With 125,000 miles on the engine -- unless you want to rebuild the engine or put a new one in -- I do not suggest this vehicle. Low compression usually means that the piston rings are worn. A bad head gasket will be obvious as the engine warms up - it will leak and/or the engine will begin to mis-fire real bad.
FYI - the engine in this Tahoe was probably NOT maintained very well. 125,000 miles on this engine is not a lot. I have seen these engines run with perfect compression all the way up to 300,000 plus miles. Hope this helps.
BTW - when purchasing a new or used vehicle take it to an ASE certified mechanic for an independent inspection. It is the best way to verify what could be wrong with a car. Even new cars sometimes have issues right out of the box.
Apr 16, 2009 at 9:50 AM
