Rings or Valve Seals?
09-30-2009, 03:02 PM
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Rings or Valve Seals? A few months ago I foolishly lugged my car up a canyon in 6th gear on a hot day about 10 miles. Just as I hit the top of the hill and started going down the temp went up. I thought no big deal so I just let it coast down the long hill with the engine running. By the time I got to the bottom it was in the red. I figure it must have got a bubble in the system or something. It took about an hour of adding water and starting/stopping it to get the temp back down. Then all was well for a few weeks.
A few weeks later I noticed it was burning a little oil out the exhaust when idling. No big deal at first but it has gotten worse. Now it will usually blow a big puff of smoke out when starting it hot and it smokes more and more the longer I sit idle at a stoplight. It doesn't smoke noticeably during hard accel but when just sitting still in neutral and blipping the throttle it smokes alot. I've had a home depot catch can for about 3 years and in that time collected only about 1 teaspoon of oil.
I'm leaning towards valve seals but would like some other opinions. What do you guys think?
A few weeks later I noticed it was burning a little oil out the exhaust when idling. No big deal at first but it has gotten worse. Now it will usually blow a big puff of smoke out when starting it hot and it smokes more and more the longer I sit idle at a stoplight. It doesn't smoke noticeably during hard accel but when just sitting still in neutral and blipping the throttle it smokes alot. I've had a home depot catch can for about 3 years and in that time collected only about 1 teaspoon of oil.
I'm leaning towards valve seals but would like some other opinions. What do you guys think?
09-30-2009, 03:35 PM
#2
My guess in rings dude, valve seals are cheap and you can go ahead to put a new set on but rings dont like to be ran hot as hell like in your case.
Same thing happened to my old 87 IROC after I swapped Vortec heads and a 218/224 cam in it. One of the heads had a crack in it right underneath the spring perches and it took FOREVER to find. Me and my dad probably overheated that motor 6 times atleast trying to find what the deal was, b/c at first we thought the gauge was wrong...it wasnt. After we found that and put a new head on it and I started driving it, it would smoke exactly like yours does.
Good luck.
Same thing happened to my old 87 IROC after I swapped Vortec heads and a 218/224 cam in it. One of the heads had a crack in it right underneath the spring perches and it took FOREVER to find. Me and my dad probably overheated that motor 6 times atleast trying to find what the deal was, b/c at first we thought the gauge was wrong...it wasnt. After we found that and put a new head on it and I started driving it, it would smoke exactly like yours does.
Good luck.
09-30-2009, 05:36 PM
#3
I think rings too... My gen II did the same thing......running 90mph+ to see my now ex-wife and looked down and temp was pegged at 260*...I stop and water is POURING out of the waterpump. Pressure test shows blown HG. Replace pump and HG's and now I have a skeeter killing machine... Yes excessive temp CAN burn up rings....Further testing will tell you....
