A while ago i had posted about my oil burning issues.... the car blows a good size cloud of smoke out of the tailpipes if you get into it and its above 4000 rpms or so..... everyone pointed me toward valve seals.. well while i was in there i put a new cam, springs, seals, etc. - the works....

well, i still had the oil problem... so someone on here said to try a leakdown test.... luckily i know someone with a tester, so tonight (after waiting about 5 weeks) we got to do the leak-down test....

when you pull the plugs, the front cylinder on each side of the motor had the worst plugs... looks and smells like oil... so.. we pulled tested the front cylinder on both sides and the second cylinder back on the drivers side... the results are:
when at top dead center, the leak-down tester was showing that it was holding compression perfectly - no bobbing in the guage or anything.... there was a very faint stream of air coming through the oil filler cap... you couldn't hear it, but if you put your ear down to the filler cap, you could feel it - real light...
online guides said that if it was the rings, which we've thought all along it might be, that we would hear a very distinct whooshing from the oil filler cap, just as we did when either the exhaust or intake valve was open (from their respective locations)... also they said that the rings will always let a little bit of air past, so a small stream should be felt....

so, since there was such a faint stream of air coming from the oil filler cap, does that mean that its not the piston rings???
if so, what the heck could it be? has to be in the heads right????

what are my options?

 

oh yea, one more thing... when i pulled the plugs, they all seemed to have fair amount of oil on the threads.... that doesnt seem right to me either

 

oil on the threads keeps them from getting stuck in the block. my car is doing the same thing but my plugs are perfect!!! no oil just as if it were running super clean wiered

 

well my plugs are BLACK... there is a lot of oil getting into the cylinders...

if you're wondering just how much... if i run it hard ... it'll go through a quart in two days.... if i only go through 1 quart in a whole week of running the car, i'm realy lucky

 

install a catch can inline with the PCV to catch the oil. i made one up for about 15 bucks and it does its job well. i get oil sucked thru but i dont now you might want to try this it will fix some oil issues. i forgot to mention that before

 

wiered mine is hte same way maybe mine is valve guides you have mac mids and htere have been posts about those headers that after installs they cause oil consumption dont ask me why i dont know how but i have hte same headers but you have oil on your plugs is it on all of them???

 

ttt anything else?? surely it doesnt push that much oil through the pcv...

and oil doesn't really seem to be on all the plugs, i don't think... i haven't pulled them all since installing new ones with the cam swap... so, that's not a positive, but like i mentioned, its particularly bad on the front cylinder on each side

edit: one more thing... when i had the pcv unhooked, the car still used as much oil

 

Have you altered the PCV system at all? Yes, it will push through a ton of oil if not setup correctly.

 

no, all i've done is put in a new pcv valve a month ago... when i had it unhooked, there was only a small drip coming out of it every once in a while

 

ttt - where are all you guys that were so helpful before?

 

my friends motor use to do that when he first bought hes stroker. they told him all kinds of answere and finally it was the piston rings not being the right size.. but then again he has a different motor and im pretty sure your still with the same motor you bought it with..

 

If your car is blowing smoke especially when you put your foot in it. you more than likely have ring issues.. You leakdown tester should be able to tell you how much leak down you are seeing. if more than 5-8 percent on a cylinder and you here/fell coming out of the oil cap the it is your rings. My car had the same symtons as you, and I just had to buy a new motor. Test all 8 to get an accurate dignosis.

 

If your car is blowing smoke especially when you put your foot in it. you more than likely have ring issues.. You leakdown tester should be able to tell you how much leak down you are seeing. if more than 5-8 percent on a cylinder and you here/fell coming out of the oil cap the it is your rings. My car had the same symtons as you, and I just had to buy a new motor. Test all 8 to get an accurate dignosis.....

 

here's the thing... you can't hear it at all coming from the oil cap... you actually can't feel it either unless you set your face right down on the oil cap, and you can feel a REAL light stream.... its hard to feel with your hand...
like i said... the leakdown tester showed perfect readings.. it stayed perfectly still at the "set" position on the guage...

 

I have the same thing going on with my buddies car. I put new valve seals on it when doing a cam swap for him. That didn't help so tonight I am installing a ls6 valley cover to see if that helps any. But yeah same thing with his car had oil on the threads of the plugs when I pulled them, burns about a quart of oil every 200-400 miles, puffs of smoke when you jump on it.

According to GM when these cars have oil consumpution issuses they want you to replace the rings. But they used the ls6 valley cover on the z06's to correct that. So that is what I am gonna try on my buddies car. I will let ya know if it helps.

 

cool... keep me posted..
i've heard guys being very unpleased with that tho... they've said that it didnt do any good and that a catch can was a better option.... i just don't see how the pcv can suck a quart of oil through ... i'm by no means a know-it-all, but from what i've read on here, "oil consumption issues" was something like 1 quart over 2000 miles or more... not 200

 

I can almost bet you have ring issues, or other serious problem. You need to test all 8 cylinders. Trust me I just walked down this very street you are on now. A PCV is not gonna suck a quart in 200 miles. All cylinders are gonna let a little air by that is why you feel a little coming outta the oil cap.

 

wouldnt the plugs be messed up if it were the rings like have oil all over them????? and oil build up???

 

ok, well hopefully i'll get time to do that...
u've got me confused ... ur saying that all cylinders will let a little air by.. which is what mien is doing.. a VERY light stream ... and the leak-down tester is saying everything is fine.. but yet you still think its rings... doesnt make sense to me

 

Since you only tested 2. The other cylinders are the ones that may be one that have shot rings.