Caprice May Need Help

I noticed that I'm starting to accumulate some oil (I assume its blow by) on the inside of my air cleaner assembly and on the outside of my rocker arm covers. Unfortunately, I'm told this indicates worn piston rings. And from what I understand, piston rings are a pain in the arse to replace because it requires a major engine teardown. Is there any other possibility that could be causing my problem, any solutions other than a rebuild, or am I stuck with a major problem?

I wouldn't worry too much about a little blowby, if the car runs OK. I have the same thing. I just popped the "blowby tube" out of the air cleaner, and the oily vapors don't get into the air cleaner any more. Possibly your PCV valve is clogged, allowing too much blowby pressure to build up, and into your air cleaner.

I've had the "blowby tube" rerouted on my 85 for about the last 100,000 miles. If my rings are worn, they sure aren't ruining the smooth operation of the car, and I don't have any smoke while driving.
Been passing inspection.

Good luck.

Unfortunately, the blowby seems to be getting worse with time. I still wondering if there are any other repairs I can do, or do I just have to bite the bullet and either get it rebuilt or replace with remaned engine? I would prefer to keep original engine.

Does anyone know what a ring job would cost? I'm sure it would be expensive.

What really impresses me is that I'm not burning oil (except occasionally on startup) which from what I hear indicates that my oil rings are still working, but the blowby indicates worn combustion rings. I was wondering, does that make a difference with options/costs?

Not much difference in the cost I would guess.

Frankly, given the cost of a crate motor these days, I'd go that route before I spent the amount of dollars it would take to have someone do the ring job.

I hope you have checked your PCV as it can cause this to happen or where the hose hocks in to carb or tb can also block pipe cleaners work well to unblock

You said that at startup the engine burns a little oil. Thats a huge indication that your valve stem seals are worn... my father's truck was the same way. It shouldn't affect performance, but it means that oil is leaking into the combustion chambers while the engine is sitting (overnite for instance), and when you start it it gets burnt off. This could be part of the problem, but check your PCV valve and all tubes leading to it. If your rings are going bad, then before you tear down the whole engine, try changing the oil, and put a quart of Lucas oil into the engine, and see if that helps out a little. The stuff works miracles sometimes. I used the Lucas transmission fluid, and it firmed up all my shift points, and got rid of the real bad slip I had.

Thanks to all for their responses. My mechanic check my PCV system, said it was good, just blowby caused by an aging engine. I still like the idea of the need to replace valve stem seals (a heck of a lot cheaper than ring job and may help). Like Pete pointed out, its not really burning oil which indicates to me my oil rings are sealing but that still leaves me with the possibility my combustion rings are leaking, pressurizing my crankcase and causing the blowby. But, any other input is appreciated.

There also is a possiblity the oil is not draining from the heads ,the drains in the heads can be crudded up not allowing oil back to crankcase[exstreme cases] it's worth a try pop the vavle cover off and take a peak