Well, got my block out today & pulled the pistons. No broken rings, but on a few cyl. the rings had lined up the gap area? Also appears the exhaust valves where leaking oil on a few guides?? Who would think exhaust valve would suck oil?? Stock only had seals on the intake side when I first took it apart, machine shop put seals on all of em. Don't know if was a combo of poor ring seal & the guides or what but I was really smoking bad after my high temp burnout during a parade. It was fine before that with 2K on fresh rings/valve job. Suddeness of symptons & weird leakdown figures made me think broken rings??

1) Would a light silicone on the outside of the guide before installing the teflon seals keep oil from leaking underneath?

2) What do you use on the head bolts for sealant?? I had used thread sealant w/ teflon but it looked close to leaking on a few bolts after only 2K miles. I want to re-torque the heads but if you use silicon that would tear on a re-torque?? Perhaps head studs would resolve the whole issue?

Anyone ever notice sharp edges on ring ends/gap. Looks like it was lightly scratchin the cyl walls & onlyt thing I can observe causing it. Will most likely replace the rings anyway but will check w/ my local machine shop with the whole mess tomorrow.

All in all a very frustrating month after it going together so well & running perfect until that event.

 

can't help ya here, but a bump.

 

Ex. will pull oil, as the ex. gas flows out there is a vac.

 

Hmmm... okay, I hadn't thought of that. Must mean my headers & exhaust system are scavenging like crazy then.

I did read on another thread about making sure the metal band on the valve seal is on the "top" side of the guide to reduce oil being sucked under in that area. Noticed it was helter skelter from the machine shop but I will be installing the new ones & will be sure how each one is installed. Also why I was asking about a tiny bit of clear silicon when installing them over the guides to also reduce that possibility.

I can say the intake gaskets were stuck like crazy, took me 2 hours to get the damn lower intake off. Ended up having to cut the ends with a razor blade (great stuff isn't so great to remove...) & then use a putty knife to get it started at the front of the head. Very carefully so as to not damage the intake or alum. head. (113 castings).

Thanks!

 

Comp is right about the exhaust valves pulling a vacuum, but as you noted, there are no exhaust seals from the factory. With or without seals, fresh heads shouldn't be pulling oil through the exhaust guides. While there can be a vacuum in the exhaust port, it is MUCH weaker than in the intake port. I would have a different shop check out the valve job, mainly the guides. Then, I would use intake seals on all the valves. Silicone under the valve seal isn't necessary. Any real leak is between the valve stem and the sealing lip. Sloppy guides will allow the seal lip to distort, allowing oil to pass, beside passing excessive oil due to their looseness.

You mentioned a dramatic increase in oil consumption after a burn out. Have you checked for valve spring retainer to valve stem seal clearence? If you over revved the engine, you may have damaged the seals.

A dab of Permatex No. 2 is recommended for the head bolt threads.

Were the rings, "file to fit"? Possibly they weren't properly dressed after filing. Those cylinder scratches, concern me. Get a good diagnosis before you reassemble the engine with those. You may never get it to stop burming oil with those scratches. A quick hone or maybe a bore job may be in order.

RACE ON!!!

 

Rings were NOT file fit. Std size replacement ring #E530K from Sealed Power (Federal Mogul).

Just got off the phone w/ them & from this pic. it looks like the scratch in #5 happend during installation. Scratch starts above the top ring area.

Headed to the machine shop in a bit to see if I'm going to have to bore it to repair the damage...