Good plan!

 

If you're getting a puff of smoke on startup, I'd check those drainback holes under the valve covers before changing the oil- oil puddling under the covers can run down the guides after shutoff, and make it smoke on startup- and have goo all over the valve stems, back of the valve heads, and the seats- which doesn't help your compression problem. Then go for the good detergent oil, and Seafoam in the oil & gas- might bring that critter back better than you'd expect.
If the drains are clogged, they won't open themselves up no matter how many times you change the oil- and the gaskets are only a few bux

 

If it stay's in this condition, you may have gotten lucky. I'd suggest Changing the valve seals.

 

Grandpa may have attended some of the same classes as I did in the old school.

I suspected the truck had been sitting for a while, and is a little gummed up.


Have fun.




John

 

Well, the smoke has returned, so today I went out and pulled the valve covers. The valves over cylinders 1-7 looked real good, but the one over No 8 looked awful. You can see it in this picture:



My guess is oil is leaking down into the cylinder (via a worn valve guide), getting burned, and then some gunk is getting blown back out. Does that sound about right? BTW, the No 8 cylinder was the one that kept fouling it's plug with oil.

Also, the inside of the valve cover (right over No 8) was coated with a 1/8th to a 1/4 inch of yellowish gunk, it looks almost like petrolium jelly. Is it anything to worry about?



Sam

 

"If you're getting a puff of smoke on startup, I'd check those drainback holes under the valve covers before changing the oil- oil puddling under the covers can run down the guides after shutoff, and make it smoke on startup- and have goo all over the valve stems, back of the valve heads, and the seats- which doesn't help your compression problem. Then go for the good detergent oil, and Seafoam in the oil & gas- might bring that critter back better than you'd expect.
If the drains are clogged, they won't open themselves up no matter how many times you change the oil- and the gaskets are only a few bux"

Any time you've got an oil drainback problem, the back cylinders are the first to oil up, simple gravity as the engine sits tilted down to the back in the vehicle- except some T-Birds & such. Hard to see the drainback hole back there under the booster, but it's probably at least partially blocked and puddling the oil. A little work with a screwdriver and some clean rags will get most of it out, and poke the screwdriver down in the hole as far as you can. The oil seal isn't designed to work "underwater", and if the cover floods, it can't control it and the oil runs down the guide- especially after you shut it off. It's also pretty easy to change the seal without pulling the head if necessary, but you haven't tried just cleaning the thing up and Seafoaming it yet- don't be in a hurry to go to major surgery before giving it a chance- many an FE has suffered the clogged drainback syndrome and come back with a little elbow grease. Clean the crap out of the valve covers, too, plain condensation can cause that, especially in an engine that's just been started and not run long enough to build the heat to burn it off- and the vapor condenses in the covers. Clean everything you can reach by hand, and let the detergents & Seafoam help you

 

Ok, thanks. Sorry though, I'm having a tough time getting over the rings/valves thing, partially because its what most of my friends/family have been saying about it. I'll have to go out and clean those drain back holes this afternoon, I would've cleaned them but couldn't find them. (for some reason I thought they were part of the valve covers... I understand now) What you said makes sense though, I took it for a drive the other day and it didn't smoke at all going downhill (which suprized me), only a tiny bit on level ground, but as soon as I started uphill it really started letting out a fair sized blue cloud, and then it stopped once it leveled out.
I gave those valve covers a really good cleaning, inside and out.
I'll try the seafoam soon, too, but will it make it smoke while it cleans it? I might have to take it down to the industrial district and do it there.

Thanks

Sam

 

You'll be able to see the valve stem seal inside the valve spring. The drain back holes on the heads will drain to a valley pan which is located a few inches under the intake manifold. More than likely(the valley pan) covered with crusted up oil sludge like your #8 cylinder.

I'll recommend using a wet vac to clean the oil drain-back holes in the heads otherwise more pieces of the deteriorated valve stem seals will fall through. If that's all your going to do.

