Hey all, I found out today that my 350 was running WAY advanced. I mean I put the timing light on it and the timing mark on the balancer was pointing straight up!!!! It has been like this now for about 150 miles or so.( thats all the motor has on it) It has been burning oil for a while and now I feel it is related to this. How can I check for damage. I replaced the cap, rotor, plugs and wires and set the timing correctly. I found the distributor came loose causing the over advancement) she runs like a top now but still smokes. I am swapping intake manifolds tomorrow to put on a 650 holley. So I can check things while I am there. The compression is great all cylinders are almost the same. I originally thought the manifold was leaking causing the burning oil so we shall see tomorrow. Let me know what you guys think.


Bill

 

Holes in pistons or burnt pistons maybe, that is if you were really running that far advanced. Did you have any detonation problems?

 

Could maybe be the wrong timing tab on the cover.

 

Could also be a sliped outer ring on the balancer but if the oil started burning after the timing was advanced you motor is most likely toast. You could pick up a bore scope that fits in the spark plug holes if you really want to look in side but those can get kinda pricy for something that is most likly gonna be a toasted piston.

 

It has smoked pretty much from the start though.Actually the car ran great untill the cap and rotor failed. A bit on startup and then not much while dring only if you sit for a while. The little button inside the cap that connects the rotor to the coil broke and caused a no start condition. Will a toast piston show up on a compression test? if so I will redo it this weekend. Thanks for the input.

 

Yes do a compression test and leakdown test if you can.

 

I will do both today and post my results. Thanks for the help guys.