I rolled my truck and it was laying on the passenger side for about 12 hours before I got it up and out. I already know I bent a couple push rods because I tried cranking it when there was oil in the cylinders but I have no idea the origin of my other problem. I get about 8 miles to the gallon and my exhaust pops frequently when idle. I'd like to get better gas mileage until I get a new 302 put in her. If anybody has any ideas on what to do, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

You say that you have two bent push rods - how do you know this?

And if you hydrolocked your engine (definitely possible given your description), it's much more likely that you have one or more damaged connecting rods.

And you're still driving it this way? I'm not optimistic that there is anything that can be done at this point if hydrolocking did occur - that usually means it's engine rebuild time, period.

The best thing in this kind of situation (engine tipover, engine sat in high water, etc) is to pull the spark plugs before attempting to crank the engine over. But that's 20/20 hindsight at this point, although hopefully it will be helpful to somebody who reads this in the future.

 

Yeah, I pulled the spark plugs and cranked it to get the oil out of the cylinders and I replaced all the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and the distributor. I believe I might have bent a push rod or two from trying to crank it before I took the spark plugs out... What exactly does "Hydrolocked" mean?

 

basically means you got liquid in the combustion chamber and when the piston tried to go to the top of the stroke it stopped (locked) due to the fact that liquids like oil and water do not compress much at all. Air does.

 

then because of that you typically break connecting rods and or crack pistons. Or all of the above or worse if it happens while the engine is at higher rpms under load. Then bad bad things happen.

 

I'm not afraid that I hurt my engine too bad because it still runs excellent... The exhaust just pops and I get bad gas mileage. You think it'll last long?

 

The percentage of compression for liquids is less than 1%....Just a handy tip...

^I'm in Hyrdaulics class at the moment, and retained that lil tidbit...


I gonna be edjamuhkated...

 

Could have a hole in a piston head. Take out your oil dipstick and see if you smell gas.

 

Do a compression test and a leakdown test and go from there.

 

hey i just did hydraulics too! lol

 

It's running perfect today and the only thing I did was change the starter, I know that would likely have no effect on how well it runs but I'm almost positive that all I did was bend a push rod or two because a very small amount of oil got into one or two cyinders and I may have fouled an injector or two, if I fouled an injector would that be the reason for my popping in the exhaust and bad gas mileage?

 

Read post #9. Unless you remove and do a roll-check on every one, you have no way of knowing you bent a pushrod. You're assuming. It's doubtful oil caused any problems with the fuel injectors, its usually solid debris and carbon that clogs them. You may have a bent exhaust valve not completely sealing. That would cause low compression, high fuel consumption (as the intake charge is blown past the leaking valve) and the popping in the exhaust. A compression and leakdown test will tell you these things.

 

That answers my question perfectly! I've been looking all over the internet for an explanation, I'll give those a check and do the appropriate tests.