Mike K.

I did a quick run up to 150 mph today and I noticed once I stopped alot of smoke coming from the hood. Car was running normal though,,,, oil pressure, temp , all looked good. I take it real easy until I get home just in case. Well I pull into my garage and then I see the full effect. Smoke everywhere coming from the hood. I open it up and I see my dipstick had popped out of the tube a little bit with oil all over that side of the motor. As you all know I just got these heads put on and I had not had any problems like this when I was cam only so it must be something that changed when the heads were put on. I know that crankcase pressure had to be up there for this to happen but I am wondering why. I have gotten a few ideas from some friends. slight leak in the head gasket, rings, and possibly broken springs. I get the head gasket idea and the rings but I'm not to sure on the spring theory. If its the head gasket it must be a small leak cause I am not seeing any coolant mixed with the oil, if its the rings wouldn't the car run like ****?

I'll start tearing it down tomorrow but I'm curious if you guys have any theorys on what may have happened.

Cal

iTrader: (1)

Don't tear it down yet, I think the dipstick came out from the vibration of going that speed and maybe it wasn't really in as tight as it could have been to start with. On my Duramax diesel, the dipstick stays in so damn tight I have to use two hands to yank it out. I think the LS1 dipstick is a little on the loose side for extreme duty.

Ravenous T\A

iTrader: (12)

I had a 1970 340 dart swinger that the rings went bad on, did the same thing U described but it would do it after 70mph. Car ran great, even when it was pissing oil. I'd have a compression check done to see if your rings are gone.

wrencher

iTrader: (2)

Like Cal said ...good advice, does the dipstick fit tight in tube?
Blow-by caused the stick to come up, but for it to push oil out the tube???
Is the oil level to high?
Did these heads bump the compression a ton?
What kinda RPM we talking at 150?
Didn't see a axle spec in your sig.
LS1 blocks did have an internal crankcase venting problem at extreme RPM's.
Hense the LS6 block with venting between the webs.

VINCE

iTrader: (1)

I am sure it is something simple Mike.

Mike K.

Compression is about 10.5:1, 5.7 ltr heads milled .030 with .040 taken out for each valve for reliefs. I have stock gearing 3.42's and the rpm was 6800-7000 grand range at the top of 4th and then I switched to 5th and held that for a few seconds before shutting down.

I did notice when I switched to 5th that acceleration dropped off more than what it normally would from switching gears but there was no hesitation or audible detonation that I could hear. This is when I shut down, I probably actually got to 155 mph or so.

When i first came to a stop I smelled what I thought was my brakes and maybe it was. At the second stop I noticed alot of smoke but there was some fog so I thought maybe it was that. When i finally pulled into my garage where there was some light I saw all the smoke billowing out. I would have stopped before then but the car seemed to be running fine.

It was dark so maybe the oil was leaking from somewhere else other than the tube but the only thing I could tell that was wrong was the dipstick had popped off and it was that side of the engine bay that was covered in oil. The oil was clean with not a trace of coolant. The dipstick is snug but its not super tight. It feels about as tight as the dipstick on my eclipse or my old civic. It sure is not like a cork or anything.

Ill clean it up in the morning and refill the oil, Ill look for any other possible leak spots and if after a short cruise It doesn't happen again I'll try to carefully take it up in rpm if that is possible. Maybe I'll get lucky but I better prepare for the worse.

ta12sec

iTrader: (3)

How does your pcv valve look?

Slowhawk

iTrader: (12)

I would check the basics then look into #7 and #8 cylinder.My friend collapsed a ring land on #7 and blew oil all out the dipstick tube.Car ran good with a hole in the piston though.

Mike K.

I've been doing more and more reading and it seems that the ringland is the main cause. Even if my dipstick was not fully put on it should not blow oil out I don't think. i am hoping for the best but the more I read the more my gut sinks.

H82BBad

I lost a piston and it shut down the gap on #7

do a leak donw cause it will be hard to find with a compression gauge.
Good luck

Mike K.

Well I have started tearing into it and while I am hoping that its not a ring I have now read many posts of people with the same problem and they think that it is a ring issue. I had oil in my TB ,the accordian hose, and even in my lid a little bit. Not just an oil film like normal but oil in its form like it is when you can pour it. I'm gonna replace my pcv just in case and am also gonna pull the valve covers while I'm in there to check on those 918 springs. I checked my dipstick and it is pretty loose but without having pressure from underneath how would oil blow out of it even if it was off ?

I read a couple posts of guys that said the dipstick popped out on deceleration at high rpms and I did do that but cant see how that would matter. I should stop hoping for the best and start pricing a new bottom end

Smoke_Ford

heads leaking oil into the intake anywhere?

Mike K.

Not to sure but it seems weird that my tb and the accordian pipe had the thick oil where as my lid only had a little, I did not see any oil in my filter either, its a power shot that is already soaked with the blue oil so Im not sure if it would show a little motor oil or not.

Slowhawk

iTrader: (12)

Hope it's nothing serious.

Mike K.

Well I checked all the obvious things and took her back out for a spin, I tried a slow rev up in first gear and sure enough the dipstick popped out again. My next step will be for the leakdown test but I do have one question. Do you guys think its possible that its my head gasket giving way? Like possibly a slow leak? Reason I ask is cause the heads were just swapped and I am trying to think of all possible reasons for this excessive crankcase pressure or blowby.

I tried switching out the pvc but this did not good,
I have no broken springs.

Only things I can think of is
1. Ring
2. Head Gasket?

Jason99T/A

iTrader: (21)

If it was a head gasket, you would have coolant coming out of your overflow tank after WOT passes. Been there, done that. lol

Does your car smoke any out of the tailpipes?

I would start the car up and pull the oil cap off the valvecover. See if smoke is coming out from here. When I broke the top ring land on two stock pistons, I had smoke pouring out the oil fill cap with it off.

Mike K.

No smoke out of the tailpipes but I did pull out the dipstick with the car idling and smoke was steaming out of the dipstick tube, I'll try the oil cap next but I bet it will come out of there as well seeming how much was coming from the dipstick tube. Seems like theres a hell of alot of water vapor coming from the crankcase, it actually makes the oil that came out of the tube feel much thinner.