won't start-oil issues

[boywithamazda]

Car has been burning through lots of oil.
Last summer it stopped running but it turned out to be a fouled up spark plug (caked in oil).
Since then, replaced front bank of valve stem seals including the cylinder with the bad spark plug.
Still burns lots of oil (1 quart/200mi), but less smoke on startup.
Recently has had low power and hesitated at higher rpms, and failed to start up after driving. It would start up again after an hour or two, but now it won't start at all and doesn't sound like it's close to turning over. I checked the spark plug that failed before and it looked fine. I checked the disty and that was ok too.

Where do I go from here?

[muttpower]

if it's not turning over, then it's not the spark plugs, etc...
1. battery condition and terminals, etc
2. starter and solenoid
3. any vaccumn leaks including on intake hose(even smallest leak on intake after the vaf/maf can cause several starting/running issues.)
4. if it does turn over, but just wont fire, definately check for intake /vaccumn leaks...

As for the oil, I'd reccomend a compression test for possible blown head gasket...

[Ryan]

Burning oil can only possibly be stem seals or rings. Both happen on these cars. Compression/leakdown test will tell you if its rings, and if it smokes worst on startup, its most likely seals.

Not starting when warm (and eventually at all) is a distributor issue, and could also explain the low power/hesitation. Many people have this problem. The units are inherently bad, sometimes even new out of the box. HEI is the permanent fix.

Happy fixing.

Ryan

[boywithamazda]

I should have said it doesn't come close to firing.
It cranks pretty strong. By the time I tested the distributor, the motor was fully cooled and spark was strong.
I guess that leaves vacuum leaks.

As for the oil, there used to be a rather large puff of smoke at startup, but that seems to have gone away in the few weeks I was driving it after replacing 3/6 stem seals.

I did a compression test before doing the stem seals and compression was good in all cylinders. I never did the leak-down test though, so that may be the next order of business after I tow the car home tomorrow.