yea it doesnt help you but i thought it was funny..u see him put the salamie(cant spell it) as a tire patch?? :D:D:D

Did they check the valve guides?

i dropped head off, they said it was all cool. should have asked specifics. is it possible that it's just the seals?

While the head is off they should have done the following: Surface Grind, Heat soak, Valve grind, Replace valve guides, seals and check springs.

i know they pressure tested and checked for warpage, called me and said all was well. sounds like they were wrong. crap! thanks hoss, looks like the head is comin back off

Its your decision but if you are going to do one might as well do them both. Call them and tell them that you want to know exactly what they did! While the head is off heres what else I check lifter make sure they are flat(unless you have rollers) Put your pushrods on a piece of glass and make sure they are not bent if not melling makes them and they are cheap!!!! Good luck and take you time!

i did check lifters and rods. they were a ok. would leaky valve stem seals cause the one cylinder to have a bit lower compression?

If you have a blown head gasket or cracked head and a coolant leak it would show up in the rad with bubbles once the stat opened up.Low compression on cylinders "could be" ring gaps all line up in a row.It's a long shot for sure,but possible.Taper or out of round cylinders are more likely.Doing a leakdown test will isolate the loss of compression more easily.That surely will lead you to the problem.They all should be within 10% of each other on both banks.Another possibility is a warped head because of it being all on the same side.

Take it on as a cause and effect and I suggest you don't stop until you find it.

again, compression tests, wet compression, leakdown, all done. i'm trying to figure out if the valve stem seals would cause lower compression or not?

I suppose if the seals were severely worn the valve may not be aligned properly and not seating correctly.