Burning oil

officer dick · Apr 14, 2007

My stang is burning up oil fast.

I believe it's my valve stem seals, but I don't know what size I need. I checked Summit and they offer two sizes: .500 and .530. Which one?

Also, how can I tell if it's not my piston rings? And if it is, then does anyone have a link to a quick and dirty how to for swapping them out?

AznStanger3v · Apr 14, 2007

a compression test is your best friend right now. then after that, a leakdown if necessary.

*usually* if your car is burning oil "fast", as in a rapid rate, you can kinda throw the seals out of the picture. there really isnt a lot of oil up there to cause you to go through oil like hotcakes. but, if you want to replace them, you need to remove the heads and carry on smartly. its pretty easy.

BlownFiveLiter · Apr 14, 2007

You can replace valve seals with the heads on the car, but it's a little more involved. You'll need to get each piston to TDC on the compression stroke, and have an adapter to keep your cylinder pressurized with an air compressor, so the valves will stay closed once you remove the springs. Then you should be able to swap them out and reassemble.

True 5.0 · Apr 14, 2007

StangGT1995 said:
You can replace valve seals with the heads on the car, but it's a little more involved. You'll need to get each piston to TDC on the compression stroke, and have an adapter to keep your cylinder pressurized with an air compressor, so the valves will stay closed once you remove the springs. Then you should be able to swap them out and reassemble.

You can modify an old spark plug by breaking off the ceramic and adding an air hose fitting using epoxy. Cheap and easy!

BlownFiveLiter · Apr 14, 2007

That seems too risky to me. If the epoxy doesn't hold, you end up pulling the head and doing more work than you wanted to.

officer dick · Apr 14, 2007

AznStanger3v said:
a compression test is your best friend right now. then after that, a leakdown if necessary.

*usually* if your car is burning oil "fast", as in a rapid rate, you can kinda throw the seals out of the picture. there really isnt a lot of oil up there to cause you to go through oil like hotcakes. but, if you want to replace them, you need to remove the heads and carry on smartly. its pretty easy.

Well I'm getting anywhere between 200-800 miles on a quart. All depending on how hard I ride it of coarse. Is that "fast"?

True 5.0 · Apr 14, 2007

It actually works quite well. I use 5-minute epoxy and completely coat the inside of the plug base and the outside of the air fitting threads. I push one inside the other and let it set. It won't come apart easily.

officer dick · Apr 14, 2007

A big question that still needs to be addressed, is what size valve stem seals, and while were at it, exactly what size piston rings should I get? Summit Racing makes this way too difficult. They Have 4.000, 4.030 and 4.040 for the piston rings and .500 and .530 for the stem seals.
SOMEONE HELP!!!

summitracing.com

True 5.0 · Apr 14, 2007

If your engine has never been rebuilt before, the 4.000 rings are what you're going to need. I'm also pretty sure the stock stem seals are .500 in diameter.

If you're going to replace the piston rings, you may want to consider torque plating and boring the block to 4.030 dia. Of course you'll need new pistons for this. I'm not sure how much you want to get into the rebuild or how much you want to spend.

AznStanger3v · Apr 14, 2007

yeah, he's right on the sizes

if you get it 30 over, youll be packing a huuuge 306....

my money is rings. but if you are overhauling the whole beast, go for the gold.

officer dick · Apr 15, 2007

Well, I did a compression check. I started running out of time though, so I just started checking plugs. Low and behold, an oil coated plug in cylinder 8! I ran a compression check on it and it was fine. However the guys at the shop pointed out that if theres oil in the cylinder, then it's going to seal up any leaks. So I said screw it, next weekend or the one after, I'm going to take off my heads, replace the seals and have it ported and polished. If that doesn't fix it, then I'll just bore it out to a 306 and replace the rings. Anyway, this is what the plug looked like, it seemed to be a little more coated on one side. So I think/hope it's the valve.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a135/EN7/0415071349a.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

officer dick · Apr 18, 2007

Afterthought

When I have the heads ported, am I going to want to get new valve seats and guides as well?

94-302-vert · Apr 18, 2007

Why pay good $ to have the factory heads ported when new heads are not much more?

officer dick · Apr 18, 2007

Theres an auto hobby shop on base where I can do the work myself, and a machine shop attached to it. They'll do anything you want for very little $, and most of the stuff you can do yourself. Plus I'm waiting to get a full H/C/I. I just need my oil consumption problem fixed, so while I've got the heads off I'm going to add a little power while I'm at it.

94-302-vert · Apr 18, 2007

That is awesome!!!

officer dick · Apr 18, 2007

Working for Uncle Sam has it's perks.

True 5.0 · Apr 18, 2007

Keep in mind that you'll need new pistons as well as rings if you bore 0.030" over.

officer dick · Apr 20, 2007

So... uh... yeah, my question, about the valve guides/seats...

I've looked for a how to on rebuilding heads and I can't find one.

AznStanger3v · Apr 20, 2007

use a spring compressor, compress the rings, undo the keepers, pull out the valves.

reassembly is reverse order. easy day

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