Now what is wrong? Damn 3800's

[Bluenotes]

Ok, this is what I had done since the last time I posted about all the oil smoke.

Had the block looked at, new rings etc, had a leakdown done, all was in normal parameters. I then went and ditch my heads and bought a brand new set, had them done up etc as we thought it may have been a loose valve aswell as they were loose as heck. Also thought it was my back valve covers as it was leaking oil right past my metal header gasket and into my 3 tubes on the header, to the point where when I removed it you could see oil in the tubes.


Well got it all back together today and what do I get. OIL SMOKE, now whats odd is before this most recent rebuild of the month, I had with my old heads on a little air/oil spitting out of the valve cover breather. Now I was amazed to find that I have suction here, to a huge degree, I put my hand over it and it sucks my hand snuggly in place. So now its the exact opposite as before.

And 5 plugs all check out perfect, but #1 cylinder as before, is greasy with oil, what a surprise.


Any idea's especially when the leakdown was good and I install new heads and everything.

To be honest, I could have just bought a new motor already I've wasted so much cash on this one.

Thanks for any help.

[maxwedge]

Originally Posted by Bluenotes

Ok, this is what I had done since the last time I posted about all the oil smoke.

Had the block looked at, new rings etc, had a leakdown done, all was in normal parameters. I then went and ditch my heads and bought a brand new set, had them done up etc as we thought it may have been a loose valve aswell as they were loose as heck. Also thought it was my back valve covers as it was leaking oil right past my metal header gasket and into my 3 tubes on the header, to the point where when I removed it you could see oil in the tubes.


Well got it all back together today and what do I get. OIL SMOKE, now whats odd is before this most recent rebuild of the month, I had with my old heads on a little air/oil spitting out of the valve cover breather. Now I was amazed to find that I have suction here, to a huge degree, I put my hand over it and it sucks my hand snuggly in place. So now its the exact opposite as before.

And 5 plugs all check out perfect, but #1 cylinder as before, is greasy with oil, what a surprise.


Any idea's especially when the leakdown was good and I install new heads and everything.

To be honest, I could have just bought a new motor already I've wasted so much cash on this one.

Thanks for any help.

Did you say new rings this time, properly end gapped, including oil rings remember a leak down will not tell you if the oil ring is sealing. Pcv system is operational? Did you see oil in the intake port of the head when you disassembled it, could be a bad intake gasket fit at #1 cyl, sucking oil out of the upper engine.

[Bluenotes]

Originally Posted by maxwedge

Did you say new rings this time, properly end gapped, including oil rings remember a leak down will not tell you if the oil ring is sealing. Pcv system is operational? Did you see oil in the intake port of the head when you disassembled it, could be a bad intake gasket fit at #1 cyl, sucking oil out of the upper engine.

Yes new rings, and everything lined up properly, but the funny part is why the SAME cylinder, this cylinder was also the one with the bad intake valve , thus the new heads, and I mean new heads, not junkyard heads. So I was under the impression it was the head causeing the trouble as it did it with the stock rings, the next set of rings and now this set of rings, all different brands btw.

I would be hard pressed to think the intake gasket is the culprite though, these are new aswell. And when dissassembled each time the head was dry on all cylinder ports.

PCV, not a clue what I can do with it, I've replaced it, I've checked it, it is not seized up or anything.

And btw this all started out of nowhere and has continued for each engine rebuild.

How long do Plasma Moly rings need to be driven to be seated? And this cylinder was one of the best in the leakdown aswell.


And after reading negative crankcase pressure, isn't this a really good thing, doesn't it show that I am not leaking air past my rings, so how is the oil get pushed up into the combustion chamber? Before I had Positive crankcase pressure, I had it for years in fact. Last time it was smoking I also had positive pressure.

?????

[Bluenotes]

Well I played with the PCV, whack whack, put it back, then went for a ride, and of course no smoke unless I was hard on it, but normal driving none. So I get back and I knew that it was both blue and black smoke put together ( rich and oily ) so I figured I would change my O2 sensor, since I was pretty sure it was Kaput, sure enough, ran better. And more stable O2 readings aswell. Then went to my next issue, I always wondered if my AFC was foobarred, so took it off and ran the car with just the program that was flashed onto the computer, and it ran even better now. Still though running to rich, but at least I THINK, thats a big word, I can at least enjoy cruising in it for the rest of the season, I hope, I only got a few miles on this rebuild so no idea whats gonna happen when I take it out for a ride and it gets hot. I did however let it idle till it was hot and not much smoke, you could see it but again not much unless you revved it.

Anyway, still curious what to do, should I put in Heavy Heavy oil? Or what. Because if it is the oil rings on that one cylinder as you say, would lighter or heavier oil be better. I have 10/30 in it now.

Thanks

[maxwedge]

Originally Posted by Bluenotes

Well I played with the PCV, whack whack, put it back, then went for a ride, and of course no smoke unless I was hard on it, but normal driving none. So I get back and I knew that it was both blue and black smoke put together ( rich and oily ) so I figured I would change my O2 sensor, since I was pretty sure it was Kaput, sure enough, ran better. And more stable O2 readings aswell. Then went to my next issue, I always wondered if my AFC was foobarred, so took it off and ran the car with just the program that was flashed onto the computer, and it ran even better now. Still though running to rich, but at least I THINK, thats a big word, I can at least enjoy cruising in it for the rest of the season, I hope, I only got a few miles on this rebuild so no idea whats gonna happen when I take it out for a ride and it gets hot. I did however let it idle till it was hot and not much smoke, you could see it but again not much unless you revved it.

Anyway, still curious what to do, should I put in Heavy Heavy oil? Or what. Because if it is the oil rings on that one cylinder as you say, would lighter or heavier oil be better. I have 10/30 in it now.

Thanks

Using those rings on my Hemi SS car, I used to break them in on regular non syn oil by bring the engine up in high gear under load then decelerating on the engine then reloading it in high gear, this will help seat the rings, which if the walls are properly honed seat well. The plasmas are very forgiving as far as early ring seating. Varying the engine rpms under load, then a complete cool down always worked. Stay with 10/30 dino for the break in.