Exhaust Smoke

Check the PVC system. Also a carburetor if it is very rich will look like an oil problem because it is causing cylinder washing.
You need to look at that.

And also a compression test.

Intake gasket, ring seal both sound like candidates to me. I rule out jetting because you described it as blue smoke.

I use starting fluid to check for vacuum leaks. A compression test, or better yet, a leak down test, sound like good advice to check the rings.

I know Russ doesn't like synthetic oil, so I'm assuming you broke the motor in with mineral oil based lubricant? David Berman had an extreme oil burning problem that was resolved by simply running mineral oil based lubricant through the motor, he had been using synthetic oil.

By the way Art, you've never let us know if the powerband issue was resolved.

your friend on the DTBB

The color of smoke is an indication of the problem.
Black Smoke, is a rich condition dealing with the carb and fuel.
White Smoke is coolant entering into the compustion chamber and could be a bad head gasket or cracked head/block.

If it is blue like you say then you are on the right track, oil related. Since the valve covers are off, inspect the valve seals to see if they are damaged or missing. Simple thing to check without pulling the head. A damage seal will allow oil to leak down the valve stem and into the combustion chamber.

I agree with the compression test. There is a process in performing this test, make sure you do it right. Check all cylinders and look for variation. A dead cylinder will pinpoint the problem with the rings or valves. For the dead cylinder, pour a little oil in the spark plug hold and run the test again. If pressure improves then the rings are likely the problem as the oil will "seal the rings" and improve the compression.

The other question is how bad is bad? One could run with a smokey engine for some time and hold off on a major rebuilt until funds and time allows. Might consume a few plugs along the way from fowling but at least your get to drive it for a while before yanking the motor.

I hope it turns out to be something simple. If it is the rings, they you are facing a rebuild at that point you might as well do the whole thing top to bottom.

This is a new engine right? It ran fine on the dyno? It isn't the rings and the stem seals, they didn't go away overnight on a new engine.
This is something that those 4 cylinders have in common.
Disconnect and plug the Pvc hose from the intake manifold and run the engine. See if it clears up.
Fords tend to syphon oil out of the valve covers into the intake manifold though the PVC hose.
If it isn't the intake manifold gasket, it sure could be the PVC.
Or what did you do to it since the dyno, change the cam?

New engine!?!?! I missed that, never mind my post. I assumed an old tired engine.

Check the affect head oil return passage, you may have too much oil staying in the head. I'd also look at your oil pressure as the engine is warming up if the pressure is initially good and then drops off when cold and then several minutes later come back to normal I'd take a hard look at the return holes. From experience I had this happen to my engine baffled me for months and my plugs were oily as well.

The comments about the PVC system are right on the money. I had an oil burning problem with a newly rebuilt engine. I was tearing my hair out over it. Changed all of the valve stem seals, changed the intake manifold gaskets a couple of times. Then I disconnected the PVC system. Problem disappeared. As I recall the left side smoked more than the right side. I don't know why that is?

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
Check the PVC system. Also a carburetor if it is very rich will look like an oil problem because it is causing cylinder washing.
You need to look at that.

Doug,
I am not using a PCV valve, I'm running breathers instead. When I had the car on the dyno, they didn't say anything about it running rich. (doesn't mean it is not rich). They told me to fix the carb, I did, (blown power valve), but I have not been back to the dyno. I was thinking I may have had some cylinder washing going on, which could have kept the rings from seating?
Thanks for the help,
Art

George,
How do I do a leak down test and what will it tell me? I did in fact follow Russ' advice and have been using conventional Castrol 20W/50. Not much progress yet on the power front, I did install the new PI stainless mufflers, and according to my Gtech meter, I may have gained a bit of HP. With the car stationary and in the dark, I did run the engine up to about 6000 rpm. At that point it started to make a little different noise so I chickened out of running it any higher. I did notice a very slight popping sound, maybe too rich?, but other than that it sounded fine.
Thank you,
Art

If it is blue like you say then you are on the right track, oil related. Since the valve covers are off, inspect the valve seals to see if they are damaged or missing. Simple thing to check without pulling the head. A damage seal will allow oil to leak down the valve stem and into the combustion chamber.

I pulled the left side valve cover off to check the valve seals. It was not easy to see thru those dual springs, but as near as I could tell, there was no obvious problem.
Thanks for the help,
Art

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
This is a new engine right? It ran fine on the dyno? Or what did you do to it since the dyno, change the cam?

