Ben Baltrusaitis wrote:

I'm going to look at a 20B next week for purchase. The most important part of the engine, in my eyes, is the eccentric shaft.
What tips can you give me when looking at this engine to protect my investment?
The guy who has it never heard it run. He says it has 40,000 km and has done a compression test that proved satisfactory. I'm uncomfortable buying an engine without starting it but I don't know how
to do that with the electronics and that probably wouldn't tell me much about the eccentric shaft. I used to operate a junk yard and always started engines for buyers, but that was before the in-car
computers.
I really appreciate everyone's help!
Thanks!
Ben

You can learn a lot Ben by the compression test. If it is complete with turbo chargers
take all the lower spark plugs out and put a cheap gage type compression tester
in the hole. Remove the schrader valve from the compression tester. Apply
12 volts to the starter and watch for sequential pulses of around 100 psi
on the gage as the engine turns over. You should get one pulse out of each
rotor per revolution of the e-shaft. Let the engine turn over at least three
times for each rotor test. You should see three sequential pulses in a row.

If you don't remove the schrader valve you can be fooled by one bad apex
seal on any one or more rotors. If you don't have a starter you can turn it over
with a speed handle (crank) on the front nut.

Paul Lamar
 
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