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I just recently purchased a 1962 Oldsmobile 98. The guy I bought it from said the engine had been rebuilt but it was rebuilt about four years ago and has had less than 100 miles put on it since rebuild. It starts up runs and everything but it smokes, my question is, is it the fact that the seals have not set or is it the fact that they are dry from not being run so much that would be causing it to smoke? I need to do some work on the carb , but I’m not sure about valve guides and stuff like it will they come back or is it piston rings that have not seated and will it stop
I just recently purchased a 1962 Oldsmobile 98. The guy I bought it from said the engine had been rebuilt but it was rebuilt about four years ago and has had less than 100 miles put on it since rebuild. It starts up runs and everything but it smokes, my question is, is it the fact that the seals have not set or is it the fact that they are dry from not being run so much that would be causing it to smoke? I need to do some work on the carb , but I’m not sure about valve guides and stuff like it will they come back or is it piston rings that have not seated and will it stop
Brad, you did post in the "Newbie Forum" to introduce yourself. That was good.
Now you started a thread to get some wisdom and help. Thats good. Others will chime in and provide wisdom and help. There are some very knowledgeable Olds people here.
Did you notice it smoking before you bought it ? How much smoke are we talking ? Where is the smoke coming from that you are observing ? From the tail pipe ? From under the hood ? From under the body ? From the "road draft tube" ? Piston compression rings can take a while to seat. Piston oil scraper rings should seat fairly soon.
Was there attention to the heads done ? Were the valve seals replaced ? Were the valve guides checked for wear ? Were any valve guides replaced ? Were any valve springs replaced ?
Hay Ralph. Yes, I originally posted it in the newbie area was unsure where to start posting got told to post it somewhere else and that area is used for introducing myself lol.
For the car unsure how much went into the rebuild? I have not taken valve covers or anything off to look. It’s far as I know of it was a basic rebuild so that could just mean rings, crank bearings and so forth. Not sure if it had a top in redone as for the smoke. It is coming from the tailpipe a little bit comes from the filler tube where you put the oil into the crank, but I know that common some of it is from the need of adjusting their fuel mixture, but, I do know I have what I am expecting to be a rear main seal leak from sitting does not seem to use all when idling, but got it a few days ago thought I’d drive it to work and back to see what kind of bugs it might have in it and used approximately 3 quarts of oil to my surprise for the car. The guy that sold it to me knew it would smoke a little bit. His relative is the one that rebuilt it and he purchased it from his relative for approximately four years ago said he would start it up every now and then and throw it to the store. I think twice but never got around to anything with it. I paid over 4000 for it sound like it ran. I heard it running didn’t see it smoking looked at it while it was running seem to be pretty good.
As for the amount of smoke coming out of it, it was not quite Cheech and Chong amount, but it was enough to get the guy that works with me, saying something about it when I got to work after you passed me and enough for me to notice it in the rearview When it’s sitting and running it doing about the same thing hard to tell with the wind behind you kind of mix it in with the air and when it’s sitting , it doesn’t really mix if you know what I mean
Last edited by Brad6298; Nov 19, 2024 at 05:57 PM.
Reason: Use talk to text and got incorrect spelling on word need to change it
Could be a few things but X3 on checking the valve seals and oil returns in the head. Rings may not be seated.
Do a compression test or leak down test and borescope the cylinders to look for cross hatch or scoring. Unfortunately there are unknowns about the rebuild and to some a rebuild can be thorough and meticulous disassembly and build or it could mean a tune-up.
Most importantly don't let it run low on oil. Let us know what you find.
Thanks all of y’all for the advice it’s going to be a couple of days before I can get back to the 98 I work night shift and got to work the next couple of nights so hopefully this weekend I’ll get back to everyone on what I find till then I will keep starting and letting her run and going to monitor the oil consumption I’ve been using a high zinc oil and put some sea foam in the gas to help clean the internal parts of the carburetor
But the smoking is getting lighter ( the car that is ) checked and cleans the plugs and adjusted the carburetor has helped. Still need a carburetor rebuild and still got a vibration from the rear end somewhere
But the smoking is getting lighter ( the car that is ) checked and cleans the plugs and adjusted the carburetor has helped. Still need a carburetor rebuild and still got a vibration from the rear end somewhere
Good to hear it's doing better.
For that vibration in the rear, check the U joints for wear or looseness .
Also have both rear wheels re-balanced and check for wheel bearing looseness or leaking oil,
Make sure the driveshaft is not bent or damaged,
And lastly, check the differential oil level .
Hay Charlie thanks for the link. Going to get her rear end in the air here the next long week end I have, and look around under there. I had my rear end go out on my truck. Knew it was by the way it sounded, this is kind of making close to the same sound. However I’m going to start with the smaller stuff before I start to dig into it.
