The engine in my '84 T/A has about 150-160K on it right now. For the past few years I've been having valve stem seal leakage so whenever I start the car I get a puff of smoke from the exhaust for a few seconds, then it clears away.

The other day however when I started the engine the puff of smoke didn't go away. The engine also had trouble idling.

I haven't had a chance to look under the hood to see if it could be anything else, but I'm guessing that I've finally lost one of the rings on one of my cylinders. But just in case, I'd like to ask- is it possible that something else has gone out that would display these symptoms?

Thanks!

 

Sucking oil through an old or unsealed intake gasket could happen. I thought that was the case for me, but it was the rings. New engine for me with 135k on the odometer.

 

Yea- I'm going to pull the plugs and do a compression test this weekend. I'm willing to bet that I'm going to find that at least one cylinder isn't going to have much compression at all.

But when it happened to you, was it a 'overnight' thing? If it was a gasket or worn ring I would think the problem would gradually appear. Now if a ring broke, then I would expect this....