smoking and dumping oil

[red-ranger1983]

Hello i have an 83 ranger that had been sitting for a couple years. I replaced the carb, fuel pump, fuel filter, plugs, wires, and some other misc items. Good news is she runs great.

The problem is its smoking pretty bad. There is a hose from the oil cap to the air filter container and its smoking heavily. Not only that i think its dumping oil too because after a drive i can see that there is a small puddle in the air filter container.. i also changed the oil and put added stuff that was suppose to help reduce smoke, but i still have a lot of smoke... white smoke....

Please help!

 

[black_demon69]

Hello i have an 83 ranger that had been sitting for a couple years. I replaced the carb, fuel pump, fuel filter, plugs, wires, and some other misc items. Good news is she runs great.

The problem is its smoking pretty bad. There is a hose from the oil cap to the air filter container and its smoking heavily. Not only that i think its dumping oil too because after a drive i can see that there is a small puddle in the air filter container.. i also changed the oil and put added stuff that was suppose to help reduce smoke, but i still have a lot of smoke... white smoke....

Please help!

try pcv valve

 

[Mark_88]

The PCV valve might help...

What you are describing is classic "blow-by" symptoms...too much pressure is getting pushed into the crankcase and the PCV system cannot shunt or otherwise handle it so the oil gets forced out of every nook and cranny...

If you were to fix the oil blowing into the breather (reduce the pressure) then it can last quite a while longer as long as you keep the oil level up...problem is the air is blowing past the rings to create the situation so the only real fix is to...rebuild or replace the engine...doing just a ring job would be inadequate most times depending on the mileage on the bearings and other internal parts.

But...you mentioned white smoke...this is more symptomatic of coolant making it into the combustion...so determining the actual color of the smoke can make a difference...if it is gray then that is more likely oil...black is excessive gas...

However...I'm guessing it is blow-by from rings...it could also be worn valve seals allowing oil to seep past the valves and into combustion...this is not so bad and can be fixed for much less...so you need to tell us when you see the smoke...

If it is upon first startup and again any time you let off the gas like between shifts or if it is constantly smoking...the former indicating valve seals...and the later indicating rings...or you could have both...

So...how many miles on the engine...was it ever rebuilt or replaced...

 

[RonD]

+1 ^^

All engines using pistons and rings have "blow-by", blow-by is the gases and pressure that "blows-by" the piston's rings when a cylinder fires, piston rings are metal and they travel up and down on metal cylinder walls so there is no "air tight" seal.
Pressure in the cylinder when it fires can go from 150psi(9:1 compression ratio) to 1,500psi in less than a second, that is how the engine produces power, high pressure against the piston pushes it down to turn the crankshaft, but some of that pressure "blows-by" the rings.
The cylinder walls receive a constant coating of oil to cool and lube them, as this hot high pressure gas blows-by the rings it will vaporize some of this oil, this is what creates the oil vapor and pressure in the crankcase area of the engine, and it is quite normal and expected.
As an engine gets more hours on it(miles) the rings get worn and more pressure blows-by the rings, this is also expected but reduces engine power and makes for higher crankcase pressure and more oil vapor.

In the "old days" there was a tube on the lower block or upper oil pan pointed down at the ground, blow-by pressure and oil vapor were vented out of the crankcase via this tube.
This of course was a major source of air pollution and oil on the roads/driveways.
(those old enough will remember that intersections with stop signs and lights were skating rings after the first rain, lol, rain would float all that blow-by oil, from people sitting at the intersection, to the surface...........more than a few accidents were caused by that.)

The PCV(positive crankcase ventilation) system was added to minimize this pollution.
The crankcase area and valve cover areas are connected via the oil drains in the head(s).
Tube was removed from lower engine, so only air flow access was dipstick tube or valve cover ports
An engine runs with 18" of vacuum(-8psi) pressure in the intake.

PCV Valve was added to the valve cover with a hose to the intake, and a vent hose was also added to the valve cover(oil filler tube or cap) and run to air filter.
The PCV valve will allow engine vacuum to pull most of the oil vapor into the intake to be burned with the gasoline.
The Vent hose is there because engines change over time(rings wear down), on newer engines the Vent allows air to flow in so vacuum pressure doesn't get too high in crankcase, as blow-by increases the vent allows excess blow-by to be vented to engine air flow and be burned same as it would be if it passed thru PCV Valve.

PCV system also reduced oil leaks, the slight negative pressure in the valve covers and oil pan lessen the chance of oil leaking out gaskets.

