Oil Leaks........arrrghh!

[Skrapbob]

I have read on here somewhere that it is possible to remove the valve cover without removing the intake by setting the rockers in just the right position. Not sure what position and I have not attempted it myself.

[harpon]

I'm surprised- Oil leaks have never been a problem with Festivas or the Aspire. The first festy I bought at 175 k and drove to 275 K plus- couldn't tell anymore when the cable broke- but it never seriously leaked- when I'd drive it 2200 mile from L.A to Indy or back, it usually took less than half a quart per day, or slightly more than a quart for the trip- and I think that was largely exhausted, and not dripping, but there was some oil getting into the coolant (never had to replace that water pump that squueeked when I bough it though- HA!
htd-
If I recall it was taking maybe a half quart between oil changes.

The'96 Aspire I've had since 35 K- now 122 almost- I've NEVER added a drop of oil to between changes it's still yellow and not black and never has diminished by 2000- 2500 miles between changes.

On the other hand, early VW Rabbits- and I had two '76's, a '78 and an 80 in my day- almost always started throwing oil out at about 70,000 and usually just getting worse with more miles.....

and so then one reason I was so impressed with the old '88 Festiva I bought in '97 for $700 and 175K

the '91 I have now hasn't yet been tagged and spends most of it's time in the shed as I still sort things out. Just today got a new fuel pump relay in the mail and I hope this works- new fuel pump went in yesterday- time to go back into the shed for the winter!

RUIDD:
Dr. Fluid Peaks

[TominMO]

The #2 or #3 intake valve has to be down (open) for the valve cover to come off easily. It's when both are up that it is a hassle. You can put the trans in neutral and rotate the camshaft sprocket bolt forward a little. Sometimes you get lucky, and the valve is already where it needs to be. I have rotated the motor on level ground by putting a manual trans in 5th and pulling the car a little to get the valve where I wanted it to be.

[ryanprins13]

wait, you said your pcv valve is fine? Are you actually getting oil inside your manifold and is your intake tubing being filled with oil? thats what blow by does along with plugging up the pcv valve.
I think my one catch can is 800ml and the other is 500ml. I drain them once a week and its like 100ml in the summer and 350-400ml in the spring/fall/winter when its cooler. Putting them both into one doesnt work because one is intake air and once is exhaust from the blocks perspective. (air goes in one and out the other). But you can get dual chamber catch cans. its fine to drain them directly to the oil pan. It doesnt turn into gunk/snot/gros water/fuel until it has a bunch of time to condensate and cool. Thats the problem with manual drains, they condensate inside and fill with water. Draining straight to the pan is ok because the engine just burns it off real quick. of the 100-400ml/week I get only 10-30ml is actually oil. rest is yellow or grey fuel smelling garbage.

after you have let your festiva sit overnight or for 8-10hrs at least and its cold get someone to hold paper or something by your exhaust and start it up. If it blows liquid oil out the tailpipe it could likely be the valve stem seals. I had a festiva with a glasspack muffler that would shoot oil out 5-6 feet on a cold start in the winter. It went through a quart every 300km, so 2 quarts of oil for every tank of gas.

[TominMO]

after you have let your festiva sit overnight or for 8-10hrs at least and its cold get someone to hold paper or something by your exhaust and start it up. If it blows liquid oil out the tailpipe it could likely be the valve stem seals. I had a festiva with a glasspack muffler that would shoot oil out 5-6 feet on a cold start in the winter. It went through a quart every 300km, so 2 quarts of oil for every tank of gas.

I had an old Datsun pickup that did the exact same thing. Used a quart of oil every half tank of gas, but no leaking whatsoever from seals or gaskets. Way back then I didn't know about valve stem seals and how (relatively) easy a fix that is.

[TominMO]

after you have let your festiva sit overnight or for 8-10hrs at least and its cold get someone to hold paper or something by your exhaust and start it up. If it blows liquid oil out the tailpipe it could likely be the valve stem seals. I had a festiva with a glasspack muffler that would shoot oil out 5-6 feet on a cold start in the winter. It went through a quart every 300km, so 2 quarts of oil for every tank of gas.

I had an old Datsun pickup that did the exact same thing. Used a quart of oil every half tank of gas, but no leaking whatsoever from seals or gaskets. Way back then I didn't know about valve stem seals and how (relatively) easy a fix that is.

So Joe could have both external seal/gasket leaks and valve stem seals leaking too. Once the external leaks are fixed, then he can track down the internal ones.

[ryanprins13]

I had an old Datsun pickup that did the exact same thing. Used a quart of oil every half tank of gas, but no leaking whatsoever from seals or gaskets. Way back then I didn't know about valve stem seals and how (relatively) easy a fix that is.

So Joe could have both external seal/gasket leaks and valve stem seals leaking too. Once the external leaks are fixed, then he can track down the internal ones.

Yes, im sad that i replaced that motor. I had no idea about the valve stem seals at the time either...

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[Joe]

The #2 or #3 intake valve has to be down (open) for the valve cover to come off easily. It's when both are up that it is a hassle. You can put the trans in neutral and rotate the camshaft sprocket bolt forward a little. Sometimes you get lucky, and the valve is already where it needs to be. I have rotated the motor on level ground by putting a manual trans in 5th and pulling the car a little to get the valve where I wanted it to be.

I already had the timing belt and crank sprocket off, so i just took off the throttle body.........will know for ?next time.

