Remove coil wire from distributor cap and ground the wire. Remove the spark plug from number one cylinder. Stick your finger in the spark plug hole. Have an assistant jog the engine over with the key. When you feel and hear compression coming out from the number one cylinder (it will be obvious) tell your assistant to stop. At this point you will continue to move the crankshaft clockwise by hand until the timing marks for TDC are lined up. You now have the TDC firing point for number one cylinder.
No compression could be various things from your piston to your crank start with your piston by doing a compression test
You're talking about an engine compression brake, commonly referred to as a Jake Brake.
It is the volume of the cylinder/combustion chamber/head gasket/piston volume(dish/dome) when the piston is at the bottom of the stroke divided by the volume when it is at the top of the stroke.
The compression ratio of an internal-combustion engine, or an IC engine as it is more commonly called, is the ratio of the volume the highest capacity of the combustion chamber to its lowest capacity. In the IC engine, the piston makes a stroke, resulting in the compression of the air in the combustion chamber - the ratio between the volume of the cylinder and combustion chamber when the piston is at the bottom of its stroke, and the volume of the combustion chamber when the piston is at the top of its stroke, is the compression ratio.
Two strokes have two cycles the piston go through intake/compression and ignition/exhaust where four strokes have four separate piston cycles intake compression ignition and exhaust.
During the compression stroke in an engine, the piston moves upward, compressing the air-fuel mixture in the combustion chamber. This compression increases the pressure and temperature of the gases, making them more volatile and ready for combustion when the spark plug ignites the mixture.
Bad compression is usually worn out piston rings, no compression is usually bad valves - assuming it's a 4-stroke.
All gasoline engines are four-stroke designs. An engine has an intake stroke where the intake valve is open and the piston is moving downward, creating a vacuum that sucks the fuel into the cylinder. The next stroke is the compression stroke. The intake valve closes, and the piston begins to move upward and compresses the fuel in preparation for ignition. The third stroke is the power stroke. The piston is approaches the top of the cylinder in the compression stroke. Just before it gets to top dead center, the spark plug fires and ignites the fuel. The fuel rapidly expands and pushes the piston down with great force. The last stroke is the exhaust stroke. In this stroke, the piston completes the power stroke and begins to rise again. At this point the exhaust valve opens, and the piston forces the exhaust out of the cylinder in preparation for the intake stroke.
As the name states there are 4 strokes in a 4 stroke engine. Intake, when the piston draws in air/Fuel mixture. Compression, when the intake valve closes and the piston moves to the top off the stroke. Power stroke, when the compressed mixture is ignited, forcing the piston down. Last the exhaust stroke when the piston starts moving up and expells the burnt gases.
stroke
the piston in cylinder #1 at the top on the compression stroke
The power stroke. The order is intake, compression, power and exaust. The piston moves down on intake and power but is only forced down on the power stroke