Chasing leaks and smoke.

[BARRACUDA1968]

"That is exactly how I have my carbed car setup. The po had the car set up without the pcv. Doesn't a catch can accomplish the same thing though? (Never run one before this car)

If there is a catch can on your car chances are you have a PCV valve in the valley pan. I guess there could just be a fitting there but I doubt it. The catch can is supposed to keep the oil from making its way in to the intake eliminating the oil smell. Just because you have a PCV valve doesn't mean it's working. If it's there pull it out and start the car, check for vacuum. If it's not working the crankcase pressure under idle and normal driving has to find a way out of the motor. Breathers help but IMO not sufficient.

I had a check valve in my PCV line to keep oil out of the intake under boost and it stuck when I put the new motor in. Essentially I had no PCV but I do have 2 breathers, one in each valve cover. I went for a short drive to a friends shop and he smelled me when I pulled up. Opened the hood and oil vapor was coming out both breathers and the dip stick tube when he pulled the dipstick. Eliminated the check valve and that fixed it. I am still chasing a minor oil smell but with a fresh motor I'm going to give it a little time and see what happens. Mine is very intermittent.

I would take a little more time on the PCV set up before tearing the car apart.

Do you have blue smoke at cold start up?

Oh and be careful when you re-install the PCV valve or whatever is there at the valley pan so you don't push the grommet down in the motor.

 

[m3x1c0]

Ha! there is indeed a PCV! Checked it and it works just fine. Cleaned it just in case anyway though. Still seeing smoke out of the tail pipes. I got up under the car and as best as I could see the oil leak appears to be coming from the valve cover. I can see the edge of the cork gasket and it is saturated in oil. I took a picture but its pretty hard to see whats going on. I will say that oil is absolutely Everywhere under the car. Like all the down the floorboards, all over parts of the exhaust and mostly around the starter and valve cover. It is super filthy! I got new valve cover gaskets coming (fel-pro) but probably wont have time to install before this weekend. If anyone at the MAGNA meet up wants to help me change the passenger side Ill buy you dinner

Im attaching a picture of the smoke again. You can see its not plumes of it and it seems to go away as I drive off. Also, for some reason after I drove home from work today it was idling really lean and rough. I bumped up the mainscale from 7 to 20 and the car was back to around a 13-14 at idle. A few hours I started the car back up and it is idling very well but rich (11-12) bumped back the mainscale to around 10 and its running good. Any ideas?

Edit: Actually I have a log file of when my idle was doing this from yesterday. Attached!

 

[earlbrown]

What's a mainscale?

See if you can tighten the valve cover bolts a little. The leak might stop. I've had the same cheep-o FelPro corks on my VC's for over a decade. They aren't even on the same engine anymore.

 

[BARRACUDA1968]

Try what Earl said and if that don't work go ahead and change the valve cover gasket yourself. It's not as bad as it looks. There's a little bolt holding the wire loom to the A/C housing shield. Remove that so you can move the loom out of the way a bit. If the valve cover doesn't want to clear the rocker arm in the back bump the motor over a few times to get the rocker off lift for more clearance. Use a little silicone to seat the gasket to the valve cover and put it back on. Tighten evenly a few times and heat cycle the motor and do it again twice. Should be good to go. If you have that much oil under the car you have a pretty good leak. Fix the valve cover first and clean up the oil. Then keep and eye on things.

Long shot but look and see if you have copper header gaskets. My car used to have them and the gasket prevented the valve cover from compressing the gasket. I had to clearance the valve cover to get them to seal. Don't use them on the new motor.

 

[we4Mateo]

What's a mainscale?

See if you can tighten the valve cover bolts a little. The leak might stop. I've had the same cheep-o FelPro corks on my VC's for over a decade. They aren't even on the same engine anymore.

mainscale is a Gen II Translator adjustment for overall fuel scaling.

 

[m3x1c0]

Try what Earl said and if that don't work go ahead and change the valve cover gasket yourself. It's not as bad as it looks. There's a little bolt holding the wire loom to the A/C housing shield. Remove that so you can move the loom out of the way a bit. If the valve cover doesn't want to clear the rocker arm in the back bump the motor over a few times to get the rocker off lift for more clearance. Use a little silicone to seat the gasket to the valve cover and put it back on. Tighten evenly a few times and heat cycle the motor and do it again twice. Should be good to go. If you have that much oil under the car you have a pretty good leak. Fix the valve cover first and clean up the oil. Then keep and eye on things.

