Oil Use

gub

Forum Member
What does it mean when a motor uses oil at idle. It smokes sorta alot. I am 90% sure it doesnt happen when im driving though. It idles at 800rpms but when its in gear and i am stopped, it surges a little and goes down to 550rpms. I was told its valve seals, but wanted more input.

Info:
68' 289ci
Runs rich
 
you sure its not just running very rich at idle? Usually its valve seals when it smokes at startup, not idle
 
Will running rich cause blue smoke to come out? When i was driving behind one of my friends, his blue smoke smelled different than mine. And i think his rings are bad.
 
blue is oil, if the gas is mixing with the oil then youll burn your bearings pretty quickly. cylinder wash-down can happen when youre running too rich.

if you know its running rich, fix it.

the oil burning could be a lot of things. how is your crank breather system setup?
 
What is cylinder wash down?
Im not sure of how to tune a carb.
And what is a crank breather system?

Sorry but im still learning. =[
 
What is cylinder wash down?
Im not sure of how to tune a carb.
And what is a crank breather system?

Sorry but im still learning. =[

washdown:
when youre running very rich the fuel washes/ dilutes the oil on the cylinder walls causing more friction and higher wear. The fuel can also leak past the rings into the crankcase and dilute the oil to where it doesnt lubricate very well (bearings etc)

find out what carb you have and do some research.

Breather system:
The crankcase has to breath because of blow-by (pressurized/combusted air leaking past the piston rings). most carb cars have just breather filters on the valve covers but can have a PCV valve (positive crankcase ventilation) which takes that air and draws it back into the intake to be reburnt. I have seen on multiple occasions where the blow-by is either to much or the PCV isnt functioning properly draws too much oil into the intake creating smoke out of the exhaust. this is pretty extreme case but it seems liek your engine has a bunch of miles on it so its a possibility.
 
When my teacher took a look at my motor he said that the PCV is newer.

I have a holley 600cfm 4barrel carb.
 
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