Oil Oil Everywhere!!!

[ooELMOoo]

So here is a question. How does oil make it's way up into the air intake? or into your intake manifold? Car is leaking oil, so I pulled her apart to replace seals and see if it is worth a rebuild, or buy a new ZE.


I found a couple of interesting things.

1.) I could unscrew some of the Valve cover screws with my hand
2.) The gasket seals were changed, but they were just put in, no gasket sealant.



So this is what the engine looks like from the outside.


How did Oil get up here?




Inside of the intake is completely black.

This thing must really be burning oil. So I took a peak inside the valve covers.

Chocolate cake?



The oil is literally baked on.
Yes, those are KL31 cams

I have used engine cleaner and a pressure washer and it is now kinda clean. Could use a really good soak.

Seals: Who ever took this engine apart last, forgot the engine sealant .

So, I stopped here. With the signs of oil inside the throttle body and intake manifold. Plus the caked on oil inside of the valve cover, I honestly don't know if it is worth trying to rebuild the engine(mainly just to replace the piston rings).

What do you guys think? To Rebuild or not to rebuild, that is the question.

and how does all that gunk make it up into the intake?

[wytbishop]

There are only 3 ways for oil to get into the cylinder to be burned. Blown head gasket, leaking valve stem seals or bad rings. The fact that oil is being burned in the combustion chambers will not contribute to the dirtiness of the valve covers/head area. Nor will loose valve covers contribute to the burning of engine oil in the cylinders.

Bad rings will allow combustion pressure to leak out of the cylinder causing elevated crankcase pressure. This will in turn, force more vaporized oil past the PCV valve and vent tubes into the intake. This phenomenon is called "Blow By". That's why your intake is so dirty.

In the end, it's really just a rebuild. Anyone on here will tell you that they'd rather install a ZE than rebuild a K8. Rebuilding the K8 would be cheaper I think. but less fun.

[ooELMOoo]

Amazing post!!!! that's why you guys are awesome!! It explains everything.

That is a ZE in there already! So rebuild ze or buy new ze. I already have a rebuild kit(minus new heads).

Any idea how to clean the oil of the inside of the tb/im

[wytbishop]

rebuild it. If you already have most of the parts, it's just disassembly, hot tank, some machine work, reassembly. I think it would be a little more than just finding another ZE, but this way you have a brand new engine. The odds of anything in there being unserviceable are not too great. The machine shop will tell you that before they do anything.

I would disassemble the engine, take the block and heads to a good quality engine shop and have it fluxed and then cleaned. When you're taking things apart, look for spun rod bearings, really loose cam bearing caps. Those kinds of things are not worth fixing many times. The machine shop will be able to tell you if any of the things you notice are beyond repair, or extremely expensive in nature.

The look of your engine tells me that oil changs were few and far between for that poor soldier. It would not be a big surprise to find that a bearing was spun. Often an extremely dirty engine will have plugged oil galleries. It doesn't cost much to have it inspected. That's what I'd do.

[mitmaks]

have you checked your pcv valve? If its not working properly it will let oil into your throttle body. You can get some carb/choke cleaner and it will clean up all that gunk.

[ooELMOoo]

Thanks!

I agree, oil changes did not exist for this poor car.

I have most of the engine apart! I might as well rebuild it. I am doing it in my schools parking lot .. I am sure they will love me lol.



It also has the stock ECU on it. , will have to order the chip

[xxwhiteboyjim22xx]

I 2nd the pcv valve.

[trick69]

do a comp test first if your anywhere near 185 and pretty consistant. But I would do a leak down test cause it sounds like a sticky intake valve. How's it run? consider all of this before you open up a can of worms. unless you don't care about not driving for a few weeks

[mitmaks]

take your pcv valve off and shake it, see if it you can hear it rattle.

[ooELMOoo]

yep, it rattles like a snake!!

[mazda___mx3]

i too recomend a rebuild, you can buy a 4 gallon pail of carb and chocke cleaner and just soak your heads in it for a day and just pressure wash it off after.

[mitmaks]

you could install mini oil catch can between IM and PCV valve, you'll see how much oil will get trapped in it.

[wytbishop]

I think just by the looks of it that this engine is beyond the point of looking for a simple fix. Do a compression test. If your compression is decent and consistent then maybe it can be salvaged. But given the amount of blow by you have described I'd say at least one cylinder is going to be low...probably a couple will be low and one will be very very low. If it is ok, you could probably fix the oil leaks and do the seafoam thing and get it reasonably clean again.

[SuperK]

in my experience, my car both passed a leakdown and a compression test with flying colors, and had collapsed oil rings.

When you say the car is leaking oil, do you mean it's burning oil or is it visibly leaking oil on the heads/engine?

[solo_ryder]

The car burns oil. I know the sight and smell when I had a few bad k8's in the day.

I would say it say in this case, because of the condition of the heads (which need to be taken to be cleaned btw) the rings and the valve seals need work.

If you are game to rebuild it then do it, just need to find a good shop here that will do things for a good price.

p.s. When I do my valvecover gaskets I never use that sealant stuff, just put the gasket in, clean the surfaces, put abit of oil on the rubber for a good seal and bolt er down.