I've got an early 392 hemi that was just rebuilt. It's got 1,200 miles on it and goes through a qt. of oil about every 200 miles? The smoke is really bad under heavy throttle! Any ideas?
"Rebuilt" can mean anything from spraying a dirty greasy engine with a half a can of Krylon to a 50K pro shop build. This is what comes to mind.... Rings not "set". They may seat especially if chrome rings were used. Rings not installed properly... Do a compression check!!!! Valve guides worn or too much clearance. Oil or umbrella seals not not on the valves....
A little more info will help for sure. Also, have you had any conversation at all with who ever you had do the work about it? I've always felt that's the best place to start when a problem comes up.
I agree with F-One, "rebuilt" can be a broad term. The condition you describe leans toward excessive oil entering the combustion chamber. Typical causes are too much piston to cylinder clearance, poor ring seal, valve guide issues,or a piston with a hole in it. Even chrome rings should have seated by now. Is this something new, or has it been consistent since the rebuild?
All of the above. Especially a conversation with the builder as Pist-n-Broke suggested would be a must if you know who it is.
Lots of good points here. Do a compression check first and see if you can isolate it to one bore. Don't forget to unplug the coil and open the throttle when doing the test. You will get more accurate results that way.
Bad gaskets on the spark plug tubes? I don't remember if they had 'em on the bottom. Three piece oil rings? They can catch on the cylinder edge and get damaged on installation. I don't know. After all I'm old so give me a break.
You can pull the plugs, keep them in order with the cyls they came out of and see which ones are oily or not. Lippy
What type of engine oil are you using for break in? Us old timers use Non-detergent oil for 500 miles, then change. Just make sure to use some sort of break in oil.
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