So as said check your PCV Valve, and hose, also vent hose, all need to be clean and working.

Using a good grade oil will mean less oil vapor as well.

On an '83 engine you probably do have worn out rings, and if you don't plan on rebuilding anytime soon then I would look at adding an oil catch can to the system.
Google: pcv oil catch can

 

[Big Jim M]

In the past I have had engines that had too much blowby. I have taken the pcv OUT of the line and made a straight line into the air cleaner. This has helped a lot with internal pressure. In one case I added another hose and had two hoses going into the air cleaner
Both without pcv in line. That solved the problem.
However if it turns out to be the valve seals then I would definitely install new ones.
Big Jim

 

[red-ranger1983]

Ok i will try the pcv valve within the next couple days and let everyone knows how she does. Thanks for the help so far.

 

[red-ranger1983]

Ok I put in a new Pcv valve , though the old one had just been knocked off, probably when installing the fuel filter. Still a lot of smoke coming from the hose that's coming from the oil cap. What should I check next?

 

[AndyB.]

Check the baffle in the right valve cover, beneath the pcv valve. On older engines this can be blocked off with carbon and render the crankcase ventilation system inoperative.

 

[Spott]

Just to cover all the bases: white smoke usually means coolant getting into the cylinders. Are you having your coolant levels drop? Have you done a compression test? You may have head/gasket problems.

 

[Big Jim M]

Spott he is talking about blowby smoke not tailpipe smoke.
Big Jim

 

[kimcrwbr1]

Is this a four or six cylinder. Excess blowby could be rings or valve guide seals. Do a good decarb with seafoam. Get a can of seafoam and bring the engine up to normal temp. Then at a fast idle pour the seafoam in the carb at a rate to almost stall the motor. Pour in half a can and quickly shut the motor down. Wait half an hour and then start it and run it around 3000 rpms until the smoke clears. If there is alot of carbon in the engine you will get a rather large cloud of smoke. Make sure the windows and doors are shut in your house and the wind is blowing toward the neighbor you dont like

 

[Spott]

Spott he is talking about blowby smoke not tailpipe smoke.
Big Jim

He's talking about "a lot of smoke...white smoke" from around the breather hose.

I may be mistaken, but I've never seen motor oil produce white smoke when burning. I just thought it sounded fishy, and wanted to double-check that it wasn't the obvious source of white smoke from an engine, because no amount of PCV's or hoses is going to fix a head leak.

 

[Mark_88]

He's talking about "a lot of smoke...white smoke" from around the breather hose.

I may be mistaken, but I've never seen motor oil produce white smoke when burning. I just thought it sounded fishy, and wanted to double-check that it wasn't the obvious source of white smoke from an engine, because no amount of PCV's or hoses is going to fix a head leak.

It can be a bit deceptive, especially when we only get a description and need to interpret or clarify. That was why I asked several posts ago to describe the smoke in more detail.

You are absolutely correct...if it is a head or gasket leak it will persist regardless of the amount of hoses...but, then again, I had quite an elaborate hose confabulation under my hood that eventually led to the down spout of the air pump tube into the catalytic converter...

This, essentially, bypassed the entire recirculation of those crankcase and breather vent systems...and is highly ILLEGAL because it boils down to dumping emissions directly into the atmosphere without trying to burn them off...

But it was an effort to try to get as much life out of the engine before swapping as I could get...and resulted in more oil loss and a rather expensive trip to the courthouse to try to explain things...the Judge was nice and reduced my initial $365 fine (first round) to $100...

However, the smoke he described coming from the vent tube on the valve cover is almost always a result of excessive blow-by...there is a white mist pouring steadily from the vent tube on the valve cover...sometimes not so much and other times almost like a steam engine...when I first saw this I thought it was a head leak also...I wasn't losing fluids...maybe the OP is...I don't know for sure...so worth looking into just to be sure...

 

[Spott]

I may be mistaken, but I've never seen motor oil produce white smoke when burning.

However, the smoke he described coming from the vent tube on the valve cover is almost always a result of excessive blow-by...there is a white mist pouring steadily from the vent tube on the valve cover...

Yes, apparently I was mistaken. If you're not losing coolant, then don't worry about head leaks or my posts above.

 

[drchristopher7]

My guess would be carbon build up. Get you about 3 cans of throttle body cleaner and go to town...warm carbon filled exhaust meets cool moist air = carbon build up...