Long shot but look and see if you have copper header gaskets. My car used to have them and the gasket prevented the valve cover from compressing the gasket. I had to clearance the valve cover to get them to seal. Don't use them on the new motor.

Good ideas for the VC gaskets. Ill tighten the current one down to start though. Ill check the header gaskets but what new motor?! She's not dead yet! lol

mainscale is a Gen II Translator adjustment for overall fuel scaling.

this. Im using a MAFT pro translator in speed density mode. Increasing the mainscale richens up my overall tune. Going from 7-20 is a huge leap (I think.)

 

[BARRACUDA1968]

I meant my new motor.

 

[m3x1c0]

I'm seeing oil bubbling around the spark plugs of a couple cylinders . Pretty sure the smoke is getting worse too. I've tightened the valve covers evenly and pretty sure they are not leaking anymore. I guess compression test is next?

 

[Steve V]

I'm seeing oil bubbling around the spark plugs of a couple cylinders . Pretty sure the smoke is getting worse too. I've tightened the valve covers evenly and pretty sure they are not leaking anymore. I guess compression test is next?

That's not good, can you take a video?

 

[earlbrown]

I hate to state the obvious... but are your spark plugs tight? That's the only way you can have 'bubbles around them'.

 

[m3x1c0]

I hate to state the obvious... but are your spark plugs tight? That's the only way you can have 'bubbles around them'.

It's at least finger tight. Oil shouldn't be getting into the combustion chamber tho

 

[we4Mateo]

It's at least finger tight. Oil shouldn't be getting into the combustion chamber tho

That's not tight enough. And oil can be leaking into that area from the valve cover and "bubbling" due to the lack of tightness.

 

[m3x1c0]

Compression check looks good. Noticed that the threads of the spark plugs on a few cylinders were oily but not any of the electrodes. They were a little white but not too bad. Here's the test results.

Plug 1: 140 dry, 150 wet
Plug 2: 135 dry, 150 wet
Plug 3: 130 dry, 150 wet
Plug 4: 130 dry, 148 wet
Plug 5: 130 dry, 155 wet
Plug 6: 140 dry, 155 wet

I've tightened all of the valve cover screws pretty good, changed the pcv just in case and made sure to keep the catch can dry. I suppose it could be valve cover gaskets. Also noticed the smoke stops around 2000 rpm. This thing is kicking my ass!

 

[Steve V]

What are you waiting for to dive into those valve covers?

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[m3x1c0]

What are you waiting for to dive into those valve covers?

Posted from the TurboBuick.Com mobile app

Eliminating all the simple things it could be such as leaking onto headers and such. Ill try and pull one side today. What am I looking for to tell if the valve seals or guides are dead? Will it be pretty apparent?

 

[m3x1c0]

Digging in in a minute but wanted to post some findings. Ive noticed that the car only smokes when its been idling for a few minutes. Also notice the smoke increases dramatically if I leave the pcv out.

 

[bison]

Refer to post #9


BPE2013@hotmail.com

 

[m3x1c0]

Not sure what im looking for here. Upon opening the driver cover I noticed a lot of oil sitting in there (normal?) soaked it up and found this tiny piece of rubbery looking material. Could that be a piece of seal? its not circular so I doubt it. In order to see whats going on with seals will I need to pull the springs?

Also how do I get the rocker shaft off of these studs? and what are the torque specs

 

[m3x1c0]

Now I really need help. For some reason the car won't start. I put the valve cover back on and everything ran great. Turned car off to tighten vc nuts and now it won't start at all. I can't hear the fuel pump at all. Stuck a test light on the connection in the engine bay and lit for 2 seconds like normal but still no pump. What the heck?

 

[bison]

??? Why would you put the valve cover back on without looking at the intake stem seals? They are visible with a good light. You need to back up, make a plan on what to do, and execute it. If you find rubbery pieces on top of the heads they can only get there one way especially on the passenger side. The only rubber on top of the head is the valve stem seals. You need to stop fiddling, replace the stem seals, and remove the pan and remove any crap that may be in it. Rubbery bits on the head, rubbery bits anywhere the oil flows.


BPE2013@hotmail.com