Oil control problem
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 231
Likes: 0
From: Tucson AZ
Oil control problem
My 383 has about 12,000 miles in my daily driver. When the car gets warm, it starts to smoke out of the right bank. It doesn't do it when cold. I pulled the valve cover and discovered that one spring damper had shattered on one valve and cut the oil seal. I replaced it and put everything back together. The oil burning has reduced, but not gone. I can't figure out why it would only do it when warm. I'm running Vortech heads (cast iron) and the cam does not exceed the maximum lift for the head (so I don't know why the damper shattered). Before I go and pull the head, is there any explanation for why this only happens when the engine is warm? I would think if it was bad guides, I'd see this at start up first thing in the morning. It only happens when warm. Is there a cooling problem? Some weird PCV thing? Burned valve? Bad guide? Rings? Help!
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,123
Likes: 433
From: Gladstone MO
C3 of Year Finalist (appearance mods) 2019
Before you pull the head, check compression both cold and hot, and do a leak down check if you can. Since it only happens hot, I kind of suspect a piston clearance thing. Do you hear any noise from the right or left bank that's unusual? or different?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 231
Likes: 0
From: Tucson AZ
Thanks, I'll give it a shot. It has always had a ticking noise on the right side that sounded like too loose valve lash. The header on that side needs to be re-tightened more frequently than on the left. The motor was built about 3 years ago and has maybe 10-12K miles on it. I'll be a little upset if there is an issue inside.
Last edited by TXShark; May 4, 2007 at 11:45 PM.
