400 oil problems
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 187
Likes: 4
400 oil problems
Any idea for me to look into? I have a 400 in my pick up and I have oil spraying out of the exhaust. I have another thread on here thinking about swapping it out to a 460 that I have in my shed, but if it is simple enough to fix this and swap some parts on to get a little more oomph I might go that route.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 1,661
Likes: 1,062
From: Montana
If you have oil in the exhaust I'm thinking your valve guides and seals are the primary culprit. That's the easiest way for oil to get into the combustion chamber and exhaust runners.
If they're worn that bad I'm thinking a total rebuild is in order since the cylinders are likely worn and will need to be bored as well.
You would need to do some additional diagnostics and likely just tear the engine down for inspection to really see what you have to work with.
If you already have a donor 460, accessory brackets, motor mounts, oil pan that'll fit your truck, flywheel or flexplate depending on transmission, headers or manifolds that will work with your truck, dropping in the 460 would be fairly straightforward.
If you don't have all the things necessary to make it work, make sure you consider the cost of acquiring those items when comparing prices to a full rebuild of your 400. The 460 also weighs almost 200# more which is another consideration.
If they're worn that bad I'm thinking a total rebuild is in order since the cylinders are likely worn and will need to be bored as well.
You would need to do some additional diagnostics and likely just tear the engine down for inspection to really see what you have to work with.
If you already have a donor 460, accessory brackets, motor mounts, oil pan that'll fit your truck, flywheel or flexplate depending on transmission, headers or manifolds that will work with your truck, dropping in the 460 would be fairly straightforward.
If you don't have all the things necessary to make it work, make sure you consider the cost of acquiring those items when comparing prices to a full rebuild of your 400. The 460 also weighs almost 200# more which is another consideration.
Thread Starter
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Mountain Pass
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 187
Likes: 4
seems to be in pretty good shape sounds good, starts right up idles smooth...
Hotshot
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 10,748
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From: The Shenandoah Valley
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Hotshot
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 10,326
Likes: 2,585
From: Near Salt Lake City
A good valve job
And
Have bronze valve guides installed and machine them for the valve stem seals that have the spring that holds them down in place on the new bronze guide
That has been the fix for Cleveland head oil consumption for years and years
Expensive, but worth it
And
Have bronze valve guides installed and machine them for the valve stem seals that have the spring that holds them down in place on the new bronze guide
That has been the fix for Cleveland head oil consumption for years and years
Expensive, but worth it
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Cargo Master
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 2,541
Likes: 321
From: Harned, Ky
Pull the valve covers and check the oil drain back holes at each end of the head for blockage, it’s likely some pieces of the old rubber umbrella seals have broken off and plugged or restricted the oil drains
This will cause oil flooding in the heads allowing oil the leak past the valve guides and be blown unburned out the exhaust
This will cause oil flooding in the heads allowing oil the leak past the valve guides and be blown unburned out the exhaust
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