LoStOCeAnZ63

i have a 383 camel hump heads 488 lift cam rpm air gap manifold motor has less then 600 miles on it and the oil is dark already and was 2 qts short the other day

what do you think the problem is?

i pulled a spark plug and it was dark brown smelt like burned oil

ive only changed the oil once since its been built

pancherj

Make sure your intake gaskets aren't leaking and sucking in oil from the lifter valley. Before I bolt an intake on for the first time, I like to take one standard thickness gasket and bolt on one side of the intake only. Then I can measure the gap at the front wall and also on the opposite intake face. This will tell you a lot of things about thickness of gaskets you need, overall gap at the end walls and if the intake surface is parallel to the head surface. This step was recommended to me by a professional builder and he was absolutley right!

LoStOCeAnZ63

there isnt any water in my oil and we used extra thick gaskets for the rpm air gap manifold

any other ideas?

Oldsmobility85

iTrader: (1)

A lot of people who have been building engines for a long time like to use extremely tough rings in there builds that really take a long time to get seated and if the bores aren't in great condition they sometimes never do seat properly. I would make sure you have no leaks and wait until it had a few thousand miles on it before I would get to worried about it.

LoStOCeAnZ63

alright i guess just seems like 2qts of oil in less then 600 miles is kind of bad ... and is there anything i can do to help it ? im using 10/40 mobile 1 oil i still have to have my timing done really bad should i change out my spark plugs or wait a while and why would the oil be black already?

SSPerformance

iTrader: (76)

may have a ring upside down

Oldsmobility85

iTrader: (1)

True. I would put some time on it and see what happens. Does it visually smoke?

LoStOCeAnZ63

at idle it doesnt smoke when im driving it doesnt smoke when i floor it it smokes a little could be because its running a little rich too though

LoStOCeAnZ63

so does that mean its bad that ive taken my motor to 6,000 rpms a few times already

pancherj

With oil on the plugs, I would still be looking at the intake gaskets. The gaskets may be allowing oil to pass and not water. Another culprit could be the PCV system...what are you using? And, as mentioned above, ring seal might be a problem.

LoStOCeAnZ63

Im running a normal PCV valve to the vacume on my carb intake gaskets seem to be fine from what i can tell i tried to tighten them and they were already tight my guess is ring seal like you guys said or valve guide or valve seals ??

ill try to drive my car around a little more to see if maybe it gets better i guess im just worried

pancherj

Nice looking engine bay!!

Didn't you mention having a problem with fluctuating vacuum (or idle speed)?

The oil could be from valve guides for sure.

LoStOCeAnZ63

no vacume is good and car has a lot of power it runs really good just noticed that it was burning oil so now im worried that i have a problem esp because the motor only has like 600 miles on it

Oldsmobility85

iTrader: (1)

Dude delete the pcv system and put a nice evac kit on it. To hell with sucking that oil and what not through your brand new engine and intake. When you cam a car and the vaccume changes it really mess's with the pcv operation. I personally dont like pcv valves on a performance engine.

LoStOCeAnZ63

i dont think it really matters anyway my oil is dark and its burning oil anyway =[

i need to figure out what the problem is i really hope its just the heads that need to be fixed

pancherj

You could get an oil seperater to put between the PCV and the intake. I just ordered a Steeda one. I popped my intake off last night because of an external oil leak. Turns out my cheap Mr. Gasket intake gaskets are shot! They looked like wet carboard. I have never seen that before! It explains my drop in idle vacuum.

Pull that intake and look at the gaskets first. After that, I would be looking at the valve stem seals. Finally, I would do a leak down test to check the rings and valve seats.

wrd1972

iTrader: (12)

Maybe PCV. I recently installed a catch can and now the oil never goes down the motors pie hole.

LoStOCeAnZ63

i honestly dont think it has to do with the intake gaskets i have no leaks AT ALL gaskets look perfect and dry once i sell this other motor i have and have some extra money im going to replace the heads and intake manifold for more power and better MPG (Vortec heads & vortec style rpm air gap manifold VS camel hump heads) at that time ill do a leak down test too how do you do that anyway?

Oldsmobility85

iTrader: (1)

There's a tool you can buy that has a set of gauges on it and with the piston at tdc you pump compressed air into the cylinder and the gauge tells you how much leak down you have and if there is a lot of leak down you have to listen to were it is coming from. If it comes out of the intake with both valves closed you either have a burnt bent or otherwise improperly seated intake valve. Same goes for the exhaust. If the air comes from the crank case you have a piston or ring issue. Or if it starts pushing air through the radiator you are looking at a head gasket issue or a cracked cylinder.

I am not saying you have any of these just telling you what a leak down test does.

LoStOCeAnZ63

ok cool thanks ill look into getting that done