I have recently developed a severe hesitation problem. Cyl 1 shows
compression of 120. Other 3 have 150. If I squirt oil into 1, it
also shows 150. There has been no change in compression or vacuum
(18) since before the problem, but the hesitation and missing started
suddenly as I was
driving last week. Prior to this, I ran smoothly at all speeds up to
85 mph., although the engine had been a little weak, I consume very
little oil, except at sustained very high speeds,

Now the engine idles nicely, but hesitates under load under any
driving conditions. I removed the #1 spark plug wire and grounded it
to the block. Car runs much smoother now on 3 cylinders at all speeds
than it had been on 4 with one missing..


Questions:
Will running the car like this on a short term basis damage the
engine?
Could raw gas ignite in the exhaust system and damage it? (I can't
shut off gas supply because this is a carb engine, not EFI.)
Is there any way to tell if problem is rings rather than valves
without pulling the cylinder head?

Thanks,

Tom