ok heres the deal.... A while back i lost a race to an eclipse gs, i searched for answers to find out what was making my car so slow and i found out about the "slow ass 96 syndrome." Well i was really busy and didn't have time to get my compression tested untill today. I dropped my car off at the shop and when i came back they were closed, so when i got in my car i looked at the paper and it said, "compression check checked compression 150lbs on all cylinders." Now i thought compression was tested in PSI??? I know that it is supposed to be ~178psi across the board, but what about lbs? Is it the same thing or did i tell them to test the wrong thing?? Well actually all i told them was that i wanted my compression tested. Does my compression sound ok?? If it does then what else could be causing my car to be so slow? Any info is apreciated, thanks a lot. --Tom Gordon

P.S.I. is pounds per square inch. It's weird you say yours are 150 also. Mine are 150psi and it worries me because I hear everyone say that their's are in the 170's range. Mine doesn't smoke at all and have had no problems so I'm not going to worry about. She blows I get new motor.

When they say pounds they mean psi, they just don't know the difference.

I made the mistake once of doing a compression check without opening the throttle plate, and I got 145-150psi in each cylinder. Make sure you remember this step.

ok i feel kind of stupid for not knowing what psi stood for, but we all learn somehow. I am thinking that the cams are causing my compression to drop, but then again eric96ser said that his compression was 210 before he changed his cams. Does anyone know if bad cams could cause compression to drop or increase. My car doesn't feel like it would even make it into the 15's even with my CAI so i really think something is wrong. The car runs great, its just very sluggish. It doesn't smoke or anything and i didn't even have an idea that something could be wrong untill i lost that race. Youd think that the cam problem would cause the same effect to the compression though, but erics went up ~30psi and mine went down ~30psi (assuming that is my problem).

I don't think cams should affect compression. You get max compression with the valves closed, because if they are open then you wouldn't seal the combustion chamber fully. I assume that they could decrease compression by not allowing the valves to completely close, but increase?

I dunno, maybe I pulled that out of my @$$....maybe I just misunderstand something...i'm sure someone will not hesitate to explain.

I also had my car's compression tested when I got it one year ago by a mechanic, and he reported 150 psi to me as well. He said it was good, and I agreed until I found out when factory specs were.

I've since given up on mechanics. They seldom do things right. Invest in your own compression checker(only $25), because when I check my compression per the FSM, I found 170+ in all cylinders. Maybe my mechanic didn't hold the throttle plate open like jacen99SE said...who knows.

So, test the compression yourself, at least you'll know that its being done right. (Right? ;) )

well i dont really know much about the cam problem in the 96's, and im not sure how many people do. I was told that the only way to tell if they are bad is to check the compression or to drive another se-r and see if yours feels slow. I am the only se-r around here so i went with the compression test. Dont quote me on this, but i think eric96ser said he gained somewhere around 8-9whp from a 91 intake cam. Before the swap his compression was 210, and after 180 i believe. Does anyone have any more info on the problem with the cams in 96?? Some people say that it was just a bad year for the cams and none of them are actually "bad", but that wouldn't explain why some 96's have it and some dont.

Well i just did some searching on the mailing list and i saw something about 150-178 being normal, and i also just heard this from some guy i was talking to on AIM. So maybe the cams aren't the problem after all. I would still like all of your opinions on the slow ass 96 syndrome or other problems that could cause my car to be so slow. I'm thinking of selling this thing and buying a b13 and doing a DET swap with the leftover money, unless i can figure this stuff out. Thanks again for everyones help.