Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

Background:

The car is a 1987 GTA. The motor is a 1988 out of a Formula. Had 66K when I put it in. Car had 77K. Now Im showing somewhere around 82K on odometer (cant remember exact at the moment). I have had this car about 3 years. So its not been driven much.

Engine ran well up until about 2 mos ago. I was using it to take my son to school which was a 50 mile trip. Did this a few weeks just to use the car a little. Car ran well for a few weeks then one day after about 25 miles it all of a sudden began to run rough. At the same time began leaking oil. Have no idea if these are related other than they happened at the same time.

Sometimes the smoking from the leak is worse than at other times. Sometimes it will not smoke from the leak at all. But it will consistently run rough like a spark plug wire is striking metal somewhere and causing the car to misfire. It will still chirp the tires when changing gears very easily but it does not have the power it once did. It leaks right out of the dipstick. Never seen or heard of that before.

Ask questions maybe I can shed more light on this. I also shot 2 vids one of startup and one of driving hoping that may help. Quality of these wont be great but maybe they will help. Will post them as soon as they upload to youtube.

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

The 1st of 2 videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF5yj9-CBVQ

It wasnt this hard to start before the issue with the oil and running rough. It would fire up on first try every time. The 2nd video you will see more definite smoke from the dipstick and rough sounding exhaust after its warmed up some. You will also see it has power still as it chirped the tires twice. The second time I was not even at a high rpm. Im sure some of that is because of a good tranny.

Chevy86 IROC-Z

iTrader: (17)

if you pull out the dip stick and oil sprays out, it may be a sign of ecxessive blow-by gases. This can be caused by worn out piston rings. Another cause could be a stuck PCV. Start by removing the PCV valve and spraying it with carb cleaner. Or soak it in gas. But MAKE SURE its dry before you put in back in the valve cover.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Broken rings or intake gasket has failed.. I'd say rings..

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

Here is the 2nd Video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9BY5j3NB6E

Its interesting you mention intake leak. I noticed some bubbling around the intake gasket. Not much bubbling but some nonetheless. As you can see in the videos no smoke out the tailpipe. Car still runs strong but not as before.

Ice cold spit

I had the same issues with my 383 block mine was coming out of the breather and the dipstick tube took the engine in for a rebuild ended up being ring lands on 3 of the pistons were broken. And if yours is any similar time to go bigger and better while it's out good luck!

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

I just checked the youtube links and there is no sound. Can someone chime in and let me know if you are getting sound on the videos? I would really like for you to hear the engine too even though you can see the oil coming out of the dipstick tube on the second video.

TORN

iTrader: (17)

no sound

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

Ok when I get a chance Ill reshoot just the exhaust and engine bay sounds. Thanks.

ASE doc

Check for a restriction in the manifold vacuum port to the PCV valve. Check the make up air tube on the passenger side valve cover for a restriction. Pull the PCV valve out of its grommet and watch the opening as you snap the throttle. There should be only a small amount of crankcase vapor coming from the opening. If there is a significant amount of gases coming from the PCV opening, suspect either stuck or broken rings. If you suspect that your rings may be stuck due to excessive carbon deposits, you might try Rislone Engine Restore or Marvels Mystery Oil. One quart added to an oil change is the right dose. If the problem is stuck rings, you should see an improvement within 100 miles after adding the rislone

mlynch001

Pull the PCV Valve from the valve cover, place your finger over the tip with the engine idling. Do you feel suction? You should, if not the intake, the pcv hose or pipe is stopped up. If you have suction at the pcy valve, reinstall it into the valve cover. remove the vent hose from the other valve cover, find a cork or other device to stop up the opening. Idle the car and see if the oil stops coming out of the dipstick. If the vent system is working properly and the engine does not have excessive blow-by the oil should stop blowing out. After the engine idles for a couple of minutes with the vent closed, you will build a vacuum inside the engine. You should be able to pull the stopper out of the vent hole and hear a "Whoosh" of the air rushing into the partially evacuated crankcase. If you pull both the PCV and the vent out and idle the engine you should see VERY little vapor coming out of either hole. Stuck rings will cause a lot of blow by gas, I have used a liberal dose of Marvel Mystery oil injected into the intake to free carbon stuck rings. Is the car "over full" of oil? Is it Gaining oil ? A stuck injector could cause flooding (the misfire) and an ever increasing oil level. Just a thought.

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

I'm bringing this back from the dead because I finally got around to figuring out my blow-by problem. I took a few pics of the intake gasket on the driver and pass side. On the driver side it looks like I could see a little antifreeze where the intake gasket and head come together right behind the waterneck. On the pass side it looks like the gasket is completely blown out in one area.




There seemed to be a little antifreeze, not much, where the gasket and intake come together.




Gasket blown out with some of the sealant pushed aside.




Here you can see what looks to me where the gasket is blown completely out.



So on this last pic you can see where there is actually some gasket still present.


