Heya y'all
I would thanks to everyone in the past for tips and input for all of my past problems. This forum has been a wealth of information.

Here is the problem at hand. I have no compression. I added oil reconnected the compression tester and compression went up to 55lbs In cyl #10. The truck has always had a tick. Now it lacks power and blows a bluish grey smoke. I have recently replaced both exhaust manifolds and checked all the studs.

What next, replace engine or start tearing it down to find out if its a bent rod or valve and get heads planned for rebuild.

I have a very good family friend with a scrap yard that has 2 municipal busses in his yard with v10's. I am not sure of there age, mileage or running condition.

I will leave it up to the pro's for a little advice. BTW I have reeplaced the head gasket on a V6 minivan wich was a PIA but got it done. I realize this is a different Beast and on top of that a plow truck (rusty). So what do y'all think?

SM

 

Pull the valve cover, we've heard of rocker arms falling off, could very well be your issue

 

Ty Mike will do that and get back to you.
SM

 

Just got the valve cover off, no rockers fell off. I clearly hear a tapping sound at cyl #10. Do I remove the head or is there a way to inspect valve n push rods with the head on?
SM

 

Without being able to hear it I would guess that maybe you have a very valve. One other check to make is remove the oil filler cap and with the truck in gear and the brakes locked step on the gas, if you get a large of what we used to call blow by (oil vapor) coming out of the cap you are blowing compression into the crankcase, bad rings or piston. Before you put the valve cover back on make sure the valves on that cylinder going up and down. Good luck

Denny

 

Ty Denny, lifters seem to be fine, checked for blow back, I do not see any. I just did another dry compression test 60 lbs. what is the compression supposed to be? Some times I do get a tapping sound by cyl 10 , this time I did not. The top bar running across the head, it seams like some sort of balancer has a little play and I think also causes a little tapping sound too. I checked for blow back out of the oil fill cap and did not see any. I also have blue smoke out and a small amount of water and black stuff coming out the tail pipe.
SM

 

I'm not sure what the compression is suppose to be but 60 is low, I would guess like I said before you have a burnt valve. Unless you have a bore scope the only way to tell for sure is pull the head.

Denny

 

Is there a online service Manuel to remove heads? If not can anyone suggest a good store bought Manuel.
SM

 

I know that there are a few on this forum that have removed the heads hopefully they will jump in here and give you some advice, I have never had to take either one my V10s apart so I'm not much help there.

One piece of advice I will give you is don't buy any parts until you have taken it apart and see what the problem is. In the late 70s we had a Triumph Spitfire and that had a low compression on one cylinder, I squirting oil in the cylinder to see if it was a valve or not and everything pointed to a valve but when I pulled the head I found that the wrist pin walked out and wore a grove in the cylinder wall. So you never know for sure until it's apart, at least the V10 is a common motor 1500cc Triumph motors aren't.

Denny

 

I'm with Denny, you probably have a burnt valve. I would still get a bore scope and try to check it out before removing heads

 

How about trying an old hand trick with a dollar bill.
Take a dollar, hold it on the end with your fingers & then stick it down next to edge of the tail pipe. If its steady blowing & dollar bill is standing out from the exhaust, its ok, but if its trying to suck that dollar back into the pipe, burnt or stuck open valve or valves.
Neil

 

Thats a fact....Have done that before.

 

Ty for all the replies to date. I can't do the dollar bill trick, one of the heads is allready removed. I see no scars on the cylinders. The suspect valves are not in good shape, they are not smooth at the seat. I still need to remove them and check if they are straight. Should I remove engine and rip it down to do a total inspection of the block, pistons,rings, cam and bearings?
SM

 

Here are some photos of my valves an seats. I do not have a pic of the intake seat but it is a bit pitted.

 

I removed the block and other head the other day. A visual inspection of the block seems ok, no cylinder scoring. I removed the passenger side head and found a few more bad valve seats. I also found a broken washer wedged between the valve and seat.
$$ is a huge factor in what i do next. I am hoping my pistons, rings and bottom end of the motor are good. I was planning to send heads out to be refinished and just put it all back together again.
some folks have told me just go get another motor and throw it in, but i am worried about getting someone else problems.
So here I am again, what would the more experienced say to do, I want to do what will be the most reasonable but give me what I have always wanted, a good running V10.
SM