Originally Posted by
x1/9racer
Head gasket leakage will not always show a compression problem. These engines back in the day used to frequently break one of the center head bolts, check these bolts for looseness, if they move, most likely they are broken. Also, Snap-On sells a CO2 gas tester for head gasket leakage detection, looks kind of like a turkey baster, a special blue fluid goes in two chambers of the tester, you pull vapor from the coolant filler neck with the engine running, if the fluid turns from blue to yellow, then there is combustion gas in cooling system.