Any other way to tell if you have broken piston rings other than a Comp. test?

[IDIDieselJohn]

Gonna be storing my van for winter in the next few weeks, so still trying to figure out it's oil burning problem witch isn't consistent.


Something tells me broken piston rings, because it's only been burning this massive amount of oil after I did the head gaskets, when I had the heads off, I cleaned out the cylinders, and probably some crap got down between the cylinder walls and piston, and when I fired it up, it broke some rings?


Sometimes driving down the road, it'll randomly start pouring blue smoke, and smells like oil very badly, but it comes out in quick puffs, consistent with RPM.


But if I did have broken rings, would there be a tell sign of that? Odd noises or something?

Engine has no blow by, runs smooth, and fires right up instantly like it did this morning at 10*F!


Could a valve seal be torn, and dumping oil down the valve at random times??? I did not change the seals when I had the heads off.... yea I know idiot me.


Just trying to get ideas as this has been bothering me all summer, it eats 2 quarts of oil every 300 miles or so, and I done 10,000 miles so far this summer with it in about 6-7 months...

 

[S-west]

Sounds exactly like what my truck did. Then I blew a headgasket and am still in the process of putti g I tack together. But i always had 420-450 psi compression in each cylinder and the valve seals where almost nonexistent, so I'm hoping that was the problem... With mine anyways

 

[icanfixall]

Its not a broken ring. Its got to be something like a cdr or a valve stem seal. Suddenly the soulda woulda comes back to bite you.

 

[jaluhn83]

Broken ring would have massive blowby I would think. Can't see how something left on the cylinder wall could break a ring either.

My guess is either you have a shot valve seal or something else got messed up during the head job. Can't think off hand what would do that though.....

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

CDR is literally brand new, I taught that was it as well. Made 0 difference.



I did have the heads cleaned when I had 'em at the machine shop, and I think they use some kind of acid or solvent, maybe it destroyed the old seals? Only thing I can think of.

 

[riotwarrior]

CDR is literally brand new, I taught that was it as well. Made 0 difference.



I did have the heads cleaned when I had 'em at the machine shop, and I think they use some kind of acid or solvent, maybe it destroyed the old seals? Only thing I can think of.

What does cleaned mean?

To me cleaned is all valves marked removed and heads broken down and placed in a hot tank or similar apparatus. Washed in hot water and then blown dry. That's to me cleaned so what is it they did....

Kind of difficult to inspect a head when it's dropped in a solvent bath and washed and blown off. No idea what's going on guide wise or seal wise...

JM2CW

What did they do for your hard earned $$$

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

They cracked checked 'em, vacuum test the valves, re-surfaced 'em (both were warped) and cleaned it. No not take it all apart, that would of cost alot more, and quite frankly, the van isn't worth it to go that extra mile in head work.

 

[icanfixall]

They cracked checked 'em, vacuum test the valves, re-surfaced 'em (both were warped) and cleaned it. No not take it all apart, that would of cost alot more, and quite frankly, the van isn't worth it to go that extra mile in head work.

To be able to do all this the heads must be broken down. Cleaned. And then machined. Now "IF" all this work was done with the heads in a complete assembled state I just have to fly the flag... This can't be done safely

 

[Knuckledragger]

If the heads were resurfaced, the valves were removed. Could be the exhaust valves never got stem seals replaced. That would explain the huge amount of oil smoke (scavenged from the rocker area) and smooth running otherwise.

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

Non of the seals were replaced, I had 'em all home.


I just hope that's it, cause otherwise, this is a great engine.

 

[dgr]

Wait a minute. You brought bare heads to the shop? Then they were already broken down. You can't have had your valve seals at home without pulling the retainers.

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

No, I brought the heads complete to the shop. It's the new seals witch I have, witch I never installed, but I should of.

 

[icanfixall]

Ok.. Now it clear. You can install new seals with the heads on the engine. But you will need the special tool made for that job. If interested I have that tool. Please pm me for details about using it.

 

[IDIDieselJohn]

Thanks for the offer, but I have that valve spring removal tool now as well. I used it on my 300 straight 6 when I did the head gasket on it. Did the valve seals on that one, not gonna make that mistake twice!