1995 Impala SS - Oil Issues

[LT1Silverhawk]

Originally Posted by j cAT

the pcv / crankcase vent was removed,,,possibly to reduce blowby gasses getting into the throttle body...I suspect an engine that was abused....sorry ....

the passenger side of engine is where the vent for crankcase should be into the valve cover, this then goes into the side /top of the throttlebody that was pluged in your picture...on the driverside into the intake manifold is the PCV location...then the hose from the PCV goes into the bottom of the throttle body under the air intake ,,,,hose hard to get at....

the lack of crankcase venting will cause the gaskets to blow out as pressures in the crankcase will do this....as well as any hoses/valve cover gaskets etc...a good running engine should have a slight vacuum in the crankcase...

with your engine running and hot I bet with the oil fill removed it smokes out of the fill hole pretty good..as it is now..


most likely they screwed up the re-build or did not properly break in the engine,,

So I went to NAPA today and the guy I spoke to basically confirmed what j cAT said: its either an abused or improperly rebuilt motor.

He suspects that either a piston ring or a piston is damaged and the air inlet valve on the right side of the engine was blocked off by the shop before sale as a quick fix.

But one would think that would have been an easy fix when the heads were removed for the headgasket job.

Another thing the guy ay NAPA mentioned was that if I put the hose back on, the morot would be gone in a month. Any thoughts on that?

[NOVAZ27]

Not to slam your NAPA guy but everyone who works a parts counter is a car guy/gal.
Good people but to some folks it is just a job.
IMO you should do a spark plug check. Seeing the coloration can show what condition that cylinder is in. To me if they are burning clean there is probably nothing wrong with that cylinder. While you have the plugs out you might as well check the compression of each cylinder. J cat & the NAPA guy may be correct but you should perform these basic checks just to be sure. Not knowing how the motor was broke in stymies your investigation. Even though the LT1 is a roller motor it should have been broken in with assembly lube & a quality dino oil with the proper zddp content. If the motor was broke in with say MOBIL 1 the rings and such will not seat properly because M1 is so slick.

HOE THE IDEAS HELP.

[LT1Silverhawk]

Originally Posted by NOVAZ27

Not to slam your NAPA guy but everyone who works a parts counter is a car guy/gal.
Good people but to some folks it is just a job.

No offense taken!

I felt really down yesterday after talking to the NAPA guy. He is the second guy at a parts store who has told me that I may have been baited, i.e., ‘The Shop’ sold me a car with problems so I can keep bringing it back for repairs while they claim innocence.

Originally Posted by NOVAZ27

IMO you should do a spark plug check. Seeing the coloration can show what condition that cylinder is in. To me if they are burning clean there is probably nothing wrong with that cylinder. While you have the plugs out you might as well check the compression of each cylinder. J cat & the NAPA guy may be correct but you should perform these basic checks just to be sure. Not knowing how the motor was broke in stymies your investigation. Even though the LT1 is a roller motor it should have been broken in with assembly lube & a quality dino oil with the proper zddp content. If the motor was broke in with say MOBIL 1 the rings and such will not seat properly because M1 is so slick.

You are right on all counts.

I was just so damn upset yesterday after talking to NAPA Guy that I practically gave up on any hope on the motor. Its bad enough being hasseled by cops while driving this car...

After I calmed down, I did some research and several forums suggested the same thing as you did: do a compression check.

While conducting my research, I also came across three other things that caught my attention: Envalve, the catch can, and a book on how to win a case in small claims court.

Apparently the Envalve is a PCV that replaces the stock PCV and, from what I vaguely understand with my limited knowledge, adjusts the vacuum so that all but the worst of the motors no longer experience blow by.

The other is a catch can that is meant to catch the oil that is shot out during the blow by and caught in a can to be reused. This idea came up very frequently and, according to those who built and used one, it works well.

Any thoughts or experiences on using either the Envalve or catch can?

I also gave ‘The Shop’ owner a call yesterday and mention that the metallic PCV breather and the throttle body were plugged off and he said he wasn’t aware of that. So I made an appointment with him so he can see for himself.

