5:12 PM