Crafty,
How did the top end cleaner work out for you?
I used about 4-6 oz of Marvels Mystrey in the crank case via oil filler.
We'll see if this loosens up a potential stuck ring per Av8ter's suggestion.
Marshal

 

marshall135,

I've followed this thread with interest--many good suggestions.

Why Do You Suspect "Misting"?
You've mentioned "misting" at least twice but, unless I've missed it (pun intended) you haven't said how you know it's "misting"--or WHERE FROM?

Do you find everything (under hood) covered with a thin film of oil (which would make me think it's "misting"?).

What IS covered in a film of oil, if anything?

If there is NO oil film anywhere, then why (no offense) do you suspect "misting"?


Confirming Blowby
Also (related to misting), unless I missed it, I don't believe you ever answered another member's question about whether there is excessive "blowby" when you remove the cap (or breather?) on the valve cover, while it it's idling. That info could be very helpful.


WAG Suggestion
Now, I don't like talking about something I have ZERO experience with, but I keep seeing these "GoPro" video cams everywhere.

IF you have evidence of "misting" (i.e., a film of oil, under hood) what about hooking up a light source, and the camera, under hood, and going for a ride?

My fear is, the fan, and "road wind," would make the source impossible to see in the camera, but it might at least confirm your suspicion of "misting." Especially if you stayed in low gear (less wind) and did repeated accels/decels?

You would have to do both banks, facing forward and back, at least.

I only suggest the above because the "misting" sounds good, but with no confirmed source or cause, I can't see how you will find a solution. To me, it's like a medical diagnosis--you gotta try to "rule it out."

If you can't rule it out, it's just one more uncertainty.

Good luck.

 

I'm not quite ready to report yet. After spraying the stuff into the plug holes I let it sit for ~2 days with the oil plug out and a clean pan underneath. I reserved the old oil in a separate pan. After sitting for 2 days I put the old oil back in the car, so that it was lubed while I brought the car up to temp. The can of engine cleaner also said to spray the cleaner down into the primary barrels while at operating temp, so I did that. Next it said to let the car sit turned off for 15 minutes or so. Next step was to run the car above idle after it sits to blow out any deposits. After a short drive I then did a full oil change with new oil and filter.

When I first started it with the old oil, and while spraying the stuff into the carb it smoked quite a bit. On that first drive it also smoked. However since then I have not seen the puffs of smoke on decel that I had been seeing before the treatment.

I have driven the car 2-3 more times since the oil change, but I still want a bigger sample size. Also more than just the smoke my car was burning off a quart of oil every 4-6 weeks. I still want to monitor that before I declare a clean bill of health. I'll be driving it more now, since we a finally into some nice weather. I'll report back again if I see anything improvement or regression.

I am cautiously optimistic at this point.

 

mid years forever,
thanks for reminding me.
You are right I missed the follow ups.
I pulled the oil fill cap from the passenger side valve cover.
It came off with no resistance or suction present.
Oil appeared to be flowing properly through the valve train.
PVC valve was pulled as well. it was opening under idle vac and operational.
As for the misting terminology, I may have used the wrong choice of descriptors.
Since, I have no visible leaks externally, I hypothizied, it was being sucked out between the intake and head into the combustion chamber? It had to be fairly light ie... mist as it was not dripping out of the exhaust or leaking out around the exhaust manifolds.
The car sat about 14 years before I purchased it so a stuck ring in one or more cylinders is logical to me. Crafty just did a chamber flush on his engine and I'm hoping it clears up his similar situation. It seems excessive a qt of oil every couple hundred miles.
As for rebuild, I only visually observed the heads were done by a previous owner.
The rest of the lower end my very well be orig. Not sure about camshaft specs probably stock?
Motor came stock with 10.5:1 compression, 390 hp w/ hydraulic lifters.
Again, during valve seal replacement this past winter, I used a strong bore light to look into the cylinders and everything visually looked fairly clean down the lower end via the spark plug holes.
Hopefully this provided some feed back.
All suggestions still welcome.
Marshal

 

When I purchased my 69 350/350 hp I changed the oil first thing on my list even though it was very clear. To my lack of knowledge of the importance of zinc, I just changed it with 10-30 Dino oil and thought nothing of it. Well over one summer of short cruises and approx 400 miles I almost used 2 liters to keep it full. The car did not leak more than just a small drip and did not smoke excessive. After reading the forum on oils I decided to run rotella 15/40. Hard to believe but no oil usage in a couple hundred miles yet.before that i would be topping it up for sure.

 

Hey Fozz,
Thanks for the tip
I may need to change weights as well.
I'm running the Brad Penn 10/30 currently.
Maybe I can go a little heavier and let you know how it worked.
Marshal

 

I use Brad Penn 10w30 also. You keep me posted on this part

 

.

I don't think you're using enough to have the desired effect. Check out this link.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7302796_inst...stery-oil.html

 

It looks like I'm not using enough in the crankcase per article
Thank you for the fine read Reelav8r.
I'm a qt down now so I'll add 1qt of MMO to the oil and see what happens
Marshal

 

Well I used some Marvel's Mystery oil in the crank case and topped off using 15/40 Rotella.
Will have to see if the heavier oil remains.
Updates to follow.
Marshal

 

Well I regret to inform that my top engine cleaner procedure did not fix my issue. I was out running around yesterday, and experienced my same blue puffs out the right side on decel. Guess the motor is coming out after driving season.

On the bright side I get to blow the blue paint off my block that a PO thought looked bitchin, and switch back over to Chevy orange.

 

I can certainly feel your pain.

I had built a 383 with used (shaved) heads and had a 1 qt per 600-800 miles consumption problem. I can't offer any advice as to what I think it is, as I never found mine. I did a ton of investigation & swapping things (I probably pulled my intake 10+ times in a year) and I eventually gave up and just drove it and added oil. You can search my usernamename with "oil consumption" and find my threads for what I went through.

I had no real smoke and evenly-fouled plugs. My story was about 10 years ago, but this is what I remember focusing on, probably in the order that I did them:

• Intake - I RTV'ed both sides of the intake gasket & used black light to check. My oil was NOT leaking at the gasket, but I could pull the carb and wipe oil with my finger on the bottom of the intake manifild.
• Rocker-arm studs - some go though and need thread seleant (mine was good)
• Guides/seals - guides had no play and I replaced seals ... no change
• Fuel-pump - I don't remember how/why, but there is a small chance something here can seep. I swapped to electric fuel pump ... no dice
• Re-ring - did a budget re-ring & quick de-glazing @ 30k ... still no fix. At that time, the engine didn't look nearly as dirty as I was expecting and I no longer lost sleep over the consumption ... I just accepted and drove.

I think I put 40k on that engine and pulled it in '07 to start an LS1 swap (which hasn't happened yet). If you search my old threads and have any questions, I'd be happy to chime in.

I remember having good compression and did a leakdown with a DIY gauge which resulted in all cylinders a bit high, but all consistent. But I think that's really just testing the compression ring and doesn't tell much of the oil ring.

Finally, I'm just a hobby guy who has rebuilt a couple of engines in my life, but not even close to a real mechanic.

 

I'll throw my .02 in and say if they used hyper pistons and didnt get the clearance or rings seated, that could be the problem. Guess how I know.