I think I’ll take somebody with me as a witness in case the owner makes any false claims. I will also ask him if he will pull the plugs and do a compression test in front of me. While I'm there I'll also ask if he remeber what oil was used to break in the motor, although I think I already know what answer I'll get...

As always NOVA, your ideas and insights are very helpful. Thanks for the help and support.

[j cAT]

I have experience with motors like yours,,,,as my son had a vehicle with the same problem...well we or should I say I got the vehicle to go about 80,ooo more miles before it was sold for 400.oo....

this vehicle consumed 1 quart/400miles....with all of the oil being sucked thrU the Pcv VENT SYSTEM...

what is occuring is combustion chamber gases are now flowing down the piston past the rings into the crankcase....as the engine is operating the oIL gets vaporized...then the PCV sucks out this vapor excessive pressure...

this is a condition that you must attack at the source,,,these people did what they did to cover the defective engine ,,,,you should get your money back....this is fraud...and they are guilty of altering polution control devices....

WHEN YOU TALK TO THESE PEOPLE HAVE A WITNESS...

[LT1Silverhawk]

Hey All,

So here’s an update on what’s taken place since I called talked to NAPA Dude and called up ‘The Shop’ regarding the plugged inlet and throttle body.

On Friday I visited our local performance shop, Team C in Bellflower, California. I inquired about oil catch cans and they have one made by Moroso for eighty dollars. The guy who was assisting me checked out the car and he also said – like everyone else – the inlet shouldn’t be blocked off.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go to ‘The Shop’ on Friday as I had planned but did go Monday evening with my uncle as a witness, as j cAT suggested.
It turned out they were already waiting for me.

We had to wait for a good half hour before the owner showed up from his trip to the local smoke shop.

When he came in, we immediately went out to the car and I showed him where the air inlet PCV and the throttle body were plugged off.

It was obvious that he was already in defensive mode when we arrived at the shop and, as expected the stories came tumbling out.

Right off the bat, he wanted to know if I had been keeping an eye on the oil level and what weight I had used. I told him I checked it every so often and was now using 10w30, instead of the 5w30 that was used in the last oil change. He said the 5w30 was too thin and that I should use 20w50. I reminded him that, when he sold me the car, he told me the previous owner was using 5w30 synthetic. He said the previous owner had recently come by and had mentioned that he had been using 20w50.

So the conversation turned to the PVC system. He said the valve covers are aftermarket valve covers the previous owner brought in to have ‘The Shop’ install them. The passenger-side cover had to be notched to accommodate the alternator bracket (this I was informed of when I bought the car).The original valve covers allegedly had no air inlet on the passenger-side (I was calling BS in my mind).

I told him that, after having spoken to several people, I have learned that this is part of the original PCV system and should not have been messed with. He wouldn’t give me a straight answer, instead reiterating that the previous owner brought in the valve covers to be installed and that is just what ‘The Shop’ did. And it was too long ago to remember any specific details now (he claims four to five years ago). The shop has no paperwork records.

When I pressed him some more about the air inlet being plugged off, he admitted that it could cause the vale cover gaskets to leak, but he could see the benefit of hooking up a hose between the inlet valve and the throttle body. He didn’t think the increased pressure in the crankcase could cause the head gaskets to fail.

So then we moved onto the infamous thermostat bypass/ fan wire hack job. I asked him why this was done and he said the fans are wired to run off the computer which had been tuned to run the fans at a very low temperature. If I installed a thermostat, it would cause the fans to run continuously because the engine would be warmer than what the computer has been programmed for. He said that ‘The Shop” always had a problem with the car overheating and finally figured this was the method since the engine is setup for reverse-flow cooling and running the engine super-cold allows for higher compression (he claims its up by .5 compared to stock LT1).He further mentioned that I can’t consider stock temperature specs because the engine is far from stock.

So basically, he’s sticking with his ‘we sold just the way it was’ deal.

I, on my part, will be hooking up the hose (the one I bought was too small for the throttle body) and changing the oil to 20w50 and watch what happens.

As of right now, the oil consumption seems to have dropped and I no longer smell any oil burning.

Perhaps thick oil is all that’s needed after all?

Stay tuned...