Thread: oil out the exhaust ports

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I had to pull the passenger side header out to put a dent in it due to a small fit problem.When I pulled it out I noticed 2,4 and 6 had what looked like oil coming out of the exhaust ports on the head.2 and 4 were the worst.It makes a stream down the bottom of the port and makes its way to the top a little.This is a rebuilt 350 in my 77 camaro I have had a little miss in it since I first cranked it up.It only has about 2hrs running time on it if that.I ran a compression test and they were all around 165 to 185 after about an hour of running time.I ran my finger down the stem to the base of the valve and they are covered with this oil.I also pulled the other header to check those ports but they were dry.The plugs are all black on the passenger side with what looks like a rich mixture not oil,on the drivers side the plugs look just a little rich not to bad.Could the rings not have seated on those cylinders?Could it be a intake gasket leak pulling oil into the intake runners down to the cylinder also causing the miss and rich plugs.The plugs dont look to have any oil on them.And I havent noticed any smoke at all.I dont have a leak down tester so I havent checked to see if anything is wrong that way.I'm thinking about pulling the intake and the passenger side head off to see if oil is on top of the pistons but I dont really know what to do.I always get some great advice on this site so here I am begging again.Anyone have any advice.
This was to be my little bracket motor,11.1,solid cam,iron eagle platinum heads,vic jr,just your normal 400 horse small block.

It could be the intake gasket, or the valve seals on that head.

Well sounds like there's a lot of oil coming from the intake or down the guides. Unless you got a grossly mismatching manifold it is pouring down the valve guides. Remedy; confirm the intake fit and check the valve seals and guides.

Good luck, Kitz

The heads are brand new,I hope the seals arent bad for my head builders sake,but at the same time that would be an easy fix.

Not to throw a wrench in the fan....but, did you use low tension oil rings? Did the engine get the proper heat sink on the rings? I ask only because of the pattern in which you described the oil traces being displayed on certain cylinders.

I have not driven the car very far due to a tranny problem.I have only run the motor to fine tune it.I broke the cam in 2200 to 3000 rpm for twenty minutes anr drove the car maybe 2 miles but the transmission (which was supposed to be good) turned out to be a dud.The motor has seen 210* for 10 minutes just trying to get some heat in it then cooled back down to 185*.The oil does look like it is coming down the valve stim.Will it still have good cranking compression with the rings not seating?Should I hold off running the motor anymore untill the new tranny goes in and then drive it to help break in the rings(taking the motor up to 4500 and then using it as the brakes to slow back down several times?)Will the valves be loose if the guides are bad?If it is the rings with that much oil in the exhaust port wouldnt the plugs have some oil on them?This build has been a real nightmare any help is greatly appreciated.

My head builder said to make sure the valve seals were pushed down against the guides.Do the seals allways move around on the valve stem?I checked and the seals were up away from the guides,is this normal?They sure do move up and down the stem easy.Would the seal being up away from the guides let oil run down the stem that easy?I'm asking here so my head builder wont try to get one over on me.He has been super to deal with and I dont want to jump to conclusions but I also want to cover all my bases.Thanks.

What type of seal did he use?

That I dont know.How do I tell.

They are not the rubber o-ring stock type they are the teflon positive stop type.I looked them up on summit to look at them,I hope that helps.

If the seals are the positive type which Denny has shown and they are coming up off the guide, then one of two things have happened. Stock 11/32" SBC valves using a PC type seal should have the valve guides machined down to 0.530" O.D. to accept the seals. Either the guy at the shop machined the guides too small or he has used a seal that was intended to be used with a 5/16" valve and they are so tight on the stem that they are being pulled up off the guide by the valve.

Time for a showdown.

Again ClubHotRod to the rescue.I want to thank all of you for your help.I would be lost without this site.I havent found the problem yet but I think from what I found out here the seals are not the right diameter.But I still need to do some more checking.This head builder has been a really nice man to deal with and I know he will make it right if there is a problem with his heads.Thanks again for the information on things I am a little stupid about.
Denny yes those are what the seals look like,I just dont know what brand they are.

They could be PC (Perfect Circle), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dana Corp.

Hear is some other things I have seen over the years.
1-oil geting into the intake by the gasket or valve guides will almost always
mix with the incoming fuel mixture and will be burnt, thus providing smoke
out the exaust.
2-ring problems if bad enough will have pure oil in the exaust ports.
3-some ring problems, 2nd ring put on up side down, some type oil rings do
not have enough protrusion out or beyond the piston.
4-as for the oil runing down from the guide I see this in after market heads
as they have more clearence on the exaust guide to help prevent the valve sticking, bronze guides tend to srinke when they get over heated.

hope this has been of some use. RC100

the pc seal is made in 530 and in 500 . if he did use the 530 were it was cut for 500 or the spring if has dampers are broke and cutting up the seals have one set in the shop like this or the spring need a smaller seal like the 500 if you are running big spring or if the spring has no spring pocket in the head to help keep spring from skidding side ways and hooking the seal and beatting them up