The milky sludge in the valve cover, though; Head gasket ?? Rotted intake ??

 

The drainback holes do NOT drain to the valley pan- the tins under the rockers drain directly to the tin pan area, between the intake ports, but there is a hole at each end of the head at the lowest point that drains down- the oil flows down, around the upper end head bolt, and out into each corner of the the valley beneath the tin pan. If you look at the front of the head under the cover, you'll see that hole- there's another at the rear of the head, and that's the one that typically clogs up from dirty oil, around town driving, etc. When it clogs, the oil builds up to the level of the tins between the ports before it can escape into the valley, and the rearmost valvestems are then "underwater". If you had a set of covers with the tops cut out, you could see it happen- but I'd bet there's a half-shotglass full of crud in that lower head/drainback area clogging up the works. Do you have a long-handled mirror?
Don't worry about the doom-and-gloomers yet, always try the simple stuff first- crud inside can make an otherwise good engine act bad- put it through rehab and give it a chance
You might also want to check the condition of the rocker shafts & rockers, too, if they're worn and have too much clearance, they will leak out more oil than the drainback holes can handle, and again, flood the rear of the covers- but your up & downhill experience points towards a case of "the clogs". If the shafts/ rockers are loose, and the drains are clean, it'll smoke a little all the time, but only after you've driven it about 10 minutes and the covers fill up. After cleaning the goop, change the oil right away after a quick warm-up to get the rest of the loose stuff out
When you Seafoam it, be prepared to change the filter a couple times real quick, as soon as the oil looks dirty, so the filter doesn't clog up and bypass

 

I went out there this afternoon and cleaned out the drain port, and you were right, there was about a half a shot glass of crud in there and I ran a piece of brass wire down the hole to pick out some of the crud in there. I painted the valve covers though, so I'll wait till tomorrow to put the whole thing back together.

Thanks

Sam

 

I went out there this afternoon and cleaned out the drain port, and you were right, there was about a half a shot glass of crud in there and I ran a piece of brass wire down the hole to pick out some of the crud in there. I painted the valve covers though, so I'll wait till tomorrow to put the whole thing back together.

Sam

 

Good job ! Let us know how you make out.

 

You might have to work at it a bit to get the passage cleaned out towards the bottom where it dumps into the valley, as the oil runs around the head bolt inside a bored hole, so the passage isn't very wide- and that's where the clog starts. I have good luck, after getting everything out that I can by hand, using an air blowgun with a rubber tip, stuck in the drain hole and gently applied- unless you just like grease polka dots on everything. If you don't get a hole all the way through the gunk, it'll still back up on you. Once you get it open so the hot, fresh detergent oil and Seafoam can flow, they'll do the rest

 

Ok, thanks everyone! I think I got the passage cleaned out pretty good, I was thinking that compressed air would have done the trick, but I don't have a compressor, so I just used a piece of wire.

I took it for a drive and no smoke at all! I gave it a workout too, (I took it over the same route as before) and on the hill I could smell it burning some oil, but one of my valve cover bolts was leaking a little onto the exhaust manifold, so that was probably part of it. I'll change the oil and seafoam it the first chance I get!
Needless to say I'm happy! Its amazing what just a little bit of crud in the wrong place can do. I think you guys have saved me a few hundred bucks though, so I think I owe every one here a big thank you!

Sam

 

So much for the doom-and-gloomers, eh? Always try the KISS principle stuff first- Keep It Simple, Stupid
If you go on Seafoam's website, you'll find directions for the top-end treatment that will clean up the valves & chambers- gotta be a lot of carbon in there. One can for the top end, one in the oil and start changing filters real quick
When you fire it up after the the top-end treatment, it's gonna smoke like hell for a while, maybe 15 minutes- but it'll stop when all the gunk gets burned out, and it should run better overall with the valves cleaned up