oil in my air cleaner!! Yikes!

[deathegg]

Hey everyone,
my 1988 Festy (carb) has oil in the air cleaner! it's not alot, it builds up over time. just changed my air filter, and the old one was dirty and oily.

do I need a new PCV valve, and also, I recall a small foam filter of some sort right inside the air cleaner where the tube comes from the valve cover. Do I need this little filter and where do I get one? I've heard that this condition means my rings are going bad?? It burns no oil at all, just leaks it from every pore!!

Trying to get it ready for my cross-country move in April; I need it to be in as good a shape as possible

[darkdan]

www.auto-rx.com might be able to help.

Sounds like excessive blow-by from either dirty or worn rings. If they're just dirty then auto-rx might be able to help.

[mechanicaldj]

relax, it's normal for a carb'd anything.

so it has a few miles on it.

now if your air filter has taken an oil bath, be concerned.

just replace the small PCV filter regularly.

and clean out your PCV valve with a few squirts of brake clean, until it rattles easily.

[Tim]

Re: oil in my air cleaner!! Yikes!

Hey everyone,
my 1988 Festy (carb) has oil in the air cleaner! it's not alot, it builds up over time. just changed my air filter, and the old one was dirty and oily.

Welcome to the club!

Mine did that from day one, although the SeaFoam treatment helped a lot - I don't have to replace my filter every 2 months now! :lol:


Regards,

Tim

[deathegg]

Thanks everyone, nice to know I'm not the only one!
I never heard of using brake clean on the PCV valve before... I have some, so it's cheaper (for now), than buying a new valve.

(although I'll probably buy a new valve for the trip)

[darkdan]

Valve is $3.

Rattling doesn't mean anything about the valve's condition either.

[ericsmith32]

darkdan's right the spring gets limp. I have to replace mine every other oil change or the oil consumption goes up by a quart. Compare the new and old and you'll see the difference. I wonder if a motorcraft pcv would be stronger than the aftermarket's.

[darkdan]

But all the valves in the world won't solve the problem. It's cleaning up after it.

I'm telling ya, if one of yall with this problem tries auto-rx and it helps then everyone else will follow and everyone's vehicles will run much better.

[ToTalXS]

But all the valves in the world won't solve the problem. It's cleaning up after it.

I'm telling ya, if one of yall with this problem tries auto-rx and it helps then everyone else will follow and everyone's vehicles will run much better.

mine did not help.......but........i think it was far too gone for auto-rx.....2 quarts in 150miles of driving.....lol.....
-peace

[ericsmith32]

darkdan you are correct... but you know that all of us are wanting our b3's to go bad so we can upgrade to a b6 or better :lol: anyways that's the excuse I give to the better half.

[shoggoth80]

ha ha ha.... i LIKE 42mpg!! one of these days i might upgrade... if i can ever get the $$ to do it. I agree with what the other guys say... blowby... it happens when the rings get worn a bit... high mileage. replace the PCV, and keep an eye on your dipstick.

[darkdan]

My plan is once the B3 hits 203k miles then I'll replace it.

My goal is to put 100k miles onto the engine before upgrading (I bought it with 103k on it).

So I'm doing everything I can to keep it running in tip top shape.

It's gotten 2 auto-rx treatments so far. That was about 24k miles ago. I may do another soon and switch to conventional oil for a few thousand miles after that because I think my rear main seal is leaking....I think.


Yes, a quart every 150 miles is a little past what auto-rx can help with most likely.

[Banana Bonanza]

I think more to this than just normal blowby. On a worn engine, you open oil fill with engine running and if you get cloud of smoke, you have excess blowby. Ok, expect that on high mile engine especially one with lot wear and low compression.

However on my B3, it just filled air cleaner with oil and oil was running out the snorkel of the air cleaner. Oil was coming from the the vent on valve cover that is supposed to suck filtered air into the engine to replace crankcase vapors sucked out through the pcv valve.

I replaced pcv valve several times to no effect. Then finally ran hose from air intake vent on valve cover to a bottle wired to side of engine compartment. Worked for while, just had to empty the bottle every gas fill up. Hose finally freed itself from the bottle on one drive and I had oil all over everything and it was pushing more oil than ever. Still good compression in all cylinders on the B3 and plenty pep for a B3 with 134k miles but couldnt find solution anyplace (people just said blowby and didnt pay attention to the unusual symptoms) and internal parts for these engines are too expensive to disassemble it on fishing expediton and willy nilly replacing rings, etc, cheaper just to buy a low mile B6 Japanese engine and thats what I did.

I never tried it, but would adding a second larger pcv valve in valve cover have helped? How about making the air vent on long tube from side of oil pan instead of from valve cover? Be lot longer route for oil to travel and it should just drain back into the oil pan.

I didnt even try replacing valve stem seals since engine wasnt burning oil once air vent routed to bottle instead of to air cleaner.

The only simular experience with pcv system this bad was on an old 2.0L OHV Volvo engine I had once. Those engines had rep for OEM cam shafts wearing badly after lot miles. Finally couple lobes wore so bad that valves were barely opening on two cylinders. I replaced the cam and not only was power back, but the pcv system started working correctly. I was very happy.

But I had good compression on B3 so wasnt cam or valve adjustment problem. Figured just about had to be a broken ring or something that allowed lot more pressure in crankcase. Had an old pickup once with Ford 460 that anytime it was driven hard the dipstick was blown clear out of the engine and oil forced out the dipstick hole. Pretty sure it had a broken ring on one of cylinders but hated that 4mpg wonder so much, just pulled the engine and put in a 300 straight six which is engine I've always liked and worth rebuilding.

[batstiva]

MONSOON, I'll do the Honors. Banana, I believe this belongs to you.




FWIW, Batstiva blew oil into the air cleaner as well. New one doesn't seem to be doing that, yet.

[MONSOON]

Ah got to it before I did. Good Job!