Doug,
Yes this is a new engine. When we ran it on the dyno, the operator said he thought it had some blow by going on. The only things I have done to it since the dyno are replacing the mufflers and the carb repair which included milling the choke horn off.
Thanks,
Art

quote:

Originally posted by johrt:
Check the affect head oil return passage, you may have too much oil staying in the head. I'd also look at your oil pressure as the engine is warming up if the pressure is initially good and then drops off when cold and then several minutes later come back to normal I'd take a hard look at the return holes. From experience I had this happen to my engine baffled me for months and my plugs were oily as well.

The oil pressure stays pretty much pegged until the engine warms up. I will take a look at those return holes.
Thanks,
Art

First of all fix the carb.
Secondly, are we talking clouds of blue smoke here?
This engine may not have enough time on it yet to seat the rings completely yet.
It is still new.
Rings generally will seat within the first five minutes of operastion but the book says at least 500 miles. You need to give it time.
The popping is more likely carb related.
A blown power valve is a fuel leak and a vacuum leak at the same time.
It will create unstable idle and a rich idle fuel dumping situation.
You need to fix that first.

quote:

Originally posted by Art Stephens:
...How do I do a leak down test and what will it tell me? ...

A leak down test fills a cylinder with pressurized air via the spark plug hole, with the piston/crank set initially at TDC on the compression stroke (when the valves are closed). The air flows through a small orifice to control the flow rate, and the amount of back pressure is read on a gage, which indicates the amount of leakage in that cylinder. Excessive air leakage can be heard hissing, either in the crankcase, the exhaust or the intake, giving a mechanic an idea what the source of the leak is. The crank can be slowly rotated to find bad spots along cylinder walls, oil can be pumped into the cylinder to determine if the leak is mostly past the rings. It is a very informative diagnostic tool for a mechanic. It goes way beyond a compression check in the amount of information it can provide.

below are some links to read:

http://www.xs11.com/tips/misc/misc3.shtml

http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/long29.htm

http://www.longacreracing.com/instructions/text/73010_PI_p.pdf#search='leak%20down%20tester'

your friend on the DTBB

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
First of all fix the carb.
Secondly, are we talking clouds of blue smoke here?
This engine may not have enough time on it yet to seat the rings completely yet.
It is still new.
Rings generally will seat within the first five minutes of operastion but the book says at least 500 miles. You need to give it time.
The popping is more likely carb related.
A blown power valve is a fuel leak and a vacuum leak at the same time.
It will create unstable idle and a rich idle fuel dumping situation.
You need to fix that first.

Doug,
The carb repair was done about 350 miles ago. The engine now has 6500 miles on it. I don't know that I would call it clouds of blue smoke, but it is not pretty watching it idle.
Thanks,
Art

If it's the smoke is blue, I'll wager credits to navy beans that the valve guides are on the loose side.
On fresh "race" engines "one" can run without valve seals. It is really the amount of clearance that the valves have that cause the oiling down situation.
The guides tend to rear thier "pretty heads" when you start a cold engine.
The rebuilder didn't say anything about knurling the guides did he?
Even the threaded in replacement guides seap a lot of oil because of the spiral grooves that are left.
The only good guide is a new one.
I hope that the answe is something small and stupid that everyone is overlooking.

quote:

Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
If it's the smoke is blue, I'll wager credits to navy beans that the valve guides are on the loose side.
On fresh "race" engines "one" can run without valve seals. It is really the amount of clearance that the valves have that cause the oiling down situation.
The guides tend to rear thier "pretty heads" when you start a cold engine.
The rebuilder didn't say anything about knurling the guides did he?
Even the threaded in replacement guides seap a lot of oil because of the spiral grooves that are left.
The only good guide is a new one.
I hope that the answe is something small and stupid that everyone is overlooking.

Doug,
I haven't spoken to Russ yet about the valve guides though the paper work indicates new bronze valve guides were installed. I think the following is a long shot for solving the problem but I do have a problem with my fuel pump. I believe it is leaking oil from where the pin that supports the arm passes thru the housing. Who knows, maybe some oil is also making its way past the diaphragm? I guess I might as well solve the oil leak problem with the fuel pump and see if it helps any with the oil burning.
Thanks,
Art

If it is a Holley pump don't bother. I've used several of them and they all leak through the pin.
Did you fix the smoke problem yet?
My Webers make all kinds of different colored smoke. It's like a rainbow.