cluelesscutlass

ive got oil coming out of the dip stick and its alot. the rubber seal on the dip stick is chewed up but i dont think that much oil should be coming out.. the car has been sitting for a while and i just started driving it around. its a 72 cutlass 350. any ideas

AZ455

Is the PCV system working? Make sure the PCV valve is not stuck closed, and that the breather on the other valve cover is hooked up.

Also may be caused by blow by. Might want to do a compression test.

If you find a cylinder that has low compression, try doing a wet test on that cylinder (squirt some oil in through the plug hole and re-test). If the compression of that cylinder comes up it's likely that the piston rings are allowing excessive blow by back into the crankcase.

cluelesscutlass

the pcv valve is rattling so i think its good. i pulled the breather off the other side and it is nasty dirty clogged. ill do a compression asap.

oldcutlass

When the your engine is completely warmed up and idling, pull the breather out and observe how much smoke is emitting from where breather sits, or you can pull off your oil fill tube cap and mintor there. If its excessive you probably have blowby.

Also make sure your hose from the breather is serviceable and connected to your air cleaner. Also check the small filter element that it's attatched to, you may want to replace it.

J-(Chicago)

Are we talking about the dipstick above the pan lip?
or the oil fill tube?

oldcutlass

I'm under the impression that its out the top!

Allan R

Joe: Never had this happen so I don't have any idea... I do know that when the car is running, there shouldn't be any oil coming out the diptube.

Railguy

Sorry to say but it sounds like something major.Could be a busted ring or blown head gasket.Pull the dip stick out is the oil foamy?Is there oil in the coolant?
railguy

GTI_Guru

I had this happen on my old 425. happened after I had over revved it one cold morning. Rings smacked the cylinder ridge at the top and it ended up breaking the rings & ring lands out of the pistons on 5 cylinders. It still ran, but wow. serious power loss, and major blowby. That's when I pulled it out and had to perform a full overhaul, including boring the block .030 over. to clean up the cylinder walls. NOT a cheap fix by any means.

If your compression test shows any serious abnormalities, it's probably going to be a lot cheaper to find a used running engine rather than fixing that one.

-Jeff

cluelesscutlass

did a dry compression test and they all came out about 140-150. i have to drain the oil cause it runs for 10 min then dies, then i get it started for a few moments and it dosent sound right at all. im afraid i got big problems.

MDchanic

So did you do a wet test after that?

Did you check the timing? That wouldn't affect the oil, but a bad timing chain and gear would make it run badly.

- Eric

GTI_Guru

how did the plugs look when they came out? Were any of them significantly differently colored than the others?

There's a really good chart here that can help in diagnosing:

http://gasolinegirls.files.wordpress...ader-chart.jpg

Could be something as simple as crossed/bad wires.

With he compression even across the board, I'd start to suspect a fuel/ignition issue. If you had internal problems, you would almost certainly notice it from the compression test. If you didn't look closely at the plugs, now is a good time to double check when you run a wet test. Make sure to keep them in order so you know which cylinder is giving you problems.

Checked the cap/rotor/points yet?

How long has it been since the fuel filter(s) were changed?

Is there fuel in the oil? Could be running overly rich. Is it overfull on the stick and smells like gasoline?
-Stuck float or needle/seat in the carb
-Could have a bad diaphragm in the fuel pump allowing fuel into the crankcase

-Jeff

cluelesscutlass

yep got gas in the oil. its a new fuel pump, i dont have a timing light just yet. the car had been sitting since 87. gonna change oil and dump some lucas in it.