lossing oil pressure and smoking

[special77j]

ok heres the deal after i have been runnin for a lil bit and the motor gets to operating temps i sometimes start smokin from the tails pipes and i lose a good bit of oil pressure i was wandering if someone could help me figure out whuts wrong before i start tearing it down

 

[crunchie12268]

what color is the smoke? What exaclty does the oil pressure do? Is this a rebuilt engine? What does your dipstick look like and say...Are you losing any oil?

 

[5.0Droptop]

Depending on the mileage, it could be rings and bearings getting worn.

 

[HISSIN50]

also please tell us what temps you are running when this happens, what oil viscosity you run and what gauges you are basing this on (stock or aftermarket).

sounds like tolerances are a little sloppy.

 

[special77j]

i have my stock gauges, smoke is white white white and i am not sure how many miles motor has on this build its an old fox body ex-police car with 268000 if i get a rebuild kit and re build and seal the motor i think that may fix the prob whut yall think

 

[crazypete]

Wow! 260K! A testament to good engineering. I bet the rings are gone and you have a huge groove inside the cylinders. The oil pressure drops if you have very thin oil in the motor. Does it sound louder or have any drivability issues? The second you loose enough oil to make it a problem, the engine will start running like crap and stall out. The stock oil pressure senders tend to get lazy after a while and send lower signals.

White smoke is usually coolant though. Probably pressurized coolant working it's way past the head gasket (or intake gasket? Is your oil brown or muddy? Coolant levels?) and getting burned. It will stink something fierce. A REALLY lean engine will also hive slightly whitish smoke with no real odor but the car would be overheating by this point, hesitating and it would have engine codes with a check engine light.

 

[special77j]

well my oil is really dark and i jus changed it like less then 1k ago my coolant level does seem low considering i flushed it two weeks ago.....and yes when it smokes it does it big time and it does tend to stink.....but keep in mind the pressure drop and smoke happen together and never one without the other

 

[crunchie12268]

260K... dam. Run a compression test. 1000 miles and oil is dark? Depending on how you flushed your cooling system it could drop a little when air pockets start to come up. But run a compression check just to be sure. If the compression check comes back bad. Then buy a D.S.S Short Block with AFR heads and Vortech S trim.....

 

[crazypete]

Well, cooking off the oil in 1K miles tells me that there is excessive gap inbetween your rings and the cylinder walls. Combustion byproducts are finding their way down into the oilpan and contaminating the oil. Since you dont have good seal, oil is also finding it's way up into the chambers and, heck, probably the valve seals are starting to leak too.

Coolant is so pressurized that if you did have a leak, it would consume copious quanities of coolant in a short period of time. Burning oil also has a fierce odor not unlike burning coolant. I fogged my engine so I am quite familiar with that lovely scent. Pull a plug, it should be black and carbon fouled. If so:

To duct tape the problem without an engine disassembly, do this:
1. 20w-50 (might be a bit harder to start) regular non synthetic. This will not go past the rings. It's good heavy oil.
2. Add some of that "engine restorer" stuff in the silver cans. Makes a tiny bit of difference but I have always found it to help.

See if this greatly reduces the problem. If not, add some lucas oil additive. It makes the oil gooier still and it wont flow as easily past the rings but will tend to stick to them. Make a tiny difference too.

Good luck