So Im am uploading video to youtube now. I have a new phone since 2011, lol so maybe you all can tell me something from how this car is sounding.

Plenty of suction from the PCV valve.

No "Whoosh" it is actually blowing oil out of that hole too.

No it is blowing oil out of PCV hole drivers side, vent hole pass side, and dipstick at the same time.

Is there any way this could be caused by failed head gaskets?

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

Ok the videos finally finished loading.


Part 2

What other questions can I answer that may help me figure out what is going on here?

IROCZ1989

iTrader: (1)

If its blowing oil out of the dipstick you have excessive blowby. Think of it this way. Motor is a sealed unit. When everything is running fine pvc will take up the min amount of blowby as every engine has blowby. When it gets excessive the blowby finds an exit. Weather it be a weak area in a gasket somewhere or out the dipstick. Motor could just be worn out. Sitting to long in a boneyard may have pitted the cylinder walls and hurt the ring seal. If you want to keep it stock a simple shortblock and reuse all your valvetrain parts ie cam, lifters. Nothing can fix blowby besides a rebuild. Gaskets dont just decide to leak. If their is pressure on the back of them thats what makes them leaks. Hope that helps some.

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

Yea I was told the motor came from a wrecked Formula, have no idea how long it sat before I got it. From what I've researched it could be a head gasket.





But I think I need to do a compression test before changing the head gaskets because if I need new rings then new head gaskets do me nothing. I've never done major engine work before but I will not be paying $1000 for gaskets to be changed and heads reworked either. I'll do it myself.

What kind of bearing can an intake leak have on blowby on these TPI engines. I know it was pouring oil out the back of the intake so badly after I had the injectors changed that I had to get the mechanic that did my injectors redo the intake. It was so bad he thought it was the rear main seal. Whatever causes the oil leak I remember exactly how the car reacted when it happend. After about a 25 min drive I heard and felt a thud and a big puff of oil smoke came from under the car and hood on the pass side. It ran really rough for a few days. I let it sit a few weeks then crank it again and it still ran rough then I let it sit months. Then I crank it and it no longer ran real rough but leaked oil really bad and had this blowby. I also noticed the miss. My only hope in a cheap easy way out of this us that it's the intake leaking oil and it's gasket blown out is causing all of this. Your thought is it isnt. It's rings and this engine is done. I always thought when rings went bad you get smoke out the tailpipe. I'm not getting water or oil out the tailpipe.

IROCZ1989

iTrader: (1)

So it made a big thud sound after he changed the lower gasket? If so it was probably pressure building up and it popped out a gasket. Rear mains rarely leak on the one piece seals. First place a motor leaks from blowby is the the front or rear of the manifold. Where you put silicone. Basically pressure in the lifter valley. Hows the pvc setup? Im 99% sure its not a head gasket. There are symptoms for this. Overheating is one. What im thinking is the motor you got wasnt 60,000 miles. Did you see the odometer? To be honest thats a rare find in 2015. Maybe they lied about the milage. Btw is it leaking out of the top of the dipstick or where it goes into the pan?

Slowridr

iTrader: (1)

Yes, the same day he changed out my injectors it had a bad leak at the rear of the lower intake. He redid the intake gaskets a few days later. It was maybe a few months and then this happened.

The PCV seems to be fine. It draws a vacuum like it should just not fast enough to makeup for the blowby.


It's not overheating, holds its temp just fine.

I'm thinking the same thing. I never saw the motor in the car, the motor was shipped to me with the car back in 2008.

No, blowby is coming out of the top of the dipstick and if I remove the PCV valve it blows from that hole as well as the hole in the pass side valve cover if I remove the piece there.

I have to mention also that it is not any antifreeze coming out of the lower intake, I took a pic and said that I saw antifreeze. That was actually simple green. I pressure washed the engine before I took those pics and didn't get all the soap off on the drivers side. I washed it again this evening and drove the car about 30 minutes and didn't notice any antifreeze anywhere on the intake.

I do know its leaking oil at the rear of the lower intake. I cant see where exactly the oil is coming from put I can see how its started to cake up on the tranny and firewall and any area I could see below the distributor.

Can this intake leak have anything to do with it missing though, or blowby?

I guess the next step for me is a compression test to see whats going on in the block.

Mike Crone

How did you make out with compression test make out, my car does the same as yours to a tee, I would like to hear how you make out....

ULTM8Z

I think a leak down test will be more perceptive in finding the issue. Basic principle fill cylinder with compressed and then listen for where it could be leaking. If you hear hissing out the intake manifold (open throttle blades to listen), it's the intake valve. Hissing out the exhaust is the exhaust valve. Hissing from the crank case (pull out the PCV valve to listen), its the rings.

http://www.hotrod.com/how-to/engine/...akdown-tester/


Several years ago I was battling a very stubborn idle misfire. Turned out I had stuck piston rings on the #7 cylinder which I found using a leak down test. Fortunately a bottle of oil additive solved the problem.