In an effort to solve my new crate motor oil burning problem I have been trying a few different things. Most recently I plugged the breather on the pass side valve cover and let the PCV pull a good vacuum on the crankcase. This finally resulted in reduced observed oil burning in the exhaust. Can I permanently run the
car like this?

 

i wouldnt... The breaher needs to be open so all the blowby can be removed from the crank case and burned. Did you break the motoer in properly? New motors will burn a little excess oil untill broken in. Not enough to be seen in the exaust, though.

 

Give the motor 500 to 1,000 miles before you start bitching about it burning oil
Then if it is still using oil, go to the place that you bought it from and start bitching.
I don't mean to flame you or anything, but give the rings a chance to seat. Usually that takes about 500 to 1,000 miles of easy operation. No FTA's, No constant speed, Moderate throttle pedal. Basically drive it like your Grandma would
Good luck and have fun when your motor is ready to have fun

 

Motor went through the correct break in procedure
and visibly burns oil (seen in exhaust). I can't
see that there would be much blowby accumulating
in crankcase if the motor is able to maintain the
high vacuum condition. My other concern would be
damage to any of the major engine seals such as
front/rear mains, intake, oil pan, etc....

 

The problem is that with a vacuum on the crankcase the blowby isn't replaced with clean air. The only thing that can get into the vacuumed crankcase is more blowby. With it hooked up correct, clean air is allowed in as the blowby is sucked out. Send it back or pull it apart and see what is going on.

 

Could be and intake manifold leak, sucking oil in the ports from
the lifter galley below. Be sure the pcv port on the valve cover is baffled so it doesn't suck up oil from the rockers.
Lots of aftermarket covers have this problem.

 

82camaro, good point. Therefore an ever increasing
amount of blowby would accumulate until equilibrium was achieved. At an elevated level I guess oil contamination could be a problem. But
since I drive the car only 1000 miles a season maybe a extra oil change is all thats needed. I know this not addressing the real problem but
I am just trying to buy some time.....