Burning Oil cont.

[bhw33191]

I posted a thread a while back about my caprice and how it starts to burn oil after 10 or so minutes of idling. Its odd because it doesnt do it if i idle with my foot on the brake rather than in park. I think it has to do with resistance/stress on the engine causing the oil to drain rather than collect. I've been told i have clogged oil drainage holes or something like that and then something with valves? So the question is, is there any sort of oil additive i can use to clear this up? Or do i really have to take apart the whole damn top of the engine?

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by bhw33191

I posted a thread a while back about my caprice and how it starts to burn oil after 10 or so minutes of idling. Its odd because it doesnt do it if i idle with my foot on the brake rather than in park. I think it has to do with resistance/stress on the engine causing the oil to drain rather than collect. I've been told i have clogged oil drainage holes or something like that and then something with valves? So the question is, is there any sort of oil additive i can use to clear this up? Or do i really have to take apart the whole damn top of the engine?

the reason your vehicle smokes after idling is because you have excessive blow-by crankcase gases....this is a sure sign of a well worn engine,,,,I bet this engine has a lot of carbon in the intake directly between the two primary carb barrels///this is where the gases are inputed to the intake...usually this hole gets so carboned up removal of the carb is required to clean the hole out////follow the PVC hose to the carb that is what I"m talking about...

the guy who removed your cat converter did this because your engine is worn.....If you installed a new converter it would soon be melted /damaged internally....


when idling remove the oil fill cap///does oil vapors flow out ???? If so this hole I stated is plugged....

did this on a 1985 sons car....many times..

[bhw33191]

Originally Posted by j cAT

the reason your vehicle smokes after idling is because you have excessive blow-by crankcase gases....this is a sure sign of a well worn engine,,,,I bet this engine has a lot of carbon in the intake directly between the two primary carb barrels///this is where the gases are inputed to the intake...usually this hole gets so carboned up removal of the carb is required to clean the hole out////follow the PVC hose to the carb that is what I"m talking about...

the guy who removed your cat converter did this because your engine is worn.....If you installed a new converter it would soon be melted /damaged internally....


when idling remove the oil fill cap///does oil vapors flow out ???? If so this hole I stated is plugged....

did this on a 1985 sons car....many times..

For one thing the guy who removed the cat was doing what he was told to do. I wanted the cat off for better sounding exhaust and I had to replace the whole tail pipe so we decided just to leave it off. Second, my engine shouldn't be worn at all. It has 51,000 miles to date...unless i revved the car too hard at one point and caused some (serious)damage? And third i have previously removed the oil fill cap while it was running and no air or vapor came out. So, maybe its worn valve seals? Or possibly worn valve guide lines? I'm hoping its just a seal issue since the car previously sat for years without use. Or worst case scenario i revved the car too hard at one point and caused some damage?

[toddman67]

When the valve seals are worn or deteriorated, the car will generally puff a little blue smoke upon startup. Switching brands of oil occasionally may also contribute to the loss of oil as well.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by toddman67

When the valve seals are worn or deteriorated, the car will generally puff a little blue smoke upon startup. Switching brands of oil occasionally may also contribute to the loss of oil as well.

the puff of blue smoke is very common with these engines the valve guides where poorly machined new....replacing the valve seals usually on these engines won't help...

By placing a piece of paper over the crankcase oil fill hole with the engine running it should stay in place...if not then you have a crankcase vapor problem///maybe the PCV is plugged or the vacuum lines to it ///the carb port I mentioned , all this will cause your problem...

51,000 mi is no guarrantee of an engine not being worn...If the engine was stored with out proper care/or oil/filter changes not done this would be the cause...

back in the day these cars where built it was common for granpa to change the oil every spring,,,with dino oil because it only had 3,ooomi on the oil....the oil needs replacing every 3,ooomi or 3 months...dino oil...

carb engines damage the oil badly with excess fuel/carbon entering the crankcase this quickly changes the oil chemistry..

driving the engine hard will not cause this,,,what could, would be if granpa drove this vehicle only in the city at low speeds most of the time the piston bore is not evenly worn, the top of the bore is smaller than where the piston normally travels...If the engine was suddenly driven with the engine reaching the max RPM after many years of never going there,,it is possible the compression rings got damaged,,,,it may be also possible that the compression rings are stuck..this would cause excessive combustion chamber gases to enter the crankcase...

[bhw33191]

Originally Posted by j cAT

the puff of blue smoke is very common with these engines the valve guides where poorly machined new....replacing the valve seals usually on these engines won't help...

By placing a piece of paper over the crankcase oil fill hole with the engine running it should stay in place...if not then you have a crankcase vapor problem///maybe the PCV is plugged or the vacuum lines to it ///the carb port I mentioned , all this will cause your problem...

51,000 mi is no guarrantee of an engine not being worn...If the engine was stored with out proper care/or oil/filter changes not done this would be the cause...

back in the day these cars where built it was common for granpa to change the oil every spring,,,with dino oil because it only had 3,ooomi on the oil....the oil needs replacing every 3,ooomi or 3 months...dino oil...

carb engines damage the oil badly with excess fuel/carbon entering the crankcase this quickly changes the oil chemistry..

driving the engine hard will not cause this,,,what could, would be if granpa drove this vehicle only in the city at low speeds most of the time the piston bore is not evenly worn, the top of the bore is smaller than where the piston normally travels...If the engine was suddenly driven with the engine reaching the max RPM after many years of never going there,,it is possible the compression rings got damaged,,,,it may be also possible that the compression rings are stuck..this would cause excessive combustion chamber gases to enter the crankcase...

"...If the engine was suddenly driven with the engine reaching the max RPM after many years of never going there,,it is possible the compression rings got damaged,,,," <-- This is EXACTLY what i think happened. And when i first got the car, i drove it (4 miles) to my home on oil that hadnt been changed in 5 years, once it was in my hands i didnt change the oil for about 2 months but the only time the car ran was to move it up and down the driveway. Another thing causing this, my grandfather who had it before me was very forgetful and i'm willing to bet he didn't keep up with oil changes. So this sucks, i'm guessing worn valve guidelines is something i can't fix?

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by bhw33191

"...If the engine was suddenly driven with the engine reaching the max RPM after many years of never going there,,it is possible the compression rings got damaged,,,," <-- This is EXACTLY what i think happened. And when i first got the car, i drove it (4 miles) to my home on oil that hadnt been changed in 5 years, once it was in my hands i didnt change the oil for about 2 months but the only time the car ran was to move it up and down the driveway. Another thing causing this, my grandfather who had it before me was very forgetful and i'm willing to bet he didn't keep up with oil changes. So this sucks, i'm guessing worn valve guidelines is something i can't fix?

look this is an old vehicle just fix what must be repaired to get you some cheap transportation,,,,save your money for a new vehicle then get OCD on the new vehicle not this old one...