[Gasoline Junkie]

I pulled the plugs and found oil.. Does this mean a engine rebuild in the near future? Is it the end of my engine? Could it possibly by some grace of god be fixable?! -and on a side note, how much oil pressure should a typical small-block run? HELP!! :goodnight:

 

[mitch hennings]

could be something simple like valve stem seals or new rings and the cylinders honed out . My oil pressure is at 45 idle an close to 60 psi running at 3000 rpm but its new.
I driven high mile cars that only had 15 psi at idle and 35 psi driving down the high way and they lasted along time like that before I had the money to rebuilt them

 

[wraplock]

A compression test will tell a lot about the condition of your motor. This can be a simple replacement of your valve stem seals, or a valve job. You could have a bad valve guide. Don't jump to conclusions. Start with a compression test and maybe a leak down test. The new motor in my 60 Vette suddenly started to burn oil with heavy smoke out the tail pipe after only a few months of use due to bad valve stem seals.

Don

 

[555657jim]

Oil.

If you didn't notice anything until you pulled your plugs, you might get by for awhile just bumping the heat range of your plug up. Were all plugs fouled or just select ones? :blowtiedb: JIM.

 

[Hafrod]

If you have a PCV valve in your valve covers with no baffle in them, it will suck oil into your cylinders.

 

[Gasoline Junkie]

Ok, my pressure is right about yours, Mitch. It doesn't appear to burning the oil, wouldn't it be obvious blue smoke out of the tail pipe? How do I check the PCV?

 

[jwmbishop]

oil psi depends on many factors - where are you measuring? behind the dist is the lowest point, above the oil filter is the highest. To get an accurate understanding of how much oil is bleeding from the bearings (as opposed to a worn/plugged pump or bad regulator spring) compare the two!

Ideally you want to see a minimum of 30 at idle hot + 10 per 1000 RPM after that on a relatively fresh engine with wide clearances.

If 30wt, hyd lifters and behind the dist 10 at idle hot is getting real iffy - as long as it increases at least 8 per 1000 RPM - run it til it knocks!

If solids and no restrictors in block - 15-20 should be there with same RPM increase. With restrictors in block you can be okay down to 10.

As to the oil - go with a colder plug to prevent fouling and see what happens. I got a 350 in my blazer that fouls the standards and runs great two steps colder. Uses a quart of oil every 1500 miles or so. Just keep in mind excess oil is extra fuel and adjust your timing accordingly (as in pull a degree or two out)

 

[Gasoline Junkie]

It's behind the distributor, but I have 45-ish at idle and increases with RPM. I'm running 40wt.

 

[jwmbishop]

Bottom end sounds good then - rings, seals or pcv is drawing oil. If compression is up then I would run er til she dies!

Jim - I know what you meant but its the other way around - a colder plug transfers less heat to the head - therefore its operating temp is higher - which burns off more of the oil that is trying to foul the plug.

And there is nothing really wrong with going colder only on the fouling cylinder(s). I do not recomend the antifoul inserts- they are just a precombustion chamber and will delay the total burn more than you can get back with timing.

The easiest way to check PCV for oil is to disconnect and plug the vacc line - you will get blow by - but at least you can run it for a while and then check plug(s) to see if its still getting oil.

Reread your post - was the oil wet or crusted? If wet it may have been around the spark plug from a leaky valve cover - and when you removed it you pulled the plug thru it - if crusted and on the insulator - then its definately in the cyl!

 

[Gasoline Junkie]

Yep, same one. I don't know if it's definately the lifters or not, it's only on one side, and alot more noticeable when you get down low. I was thinking possibly an exhaust gasket? If not, it probably has to do with the oil i'm finding on the plugs.

 

[jwmbishop]

Yep, same one. I don't know if it's definately the lifters or not, it's only on one side, and alot more noticeable when you get down low. I was thinking possibly an exhaust gasket? If not, it probably has to do with the oil i'm finding on the plugs.

Pull the valve cover and see if you can rock valves side to side - if you can get a dial indicator against them when you do you should see no more than .002-.004 movement. This would show bad guides. A lot of time people "rebuild" but leave the heads alone if they pull good vacc becuase of the time and tools needed to do it right.