[Joe]

wait, you said your pcv valve is fine? Are you actually getting oil inside your manifold and is your intake tubing being filled with oil? thats what blow by does along with plugging up the pcv valve.
I think my one catch can is 800ml and the other is 500ml. I drain them once a week and its like 100ml in the summer and 350-400ml in the spring/fall/winter when its cooler. Putting them both into one doesnt work because one is intake air and once is exhaust from the blocks perspective. (air goes in one and out the other). But you can get dual chamber catch cans. its fine to drain them directly to the oil pan. It doesnt turn into gunk/snot/gros water/fuel until it has a bunch of time to condensate and cool. Thats the problem with manual drains, they condensate inside and fill with water. Draining straight to the pan is ok because the engine just burns it off real quick. of the 100-400ml/week I get only 10-30ml is actually oil. rest is yellow or grey fuel smelling garbage.

after you have let your festiva sit overnight or for 8-10hrs at least and its cold get someone to hold paper or something by your exhaust and start it up. If it blows liquid oil out the tailpipe it could likely be the valve stem seals. I had a festiva with a glasspack muffler that would shoot oil out 5-6 feet on a cold start in the winter. It went through a quart every 300km, so 2 quarts of oil for every tank of gas.

My FI festy has a PCV and tube that goes into the intake manifold, and another tube [ larger diameter ] that comes off the valve cover on the right side of the black air intake pipe. It 's tube goes into the black air intake pipe.

Is that the same on yours?
Do you have a catch can on each hose?
If so, which collects more oil?

I took the valve cover off yesterday and removed the inner plate that covers the "maze" channels. There are two separate maze channels........one for the pcv and the other for the other tube I just mentioned above.
Well the pcv one was dirty but the other one was pretty clean compared to the pvc maze channel. I cleaned them both. But, I can't see them getting plugged right up, as the walls that hold the tin lid off the inside of the valve cover are 1/2" tall. It would take allotta junk to fill that up solid. I only just shot some carb cleaner into the pcv and not actually removed it from the hose and totally cleaned it and the hose out.......maybe they are plugged up further in.

[Joe]

I'm sure the valve seals are getting worn........270k kms.
How hard are they to replace?

I just need to keep this festy driveable till next fall when my 4x4 build is finished.

[FestYboy]

I'm sure the valve seals are getting worn........270k kms.
How hard are they to replace?

I just need to keep this festy driveable till next fall when my 4x4 build is finished.

With a few special tools, they can be done with the head on the block. You'll want a ohc valve spring tool and an air fitting for the spark plug hole. Use your compressor to keep the valves closed while you swap out seals.

[ryanprins13]

I'm sure the valve seals are getting worn........270k kms.
How hard are they to replace?

I just need to keep this festy driveable till next fall when my 4x4 build is finished.

They are real cheap to buy off rockauto. I think i paid $10

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[ryanprins13]

My FI festy has a PCV and tube that goes into the intake manifold, and another tube [ larger diameter ] that comes off the valve cover on the right side of the black air intake pipe. It 's tube goes into the black air intake pipe.

Is that the same on yours?
Do you have a catch can on each hose?
If so, which collects more oil?

I took the valve cover off yesterday and removed the inner plate that covers the "maze" channels. There are two separate maze channels........one for the pcv and the other for the other tube I just mentioned above.
Well the pcv one was dirty but the other one was pretty clean compared to the pvc maze channel. I cleaned them both. But, I can't see them getting plugged right up, as the walls that hold the tin lid off the inside of the valve cover are 1/2" tall. It would take allotta junk to fill that up solid. I only just shot some carb cleaner into the pcv and not actually removed it from the hose and totally cleaned it and the hose out.......maybe they are plugged up further in.

Yes, mines the same and i have a can on each. They catch about the same amount of oil but the one from valve cover to intake tubing catches a ton more water than the other one. On both its mostly condensation that they catch.
Thise dont get plugged too easy, sorry, i meant the pcv valve itself gets plugged.
My nice, expensive, custom made, powder coated catch can:

And a cheap ebay one mounted underneath my battery thatbi couldnt get a good photo of.

Both have drains that are zip tied to my sway bar and i drain once a week. They take a long time to drain when it gets cold... i will be connecting both drains to the pan later on

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[Festiver]

Great info thanks.
I have oil on top of the trans.....so the distributor O ring......how do i replace that? just pull the disty and it will be apparent?

Just getting the crank bolt off was a PITA. The engine is so close to the frame and the crank bolt is at the same level as the frame. I had to loosen the motor mount and jack the engine up to create enough room to remove the crank bolt. How do you go about replacing the front crank seal with so little room to work in? I don't want to pull the whole oil pump off, nor do I want to pull the engine out just for access.

Blow by.
I'm sure that blow-by is the other half of this problem. When I wipe the oil off the tops of the air box, oil filter or some other *easy to assess* area, after the very next drive, there is fine, even mist of oil all over everything again, telling me that is is coming out of ?? these leaking gaskets under pressure in the form of fine droplets or mist.

I need to jury rig a catch can of sorts or modify the crankcase venting somehow, so this blow by doesn't blow my new seals and gaskets again.

I need to know more about where this motor is vented so I can reroute the blow-by oil. Is it JUST the pvc valve in the valve cover? Is the actual crankcase vented too? Is it that the pvc valve can't keep up with the amount of blow-by pressure?


Thanks for your thoughts.


Oh yeah, if I could find another festy engine to swap in, I would, but they are rare to see / find now.

I have two here if you want them lol one has 238k miles needs a rebuild and a 108k miles but it has a obd2 head so you'd need a head or rebuild your head and use the 108k short block

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[Joe]

With a few special tools, they can be done with the head on the block. You'll want a ohc valve spring tool and an air fitting for the spark plug hole. Use your compressor to keep the valves closed while you swap out seals.

Thanks for the info.
I fabricate, so I can make an "air plug".
I'll look into getting the valve seals.