[Brian Morency]

ok last time i posted something about my problem i didnt check all the plugs only a couple and took the asumpsion that they all where fine. to make a long story short. i pulled the spark plugs and one had oil on it.
because it is one plug does this mean my problem is bad pistion rings?
i always thought it was bad valve seals. and i was planning on rebuilding my heads soon.
or could this possable be just a bad valve seal at that cylinder?
im thinking about just tighting the rockers and such on the heads and hope this fix's it. or is that pointless?

 

[DoubleVision]

Rocker adjustment will make no difference. your rings could be bad in that cylinder, or bad valve guides, but before you dig into this, I`ll explain this. I have a sbc in a cutlass, it always showed signs of oil usage on the number 1 cylinder, compression was normal, the heads were new throughout, seals, guides, the works, it still used oil especially on that cylinder. Number 2 showed some, but not like 1 did, the rest of the cylinders looked normal with very very little sign of oil, it used about a quart of oil a week, but never showed any smoke out of the tail pipe, finally, I narrowed it down to the pcv valve, most cases, such as mine, the stock air cleaner is chunked for a open element job, and if the valve covers are stock the breather tube is left open with no filter on it, or aftermarket valve covers are used a push in breather is used, I have aftermarket covers and used a push in breather, after time the element inside the breather breaks down into nothing until the breather is empty, I replaced the breather with a new one and the oil usage stopped, either with factory covers or aftermarket, the breather side of the pcv system must have a functioning breather to restrict it or the result is oil sucked into the pcv, the mystery to why it showed up more in some cylinders than others is odd, but the problems solved, which was good enough.

 

[Brian Morency]

my sbc is almost like that except sometimes i get a puff of smoke on start up. if my car is idleing with the hood open you can see the smoke coming out the breather. one vavle cover has a pcv system and the other side has a breather and then the cap to put oil in. when i rev it up the smoke goes away but if it idles i have some smoke. not enough to see it with the hood closed but it just doesnt seem good seeing smoke coming out the breather like it does. im not sure exactly how much oil it uses up because i have a small leak at the drain plug but i am assuming about a quart every 2 weeks i put in. i dont know what cylinder this is but it is the one the farthest back on the passanger side below the breather. the engine is an 80-85 305sbc.

 

[DoubleVision]

If you get smoke out of the exhaust at start up that`s whitish blue that`s oil smoke, more than likely valve seals or valve guides. the vapor coming out of the breather at idle is common. make sure your breather has a good element inside it.

 

[Brian Morency]

yeah i tryed different breather elements like the open k&n one and i just went back to the old metal mushroom shaped push in breather. my friends car is bad at start up like a big puff of smoke but mine isnt that bad it doesnt happen all the time