Relax, this is not a death knell. Your engine is quite worn, and you are
seeing the result of blow-by, which is caused by worn piston rings, most
likely. This won't kill the engine, it will run many miles that way. As
long as you don't see signs of distress from the temperature gauge or the
oil pressure gauge, just keep on truckin' - it could run another 30,000
Miles that way.
There is a chance that your piston rings are stuck in the piston grooves, if
the history of the engine involves a lot of short trip driving or a long
period of storage without being driven at all. If this fits your car's
history, at your next oil change, switch to Chevron RPM-Delo 400 oil, and
stay with it for at least 4 or 5 oil changes. If the rings aren't stuck too
bad, this may well free them up and you'll see your oil consumption go back
down to normal. If this is not your engine's history, don't bother with
this, as it probably won't do any good.
Dick Benjamin
----- Original Message -----
From: James <nyb@xxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 07, 2002 8:19 PM
Subject: IML: 440 - a death knell?
> Hello,
>
> When I went to change the air filter in my 76 NYB this evening, I
> noticed a little pool of oil sitting in the air cleaner housing, by the
> valve cover vent. Something tells me that this is not a good thing.
> The car has been a little smoky lately, really only noticeable after
> warm starts (there really isn't much smoke at all on cold starts) and
> has been consuming more oil than usual. Is this the car's semi-polite
> way of asking for an engine rebuild? I hope not since I can't afford an
> engine rebuild right now and would have to consider selling the car.
>
> Thanks,
> James
>
>
>
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