So today while driving my Galaxie I noticed what looked like to be smoke coming out from under my hood. Pulled off and saw that the smoke was actually oil vapor coming from my oil breather. So I checked my PCV and it was plugged. Fixed that and started it up STILL ****IN DOING IT!!! 302 with 289 heads NEW EVERYTHING!! Everyone seems to say I may have broke a piston ring or 2. Needless to say I hate my life right now Any input or past experience would be appreciated
I had a 350 engine that developed "blow-by" on short notice. The cause was worn piston rings. It caused excessive oil vapor from the valve cover breathers. I pulled the engine apart, honed the cylinder bores, installed new rings on the pistons, re***embled, and was good to go. Hopefully your engine's cylinder walls aren't scratched or severely worn.
Don't take the bridge just yet, it could be something simple. Pull the plugs and look at them. If you have ring problems they should show some oil on them. Recheck the pcv system and see if it is working. Put your finger over the hose and see if it is ****ing, then install the valve and do the same. Check the breather on the other side to see if there is suction being created. With the pcv drawing air on one side you should be able to feel suction on the opposite side. It sometimes takes a minute to create suction so just keep your finger over the breather hole for a little while. Don
I would change to baffled valve covers. the grommet ones dont work very well and just clog up with oil making a mess. Check that the breathers are actually breathing and not fancy pcv valves that look like breathers. Just throwing that one out there because I made that mistake, and it pushed oil out of the valve cover gaskets causing an oil vapor off the hot engine. Good luck.
Put OEM style valve covers back on,I had cheap aluminum valve covers with minimal baffles on a 351 and it always blew a little oil out the breather cap with a good pcv,I found the boat motors have plain steel valve covers with nothing stamped on them so thats what I put on the 351 but have not driven it yet due to salt and snow on the roads right now.
Is the weather colder than normal there? The cold causes a lot more condensation of the vapors, more water build up in the oil. Creates some nasty oil/water mung in the pcv system if you go on short drives and the engine doesn't heat up fully. Take a long drive so the engine gets nice and warm and boils all the water out.
I have Micky Thompson valve covers on it and have put about 2000 miles on the motor with no problems. Plus OEM valve covers wont fir because I have roller rockers.
Get the baffles in the valve covers,my 302 with 289 heads was smoking on the side with the PCV after baffles smoke gone
I had a 289 in a Fairlane and it was doing the same thing. My fix was I followed the PCV hose to where it hooked into the manifold .I took the hose off and that fitting to the manifold was plugged solid with oil sludge. Cleaned out the fitting and that fixed mine...That fitting was at the back base of the carb.
well i got off work at 930 drove it over to my buddys house and sure enough i was low on compression on a few cylinders. By 1130 heads and intake were off. We'll pull the pistons and replace the rings tomorrow/today. This was more then likely caused from the 2 times the motor ran without the cam retainer plate (see previous threads). This would also explain why ive been having starting issues and have always felt like there should have been more horsepower (never enough). Ill keep you also posted with updates later. A big thanks to everyone who gave me their 2cents and past experiences. Gotta love the H.A.M.B.!
Well there werent ANY broken rings. BUT! there were 4 BROKEN PISTONS!! Im really starting to hate this hobby. Well i guess im buying new pistons tomarrow.
Be sure to double check the timing. If it is too advanced you will break the skirts off in no time. Also, make sure you are getting vacuum to the distributor. Don't ask how I know about broken pistons...
Did you figure out how the pistons broke? Make sure you don't have late model rail rocker arms on early model heads. There is a risk of beating up the keepers and dropping a valve. good luck
I know how they broke. It was from the I was having distributor problems and had total detonation twice last summer
new pistons, rings, gaskets and one hell of alot of cussing and high blood pressure and its back on the road.
Your puffing description was the tell tale sign wafting of vapors are normal on a pre PCV valve engine at idle but puffing indicates broken or worn parts on only some of the cylinders. glad you got it fixed
Dude, I'm sorry 'bout yer' bad luck but'cha made me spit coffee all over the lap top when I saw this:
The Jalopy Journal
