Does anyone have trouble with there 400 motor burning oil ?

I put a small block 400 in my car and it seams to burn up a quart of oil a month my car doesn't smoke at all , I have no oil leaks , we have checked everything and two other people have told me the same thing happens with there small block 400. Has anyone had the same thing happen to them ? We have checked everything and all we can come up with is it just burns up a quart a month or every 1,000 miles

 

Does it puff a little smoke when you do a cold start, I would suspect the valve seals,valve guides..... Bill aka Tnomoldw

 

Do you happen to have a PCV valve and no baffling underneath it?

 

I would suspect valve seals.. Bill aka Tnomoldw

 

no smoke --no leaks---find something else to worry about

 

I had that trouble for about a year then I put on some TrickFlow heads and it doesn't use any now.

 

Nope...I built a 406 for my 50 chevy delivery....never burned a drop. And I used the original 400 heads after replacing guides, installing PC seals and doing a valve job.no problemo.

 

I had a 350 that used oil. It didn't smoke and it didn't foul plugs. I switched to Valvoline Racing oil and it stopped using oil. Been using Valvoline Racing ever since.

 

I had the same problem only worse. Went completely through the engine 2 tmes. On the third time I put cast iron rings and no more problem. Other people have had the same problem and cast rings solved the problem.

 

Thank You for all your feed back everyone we are looking into it

 

Back in 1980, I was a service manager for a Pontiac/GMC store. We had problems with 400s slugging oil at about a quart every 800 miles. GM knew the problem, wrong ring construction, but did everything to avoid proper repairs. We would put a customer on an oil consumption test where they had to pour oil in in our presence and we sealed the oil fill and resealed it every time they came in. Gm wanted them to do a 400-500 mile test and most got fed up and quit the test saving GM the cost of re-ringing. All the 400 powered trucks had rainbows above the exhaust it the bumpers were chrome. If the engine was rebuilt and used the rings GM recommended in 1979 and 1980 that just may be the problem.

 

I would try using Valvoine Racing Oil it s good stuff. The chrome rings have been a problem in the past.I used Grant iron rings in the stock car engines with no problem. Drive the hell out of it.Check the oil often.Good Luck Bill aka Tnomoldw
''I wanna go where the lights are low where I can go'n spend my dough an dance with the dolly with the wooden leg''

 

If you have chromemoly rings that is the problem.....they're not seated properly.
Get it good and hot where it boils over and that will seat em....

 

this is a old trick used on 1955 chevys . when the new V8 was introduced they had ring seating problems. The fix was to mix a scouring powder like A jax and laquer thinner and put a small mixture in each cly thru the spark plug hole. Spin the engine over for several min. then pour straight oil in cyl and reinstall the spark plugs . Run the engine for a few min and change oil. If the car had the add on oil filter install a new filter.

 

If they are truly "chrome" rings, this is what the old time nitro guys would do to seat those hard-faced rings (they used Bon-Ami I think, before Comet or Ajax maybe).

If they are "moly" rings they have a softer face already and it may be the bore hone / surface finish.

Not sure there are "chrome moly" rings out there. Tool steel and other really tough alloys, but think the terms may be getting mixed up (and have been for years!!).

Take care, K