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By Dave V - 11 Years Ago
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Just wondering if the valve seals on a 312 should be floating up and down with the valve stem or stay down. Mine were all in the up position on the valve stem. My newly rebuilt 312 is puffing smoke on the right side and using a quart of oil about every 300 miles. I didn't notice the smoke at first but there is about 1200 miles on it now and went thru 3 quarts of oil already. Checked the plugs on all cylinders and all are very clean and light tan in color. Any ideas? Thanks Dave V
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By 2721955meteor - 11 Years Ago
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the umberela seals move with the valve. i use positive seals on the intake which eliminate sucking oil, especialy if guides ar a bit worn.one may have to machine the guide as original integral guides ar to large for positive seals. ther is a tool to do this but heads need to be off.first look for easy isues ,like do you have a pcv valve in lew of road draft tube,u may be sucking oil there. good luck
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By Talkwrench - 11 Years Ago
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What? .. you have valve seals.!. Mm think I only have half of mine ; o )
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By Dave V - 11 Years Ago
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No PCV valve. Still running the road draft tube. I was thinking that the culprit cylinder would show on the spark plugs. Still open for suggestions. Dave
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By 2721955meteor - 11 Years Ago
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valve seals.a fresh engine will easly burn off some oil and not foul a plug for some time,you ar most likley only geting oil down the guyd when decelerating,wher vacume is high.
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By Dave V - 11 Years Ago
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Is this something that will eventually clear up and stop using oil? Dave
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By bigmerc55 - 11 Years Ago
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This is just a thought but what about the oil catcher trays that go under the rocker arm shaft supports. I assume they are to catch some of the oil and divert it away from the valve seals. I have a 1955 Mercury 292 engine that has these oil trays and a 1957 Ford 312 that does not have them. Seems like they should be on all Y blocks?
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By Dave V - 11 Years Ago
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This is also a 57 312 that does not have the oil trays. I think I remember reading an article once about these oil trays stating that they were eliminated in 57. Maybe I should install a set of them. I would assume it shouldn't hurt anything. Dave
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By charliemccraney - 11 Years Ago
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It's not just going to go away and don't expect the oil trays to fix it. You need to find out exactly where the oil is coming from in order to fix it.
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By Ted - 11 Years Ago
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Umbrella seals in good condition will ride high on the stems.
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By 2721955meteor - 11 Years Ago
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as preveously sead ,wont go away. look at the road draft tube for oil leaks. if non change the umberella seals. when you do intakes if the guides will alllow. install positive seals if not you could use 289 seals and trim a bit off so they ar about 1/8th longer than the y ones. if the engine is fresh the existing seals will still be soft. ther is a neat tool for compressing the spring.be sure piston is at the verey top or you will loose the valve. I recently changed some and you do not need air in the cylenders, like some will say.with all plugs out start #1 tic then go threw firing oder. if engine still has 2pice retainers with spring compressed tap the iner retainr with small punch to loosen the keepers. be sure to cover all pushrod holes with rages to catch wayward keepers.have a few spares on hand in cas 1 falls onthe floor. also a good magnet and some heavey greas is a must.if seals are hard change them all as next isue will be seals in base and pluged oil pick up screen. you will use up a good portion of the day but easier than head removal. the magnet will bring the valve up, wipe it clean,inst. heavy grease will keep in place while you delecley inst spring and kepers.
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By bigmerc55 - 11 Years Ago
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I think you mentioned you were using the road draft tube so that eliminates the possibility of oil through a PCV. If you are sure your valve guide clearance is good and the seals are good then that should eliminate a possible problem there. That leaves the possibility of an oil ring problem. If it's smoking on one side and using a quart in 300 miles that's pretty excessive if the engine has been driven enough to meet its initial break in. As a last resort if it was my problem, I would pull the head off the side that is smoking. There may be some evidence on the head of the piston or combustion chamber indicating excessive oil consumption on a cylinder that may have a problem with the oil rings.
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By PF Arcand - 11 Years Ago
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As big Merc says, it's unlikely that the oiling problem will go away. Unfortunately, you may have a broken oil ring due to an installation miscue. Or worse, you could have suffered a wrist pin retainer clip failure, which can result in cylinder wall scoreing. Hopefully not! And were any mods made to the upper end oiling by chance?.. Good luck with your problem.
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By Dave V - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks for all the input. I've been wondering too if it would be ring problems. Not what I was hoping for though. I don't have time to get that far in to it right now. Will just drive it like this for a while. Thanks again. Dave
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By Ted - 11 Years Ago
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Another possibility is oil sucking in at the intake ports through the pushrod holes which is known to happen especially if the heads have been ported. Without a spark plug reading giving an indication of a particular cylinder burning more oil than the others, then a leak down test couldn’t hurt but may not tell you anything either. The top or second rings installed upside down is also another possibility and that scenario will not show up with a leak down test.
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By Dave V - 11 Years Ago
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Thanks for the idea Ted but the heads were not ported. I assume you're saying that it would be a leaky head gasket. Never thought that could happen. Eventually I'm sure I'll need to pull the head to check things out. If it is a ring problem, are rings obtainable individually or only as a complete set? It is a .030 over 312. Thanks Dave
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