 

[555657jim]

Hmmmm.

Bottom end sounds good then - rings, seals or pcv is drawing oil. If compression is up then I would run er til she dies!

Jim - I know what you meant but its the other way around - a colder plug transfers less heat to the head - therefore its operating temp is higher - which burns off more of the oil that is trying to foul the plug.

And there is nothing really wrong with going colder only on the fouling cylinder(s). I do not recomend the antifoul inserts- they are just a precombustion chamber and will delay the total burn more than you can get back with timing.

The easiest way to check PCV for oil is to disconnect and plug the vacc line - you will get blow by - but at least you can run it for a while and then check plug(s) to see if its still getting oil.

Reread your post - was the oil wet or crusted? If wet it may have been around the spark plug from a leaky valve cover - and when you removed it you pulled the plug thru it - if crusted and on the insulator - then its definately in the cyl!

Hey John, I agree with you about the anti-foulers--waste of money most of the time. I still think a little bit hotter plug might help if the problem isn't too bad. It's helped me in the past on older engines with a few miles on them. Check out the link below.

http://www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/projects/spark/plugs.htm

 

[Gasoline Junkie]

Bottom end sounds good then - rings, seals or pcv is drawing oil. If compression is up then I would run er til she dies!

Jim - I know what you meant but its the other way around - a colder plug transfers less heat to the head - therefore its operating temp is higher - which burns off more of the oil that is trying to foul the plug.

And there is nothing really wrong with going colder only on the fouling cylinder(s). I do not recomend the antifoul inserts- they are just a precombustion chamber and will delay the total burn more than you can get back with timing.

The easiest way to check PCV for oil is to disconnect and plug the vacc line - you will get blow by - but at least you can run it for a while and then check plug(s) to see if its still getting oil.

Reread your post - was the oil wet or crusted? If wet it may have been around the spark plug from a leaky valve cover - and when you removed it you pulled the plug thru it - if crusted and on the insulator - then its definately in the cyl!

It's wet, and practically looks fresh! And a matter of fact, I think a leaky valve cover gasket could make that noise too right? It's most noticeable at idle and under load, which to me sounds like an exhaust gasket, so I guess it makes sense that it could be a valve cover gasket as well? There's a set of chrome (tacky IMHO) valve covers on it, maybe attribute to this problem?

 

[jwmbishop]

No, leaky valve covers won't make a noise - running without em may be louder if there is a valve train noise - and of course would be messy - ! lol

And I see where most manufactures recomend going hotter with the plug on oil fouling problems - even though it means the electrode holds less heat and may not reach self cleaning temp, it moves it further from the oil which is generally closest to the walls or combustion chamber - which helps the plug from be "shorted out" from the oil. I've always gone colder for the self clean approach and just replaced em sooner (due to the glazing that is then created - besides I used to have an endless supply of only slightly used plugs).... I am going to try hot plugs in my 305 (has three bad guides) and see what diff it makes to the right foot and odometer! thanks jim.

So agin Lets just change the plugs going hotter, replace the pcv and put a few mile on and check the plugs again - you will then know how much oil is being used - the oil is extra fuel so you could be pinging the wet cylinder, back off two -four degrees of timing, if it don't go away then I would agree with the leaky exhaust - but as I said earlier they leak so learn how to change em as effortlessly as possible anyway! (they also like to crack at the collectors) Hint - you leave the end bolts in - just run em out about an inch - pull the old gasket up and out and snake the new gasket in hanging it on the open holed ends (if the old one has regular holes you can pull one end bolt - bring that end of the gasket up, replace the bolt and repeat for the other end)! And don't use the metal gaskets - those are for manifolds and will burn out real fast. I like the white paper FelPro, if whatever gasket you buy does not have slotted holes on the end - slot them first! One thing I have noticed about header flange leaks - they are louder when cold.

 

[Gasoline Junkie]

Ok i've finally come to the conclusion that an exhaust gasket is causing the leak and I also need a pcv grommet which I think explains what's been happening. I'm ordering the parts today, I'll let you guys know if it makes things better

 

[Old Buzzard]

Remflex gaskets are what we use...

 

[Gasoline Junkie]

Remflex gaskets are what we use...

I went with Mr. Gasket :tongue: