My 289 engine was rebuilt about 15000 miles ago by a local engine man. It smoked after the rebuild and smokes worse now. I have replaced the valve seals. It helped a little at the time but not much. My #1 plug is always black...not fouled but black. The other plugs are always fine and tan. A question - would it be practical to replace the rings on the #1 piston only? Can i get to it by pulling the oil pan? Appreciate any help from more experienced mechanics out there. Joe

 

You should have taken it back to the mechanic who did it for you. He didn't do a very good job.

 

The answer is yes, but I agree. You got screwed. Surely there was a warranty on the rebuild to last more than 15K miles.

 

I agree - I got took. But that was in the past. I want to get my car right. I can pull the pan, remove the head and push the piston up, right?

 

There are a bunch of things to try before you tear down the engine. If you have an auto trans and the modulator is bad it can suck trans fluid into the motor and burn it and make it smoke. Pull the hose off themodulator and see if there is fluid in it. Pull your PCV valve with the engine running and see if it smokes out of the valve cover. That will tell you if you have a lot of blow by on the rings. I have seen improperly hooked up PCV's make an engine smoke. One black plug does not justify pulling the piston. Black means rich. Fouled means oil problems. Try some stuff yourself. If you can't get anywhere find a good mechanic.

 

good luck

 

I have checked the blow by - none noticable. PVC is hooked up correctly and sucking well. No transmission fluid being sucked in intake. Only one black plug - #1. Also has some oil around threads when I remove the plug to check it. All other plugs are a nice tan color. The car runs great. Losing about 1 quart per 200 miles.

I did let the expert prepare the short block. But there is something wrong and I need to find it.
The car has 15000 miles since the rebuild...but i was waiting for the rings to set and then had to replace the new valve seals. I will not take it back to the original mechanic because I just don't trust him.

Any more possible suggestions? I have even pulled the intake to see if I could be sucking oil from the valley through a bad intake gasket. This didn't help.

One more bit of information, the car has always smoked some, but about 1000 miles ago, it "suddenly" started smoking much more...much more.

 

blue smoke or black smoke? If there is oil on the plug threads its a probably valve cover leak. oil in the chamber would be burned. if its belching black smoke, then its running way rich for some reason, blue smoke means oil, and white means water in the chambers. It sounds to me like rings or something is entering the intake runner for that cylinder.

Have the heads been rebuilt? If yes, were new guides and valves installed or did the guides just get knurled? new guides are the only way to go, and if they guides are worn out you will get alot of oil in the cylinders.

 

You might try a compression test to see if #1 is a lot less than the others. If so, that could mean the valve guides for that cylinder need replacing, or the rings for that cylinder need attention. A quart every two hundred miles means you are burnig a lot of oil, not water or fuel mixed too rich.

 

i did a compression test and the numbers range from 155 to 140 with the #1 cylinder being 145. The lowest cylinder is #8 with 140. I did not do the compression test with the oil squirt and retest.
If it is not the rings in the #1, where could the oil be coming from to make just that cylinder's plug so black. As i said, it has not fouled yet.

If there was some way i could determine it was not the rings and in the heads, I would buy some new neads. The current head are stock except for porting and roller rockers.
I don't know if I have new valves. I know I should know but I don't. If I pull the heads, how can i tell if the valve guides are shot?

I don't want to buy new heads if their are deeper problems.