My new 390 with 2500 miles is using ( I guess) a pint of oil every 100 miles.
I have no intake leaks, no valve cover leaks, no pan leaks, no front or rear crank leaks. It does not smoke, Timing is set at 12btdc,The plugs are tan to light tan, The tail pipes are black and sooty looking at the ends. My mileage dropped to 15. All I can think of is the right side head is pooling and the pcv is sucking it in. I have the Ford racing valve covers with baffles but the baffles run up and down with openings at the top and bottom. All I can think of is to put my half valve covers on this week end and watch it, rev it up and see if this is it. Can I run my pvc off the left side valve cover and put my breather cap on the right side to check this? Any and all ideas welcome, Thanks Charles

 

Yes you can put the PCV on the left (Drivers side). If you do find that there is a lot of oil pooling in the heads you may want to restrict the flow to the valves and/or inlarge the drain back holes.I find it very strange that ford put 1/2" drain holes in both ends of the head and then stuck a head bolt right through them. Kinda defeats the purpose!

 

Thanks Randyb12, I,ll switch the pvc and drive it tomorrow. I will still pull the valve cover this weekend even if it does not use oil to see whats up. Thanks charles

 

While you have the valve covers off, take a light and look inside the springs to see if any of the valve seals is out of place. Nobody would actually forget to install the valve seals would they?

 

My 390 used to use about 1- 2 quarts every 1000 miles. A 1000 miles is a much needed oil change in my rig. I do not know how the current overhaul is, but i bet i am still losing some oil.

Hard to explain a pint every 100 miles, with no leaks. It has to be burning or going out the exhaust.

I have seen broken ring lands on cast pistons, i have seen a piston installed with any oil ring whatsoever. I would be checking the rings or compression/leak down and those valve seals.

ps you got any more charity $?

 

my guess is the rings are not yet seated all the way and still need some time or the oil is going past the valve guides.

 

Bdox, I'll check the valve seals

Ford390gashog, I hope they are just not seated yet. I have been driving it real easy.

Fordeverpower, I changed the oil and filter after the cam break in and every 500 miles after. I,ll give it some more miles before I do a compression test. But it will get one now. Oh and no more charity money but I could highly recommend one super honest person I know.

Thanks every one, I,ll keep this updated. Charles

 

What oil are you running in it?

 

Rottelo 15-40. I think I may have figured it out. When I assembled the valve train I put both of them facing the same way towards the front of the engine. According to Steve Christ I should have the notch on the right side down and towards the front and the left side notch down and towards the back. I bet I put both of them down and towards the back. I,ll pull the valve covers and put my half valve covers on this weekend and check for pooling. If I have pooling I,ll pull the right rocker assembly and dissasemble it and see if I installed it correctly. I dont know if it facing backwards will cause pooling or not but that is my assumption today.
New Stock melling oil pump
New stock TRW rocker shafts
Stock stands
Dove roller rockers
spring spacers
Crane pushrods
No oiling mods in or out
D2te-aa heads
Ford racing valve covers with baffles but the baffles run up and down with the baffle openings at the top and bottom so it looks like to me it could suck up oil if pooled in the head
The pvs vacum line to the carb is damp with oil not running out of it when I pulled it off
I switched the pcv to the left side and breather to the right so this may narrow it down as to pooling
Good luck with your head rebuild job, Charles

 

What notch? I didn't know there was a difference from side to side. I thought you just wanted to be sure that the oil holes were down. If it pools above the valve guides then it will pull oil down the intake valve guides. It can pull a fair amount of oil without noticable smoking....through the valve guides or the pcv valve.

Tracy

 

Falconstng, The original rocker shafts I took out have 2 sets of oiling holes in them. One set goes straight down and they have a notch cut across them at an angle and another set 1/4 inch away with no notch. The rocker shafts also have one notch cut into one end of them. This notch in the end keeps the second set of holes facing towards the pushrods if it is installed correctly. I may not have installed my right side correctly. Charles

 

He is correct I had to disassemble my right side assembly the first time around to get it together correctly.. and it was quite amazing how much easier it was to assemble when done correctly ...pphhbbtt... freekn book!! LOL actually it's always my impatience thats gets me in trouble hahaha..

 

Thanks for the information. I've had tons of problems with pooling as have others that got their rocker assemblies from DSC. I managed to almost eliminate my issue by restricting the oil flow to the top, however I still want to get to the bottom of what is going on with my rockers. I plan to pull them back off and disassemble along with disassembling the original rockers I have and try to see what's wrong. What you are talking about might be part of my issue too.

Thanks again,

Tracy

 

This is all in Steve Christs book, under chapter 6 Cylinder head reconditioning. rocker arm assemblies pages 114 and 115. I was told to read this book cover to cover 3 times before I started to work on my engine. I did. I still missed this part. Maybe I should have read it 4 times. I think the best I can hope for is to someday work my way UP to a shade tree fe mechanic. Seems like the more I learn the dumber I get, now how does that work in the scheme of things. Thanks every one I'll keep this updated. Charles

 

That's true Charles, remember when you were sixteen and knew everything.