D^2
Quite frankly, I wonder if it is a combination of both worn rings and stem
seals.
The car has always smoked a little at startup, but has recently started to smoke
all the time. The spark plugs are a little oily on the threads with carbon
deposits surrounding the electrodes. The electrode surfaces themselves are
relatively clean. The back bumper has a blackish coating on the bottom, but it
doesn't really feel oily, maybe it's too impregnated with dirt to be oily. I
haven't performed a compression test yet since I haven't gone out and bought a
compression guage. At first I wondered if it was a head gasket since the smoke
seems more white than blue, but the oil does not seem contaminated and the
coolant
looks healthy. Maybe there is not quite enough oil being burned to get that
thick blue smoke that I have seen many times before on other cars. But this is
where I say that I am a chemist, I really am not the master when it comes to
diagnosing/repairing cars.
James
dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Jams
> Are you sure your problem is not valve stem seals? Did you try a compression
> test? The oil consumption and smoke could be from the valve stem seals (which
> would have no effect in compression or performance). I remember you saying
> that it smoked more when starting, which is a sign of valve stem issues. This
> would be much cheaper to repair.
>
> How do your spark plugs look like? Are they greasy or clean? Do you see the
> rear bumper wetted with oil? To my experience, these the serious signs of bad
> rings.
>
> Hugh Hemphill had (and I think he still does) an aging 392 on his 58. He was
> claiming that running a single weight oil (like 30W or 40w) reduced his
> smoking. However, such an oil will not lubricate as well as a multi weight.
> So, you could try a heavier multi weight first, like a 15w40 or 20w50 (avoid
> 10w40). But if your problems are simply stem seals, you may not have the same
> luck as Hugh
> D^2
>
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