I have a problem with my 88 GTA tpi car. A few times while driving, my PCV valve has pushed out of the valve cover when pushing the car hard. Now that I got that fixed by putting electrical tape around the outside of it, (which will now NEVER come off ), my dipstick for the oil pops out sometimes when the car is pushed hard. It spits oil all over the one side of the engine. Im wondering what could be the problem here. Is the oil pressure too high for some reason or what could be going on? I hope someone can help me out with this soon. I hate driving down the road and suddenly I have smoke spurting from my engine bay because oil has spewed all over the engine and then I gotta go buy more. Thanks

 

the problem is you have too much pressure in the crankcase. there could be a few causes of this. one is that the piston rings are just worn and cause too much blowby, thus giving you higher pressure.

The most likely cause is that one of the pcv hoses is partially clogged. I'd take the hoses off and take a good look at them.

 

like he said , if it aint the hose's its gonna be blowbye

 

would maybe just changing the pcv valve help with this problem? Is there a way to check if it is bad? I have the digital dash on the GTA and ever since I got it 2 months ago, whenever Im driving the oil pressure gauge reads over the 60 so I cant even see the meter. When Im at idle though I think it is around 30 or so. This problem just started happening about a week or 2 ago so Im not sure what is wrong. So I guess if my piston rings are worn, I need to take the block apart and fix that then right? So is it bad to have too much blowby then, or can it wait till I get the money to rebuild the engine? Thanks for the help so far. BTW, would you care to elaborate on the other causes of too much pressure in the crankcase. You only gave me one so possibly there could be something else behind it then too.

 

Try changing the pcv valve, they ar cheap. Do you have, a breather type cap on the other valve cover..if not you may want to try that..or an open element type.......PCV in one cover, breather in the other. This might help.
Make sure the oil level is correct and not over full.

 

the best way to test a pcv valve is just take it out and look at it. make sure there isnt a bunch of sludge all over it. Shake it next to your ear, you should hear the little valve thing rattling around.

the reason you'd get higher pressure if your pcv system is clogged up is because it naturally isnt venting the crankcase gases like it should.

A pcv valve is nothing real complicated, just a hunk of metal in a tube. About the only thing that can go wrong with them is if you dont change your oil very often, then sludge can deposit in there and freeze it up. Even if that happend you could just wash it in solvent and you'd be ready to go. But since they only cost about $2 it dosnt really matter.

I've only seen one pcv valve actually get froze up. My neighbor brought his cutlass over and started asking me how much i'd charge to rebuild his engine. I should of just said 3 grand or something and left it at that but i too a look at the car. It was running rough and i noticed the air cleaner was filthy, so i assumed he never changed the oil either. So as just an educated guess i took the pcv out and saw it was pretty clogged up. i just blew into it and tapped it on the pavement a few times then put it back on the engine. The car ran fine after that. I told him to buy a new pcv valve and the diagnostic would be $20 as a joke. He paid me a twenty right there on the spot, there's something wrong with that guy.

Anyway, sure check the pcv, but it's actually more likely one of the hoses is clogged with something. Just take them off, maybe blow compressed air through them, or just buy some new hose; it's cheap.

As far as piston rings, just do a compresion check on them if it comes to that. if your car burns oil it'd be a fair bet thats what the problem is.