Burning a LOT of oil..

My caprice has never really done this before. Only sometimes when i first start it up there'll be a puff of smoke. But, the other day i had the car idling for about 15 minutes and then when i stepped on the gas a massive cloud of smoke rolled out (bigger than the one in the video). I'm guessing this is valve seals?...which are a pain in the a$$ to change....maybe while i have the engine apart i'll do some "performance" upgrades.

Heres a video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9rv4c2Gc4Y

My caprice has never really done this before. Only sometimes when i first start it up there'll be a puff of smoke. But, the other day i had the car idling for about 15 minutes and then when i stepped on the gas a massive cloud of smoke rolled out (bigger than the one in the video). I'm guessing this is valve seals?...which are a pain in the a$$ to change....maybe while i have the engine apart i'll do some "performance" upgrades.

Heres a video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9rv4c2Gc4Y


If it smoked when you stepped on the gas, this is usually indicative of worn rings. This can be verified by the presence of wet oil in the air cleaner, at the crankcase vent filter. Plugged oil drainback holes in the cylinder head can also cause massive smoke, although this comes through the valves (new seals won't help with this, only cleaning out the drainback holes does).

If the smoke is white in color (which certainly appeared to be the case), and the transmission in your car is a TH350, the smoke could be from transmission fluid entering the intake manifold through a defective vacuum modulator. If you do have a TH350 and have an unexplained oil loss from it, this could be the cause. ATF will also cause the engine to detonate (the knock-ping you sometimes hear under hard acceleration).

I'll have to take another good look just to make sure but i think i have the 16 bolt trans pan which means i'd have the 700R4 (or the 4L60). So then, looking at the video i did notice the smoke was white rather than blue. What would this mean if i don't have the that 350 transmission you were tlaking about? I thought if the smoke was greyish white that it means theres a bad fuel/air mixture?

I'll have to take another good look just to make sure but i think i have the 16 bolt trans pan which means i'd have the 700R4 (or the 4L60). So then, looking at the video i did notice the smoke was white rather than blue. What would this mean if i don't have the that 350 transmission you were tlaking about? I thought if the smoke was greyish white that it means theres a bad fuel/air mixture?

A bad (rich) fuel/air mixture is indicated by black smoke. Oil smoke is a blue to bluish-white color. White smoke is either transmission fluid or coolant - both have a similar smell in the exhaust with the coolant being a little more 'edgy' with its odor. Any engine can produce a grayish-white color smoke under hard, heavy acceleration where there is detonation.

Both the 2004R and 700R4 have 16 bolts, but if the car is an '83 you likely have a 700R4. A quick way to tell would be by looking at the shift quadrant under the speedometer - if it has overdrive you have a 700R4, if it just has P-R-N-D-2-1 you can have a TH350. The 700R4 has a rectangle pan and the 2004R has a trapezoidal, two sump pan. Niether have a vacuum modulator (instead they have a TV cable).

My caprice has never really done this before. Only sometimes when i first start it up there'll be a puff of smoke. But, the other day i had the car idling for about 15 minutes and then when i stepped on the gas a massive cloud of smoke rolled out (bigger than the one in the video). I'm guessing this is valve seals?...which are a pain in the a$$ to change....maybe while i have the engine apart i'll do some "performance" upgrades.

Heres a video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9rv4c2Gc4Y

when any fluid level drops this would indicate a problem ...
what is the fluid level fill frequency....this would determine what needs attention..


If you use 1 quart /1000mi or more you ,,,with your smoke discription is probably a worn out engine.....

at idle the cloud of smoke increases this is usually excessive blowby crankcase vapors from piston rings and crankshaft bearing wear.


the performance modification you need is a new engine...

Now i'm just worried and a little confused. The engine has very low miles for its age...it spent years sitting with minimal use until i got it. I find it hard to believe that it might be worn out? I never really abused the thing (other than when i'd rev it in my driveway) but its not like i did it that often and that hard. I guess the only way to tell is to take it apart. But I did notice on my last oil change that i was missing over a quart and the thing is that i don't use this car very much so i foudn that to be odd. I just figured it was my leaky valve cover gasket but thats a lot of oil for a leaky gasket. Could driving the car with this much oil missing be enough to screw things up? It shows no other signs of being worn out like i said because i'm baffled that (what i consider to be a pampered) engine would do this.

any engine that sits unused for a period of time will rust and corrode internally....

going too long on an oil change....EXAMPLE: the vehicle did 2,000mi in one year so the oil is changed after 11/2 years pass...@ 3,000mi....this is bad if your using dino oil as mositure from the ocean and road chemicals are in this oil...this causes the damage......the owners manual states change oil 3,000mi or 3 months which ever comes first.....

another reason vehicles this age have engine damage is from vacuum leaks not repaired,,,,dirty air enters these vac lines and then the engine wears rapidly....

if your oil looks dirty after 1,ooomi of driving your engine is shot...

any engine that sits unused for a period of time will rust and corrode internally....

going too long on an oil change....EXAMPLE: the vehicle did 2,000mi in one year so the oil is changed after 11/2 years pass...@ 3,000mi....this is bad if your using dino oil as mositure from the ocean and road chemicals are in this oil...this causes the damage......the owners manual states change oil 3,000mi or 3 months which ever comes first.....

another reason vehicles this age have engine damage is from vacuum leaks not repaired,,,,dirty air enters these vac lines and then the engine wears rapidly....

if your oil looks dirty after 1,ooomi of driving your engine is shot...

Ok well i did an oil change not too long ago...i'll have to check the oil after 1000 then...if i can even get there before the end of this year :smile:

Ok well i did an oil change not too long ago...i'll have to check the oil after 1000 then...if i can even get there before the end of this year :smile:

so you use this vehicle doing very short trips in traffic and only put 1,ooomi on it in one year....thats the problem ....

you must replace the oil and filter more often than every year or more to expect the engine to have no damage.....this is a common practice that has caused my an engine in this OLD MAN'S car to find it's way to the scrap yard..

what does the oil look like now ? how many miles since change ? any idea ?

when the oil is dirty it must be changed....for you it could be just a few miles...

I dunno...i might be over reacting a little. My dad said he had an 84 or 85 chevy pickup with the same exact 305 as mine. He said even though he bought it new, it went through as much oil as my 305 is.

So i checked my oil. Last changed 3/8/09, since then i've added 400 (give or take) miles as i've been using it more. The oil looks like it has plenty of life left so its looking good for my engine. Maybe its just bad valve seals like i said before? Again, it never smokes while i'm driving, only if it sits idling for about 15 minutes and then i step on the gas but that'll go away after less than a minute of driving.

Pic of oil...
http://i41.tinypic.com/211l4rr.jpg