Hey guys,

So last weeked I put all new umbrella type valve seals on my heads and loosely reassembled all rocker arms and bridges. A few quick rookie questions before I finish.
1. I want to clear the oil return holes in the head while the valve covers are off, should I just get in there with a thin screwdriver/awl and make sure they are clear of old broken valve seals and debris?
2. As i'm torquing down each set of rockers should I be manually turning the engine to make sure the pushrods are down?
3. Should I be torquing the rockers down to 25 ft lbs? I looked in multiple places and believe this is the correct torque spec. These are stock #5 heads on a 350. thank you in advance for any input.

 

It's always good to clean out any debris that might be in your engine, just be sure you get it out, not just knock it loose so it finds it's way down into the engine itself.

With the bridge style rocker arms, it doesn't really matter where the lifters are in relation to the base circle of the cam. The bridge sets the lifter preload and it's not adjustable, (other than shimming).

I just checked the CSM and it says 25 ft. lbs. Beyond that you could just torque em down until they strip then back em off a 1/4 of a turn



Scott

 

Make sure the pushrod is down, tightening it down with the pushrod up is an easy way to break a rocker bridge.
25 Lb/ft.
Good luck.

 

Well I've never had any issues with doing it and the CSM doesn't make any mention of having the lifters on the base circle of the cam, but it couldn't hurt to do it, it would just add some additional time.

Scott

 

Thanks for your replies, everything went back together without issue. The reason I did the valve seals was per the recommendation of a few mechanic buddies after explaining to them I had some serious smoke issues from the exhaust and oil residue in the pipes. Every seal was split or broken in half and definitely needed to be replaced. After the seal install and cleaning out some major sludge and broken plastic from the oil return holes in the heads I put everything back together and ran the car. My smoking issue has not improved and i'm still seeing some serious oil buildup in the pipes.

Now while I was swapping the seals I left the heads on the block and pressurized each cylinder with my air compressor. This worked fine except for cylinder 3, It would lose its pressure very quickly and would need to be constantly pumped. I'm borrowing a compression test set from a friend today to check all cylinders, at that point i'll have a better idea of how bad the compression really is. What else can I/ should I be checking for thick white/greyish smoke and quite a bit of oily black sludge in my exhaust pipes?

 

How much oil does it use? Does it use any coolant?

Rings is my first guess, but "white/greyish smoke" could be coolant.
If you stand with your face in the pipe while it's smoking (make like Bill C. and don't inhale), do you get a sweet taste in your mouth?

- Eric

 

Hey Eric,

Best way I can explain it is almost chemical, somewhat like fuel and irritating to the point of burning your nostrils. The smoke is thick and lingers a bit. i'll post a video of it later idling in the driveway as well as the residue in the pipes.

 

So, does it use oil, and if so, how much?

The kind of smoke you describe would probably be a quart every hundred miles, maybe 200.

- Eric

 

I checked the dipstick Saturday and it looked to be about a quart low from a fresh oil change in July. I've personally only drove this car maybe 20 miles max since the time I bought it in the beginning of June. I had to replace a freeze plug in August due to a pinhole leak and did a fresh flush and fill then on the coolant. Last I checked the radiator still looked topped off with fairly clean fluid. i'll check it again tonight.

 

Okay, so you're potentially talking a quart every 40-50 miles.

That'll make a lot of smoke, and will leave the pipes oily.

Your three highest probabilities are really bad rings, a holed piston, or some way for the engine to be sucking oil out of the crankcase, such as a cracked intake tract.

ALSO - this has not been mentioned - have you checked your transmission modulator?
A bad modulator diaphragm will do this. You will suck ATF out of the transmission and burn it. Who ever checks their transmission fluid levels, right?

Pull off the vacuum hose that goes to the modulator where it attaches to the intake manifold and see if it's oily inside. If so, that's your problem. Confirm by putting vacuum on the hose to be sure that it has a leak (doesn't hold vacuum). The easiest way is to suck on it (you can attach a piece of clean hose to the end of you want) - the diaphragm should pull in, and then it should hold vacuum. If it just leaks, that confirms the diagnosis.
Does your transmission seem to shift at higher RPMs than you think it should?

- Eric

 

Funny you mention this Eric, as I was driving around the block yesterday I was at a pretty high rpm before shifting into second. This is the first time I have noticed this issue before. I'll check that modulator as well as the compression check tonight. Thanks for your input btw, being a tin knocker by trade engine internals arent my specialty.

 

Craig,

While smoke at the exhaust usually means rings or seals, I think Eric may be on to something with the modulator just based on what you say the smoke smells like. It just sounds like what ATF would smell like when it's burning. Start with the compression test, that should answer a lot of questions.

Scott

 

Got home late from work so I didn't get to the compression test, hopefully tomorrow. What I did do is pull the line off the modulator at the trans. I saw no trans fluid in the line but did not apply any vacuum to it either. Tomorrow when I have a little extra time after work i'll try to get in there earlier.