Burning a lot of oil.

[Ed ke6bnl]

I am burning a lot of oil, a quart every 200 miles, do not see much as to leaking.  The car is a 72 El Camino, 350 motor that came with a victor junior intake., Hei,.  The real question is the intake, if the intake is installed poorly can oil  from the valley get into the intake for the cylinders and be burnt off.  I also have a big problem with the number 5&7 cylinders oil fouling but that is most likey from valve seals and that side is where I put the oil in the vlave cover. If this is the likely cause I would like to change out the intake for a edelbrock or other dual plane intake for the edelbrock carb.  Thanks for your advice Ed ke6bnl

[Leon]

I'm assuming you see a lot of smoke from the tailpipe?  Is it smoking more when going down the road cruising or when you let off the gas?  How many miles on the engine?

[Dave]

First thing id do is a leak down test . That will tell you more than a compression test. If it checks ok then id look a valve guides and seals. Ive never seen an intake do that but im sure it can happen. After the leak down test if something isnt right id go ahead and do a compression check.
most of the plug oil fouling issues i ever had was from worn rings. If fact all of em were.
Dave :!:

[Bruce Dorsi]

The real question is the intake, if the intake is installed poorly can oil  from the valley get into the intake for the cylinders and be burnt off.

DEFINITELY!!!!  ......If the intake gasket fails, or was not installed properly, the vacuum from the intake WILL suck oil from the lifter gallery.

If the heads were ever milled, without the intake side of the heads also being machined, a mismatch in the angle between the manifold and heads can prevent the manifold from seating properly, and the seal is compromised.

I also have a big problem with the number 5&7 cylinders oil fouling but that is most likey from valve seals

A friend has a SBC that was using a quart of oil in less than 500 miles, but showed no visible smoke.   ......New valve seals cured the oil usage, and the engine now goes 3000 miles needing only 1/2 quart.  

Instead of using umbrella type seals, I suggest installing the (NON-Teflon) positive-type valve stem seals.

BTW, the valve guide seals on most SBC's can be changed without having to remove the rockers.  .....This saves having to re-adjust the valves.

[Bruce Dorsi]

I forgot to say that sometimes manifolds are machined to compensate for heads that were not properly machined.  
......This may deem the manifold unusable on a different engine, and is something to be leery of when buying a used manifold.


Also, I have personally encountered two SBC's whose plug-fouling was cured by new valve stem seals.

I can't explain why, but faulty valve stem seals can cause a lot of oil to be present on the sparkplug threads.   .....I would guess compression pressure is forcing the oil along the threads.     ......However, the engines would not exhibit the characteristic smoking one would expect.

[Ed ke6bnl]

The engine was given to me in exchange for a rebuildable 327  block.  I have put on about 50,000 since I installed it in the El co. and none of use know the history of the motor.  I have never put vavle seals in an engine before and it may be worth a try.  I built a leak down tester and can do that test. Would be nice to be able to narrow it down to the valve seals or the intake I guess it could be both..  There is not visable exhaust smoke unless I floor it and then it will just blow out the back like crazy BUT it seems to be a rich carb type exhaust rather then oil.. ED ke6bnl

[slocrow]

OK, I'm getting lost here, Ed................
"I am burning a lot of oil, a quart every 200 miles,"
"I have put on about 50,000 since I installed it in the El co."
I'm guessing you haven't gone through 250 qt's and this is a recent problem. If so, what was recently done that causes you to ask a manifold probability question? ...............Frank

[Ed ke6bnl]

OK, I'm getting lost here, Ed................
"I am burning a lot of oil, a quart every 200 miles,"
"I have put on about 50,000 since I installed it in the El co."
I'm guessing you haven't gone through 250 qt's and this is a recent problem. If so, what was recently done that causes you to ask a manifold probability question? ...............Frank

the problem is much worse then it was. It has always used about 0ne quart about every 500-600 miles but it has been  getting worse to the point where the cost of the oil is making driving costly. It is definitey getting worse.  Please don't let me start figuring how much I have spent on oil I am just lucky I have so little into the cost of the vehicle. I drive about 100 miles a day and adding oil every other day.  It is now a bad situation. ED

[58 Yeoman]

I think I'd already mentioned that I had a 72 Monte Carlo with the 454 that used 13 qts of oil to go to Batimore once.  I installed perfect circle valve stem seals and that cured it. (This was in the 80's).

I know what you mean ab out adding oil, and getting expensive.  My 93 Dodge minivan started leaking oil on the left axle seal a couple months ago.  I just kept adding a qt every other week.  Well, right around the the first of the year, it got to a qt every week.  Local shop charged me $107 to replace it.  I'm happy.

[enjenjo]

Is the PCV system working properly?  That can cause it too.

[Ed ke6bnl]

Is the PCV system working properly?  That can cause it too.

I have a pcv valve in the rt. valve cover and and breather in the left driver side valve cover. They are baffled valve covers I made the mistake of making my own breather holes in a valve cover in an inline six with no baffles and when I went to stop you could no longer see the people behind me there was so much smoke from sucking oil.  thanks for the question. ED

[BFS57]

Hello;
Remember, the sound I had with my 57 Chevy that was like a blower? That was a intake gasket. It fouled plugs, made the motor run rough, and I didn't find it until I sprayed wd-40 down the sides of the intake where it bolted to the heads and then, the motor ran perfect, for a second or two!
The new gasket I used had metal inserts at all the runner points. It hasn't gone bad yet!

Bruce

[Ed ke6bnl]

Hello;
Remember, the sound I had with my 57 Chevy that was like a blower? That was a intake gasket. It fouled plugs, made the motor run rough, and I didn't find it until I sprayed wd-40 down the sides of the intake where it bolted to the heads and then, the motor ran perfect, for a second or two!
The new gasket I used had metal inserts at all the runner points. It hasn't gone bad yet!

Bruce

My boy keeps getting upset and tells me to just buy a new manifold and put it on.   If that was the only project I have going that would be ok.  Still takes a few hours and a few dollars but will be money well spent.  Runs great till the 5&7 plug start to foul what a pile of crud in there surprised it runs at all.  And not only that the gas mileage goes from bad to worse.  I am BAD to not get this done sooner.

[tomslik]

tell ya what, i'll trade ya for a  wieand "performer"(i'm at work and i don't remember the part#)
i guarranty it ain't been cut, i bought it new....

[BFS57]

Hello Again;
To make a long story short, the manifold I had was a brand new Edelbrock performer, and I had just had it put on about a month before!
The moral to this story is: Gasket sets that are old and can't compete with todays modern gasolines still are available from auto parts stores. We changed the gaskets to the one I described that had metal around where the intake runners met the head ports and so far, no problems and I have really gotten down on my car a couple times since and everything seems fine!
The old manifold I took off was an Edelbrock which had bad "etching" around where the water flows and had leaking problems so I opted to change it totally, thats when the problem manifested of gaskets not sealing!

Bruce