My Riviera has excessive blow-by and oil leakage coming from the driver side of the motor. If I hammer it oil blows out of the valve cover and spews all over everything! Engine also has a lifter type click that is prominent from the driver side of the motor. Related? How do I fix this problem?:3gears:
First ,,,, before you do any thing or spend any money,,, Run a good compression test.... Remove all 8 spark plugs and open the throttle,,,, then install the compression gage on each cyl and rotate the engine with the starter untill it hits 5 ''licks'' on the gage... record the numbers in order.... You need at least 90 psi... or the cyl wont run.... normal is 125-135 and high is above 135.... actually the higher the better..... If there is zero on any cyl usually it is a burned valve, holed piston, or something drastic.... Two cyls side by side with low compression indicates a head gasket blown between them.... All cyls low indicates worn rings, stuck rings,ect...... One cyl. with low compression can be warped valve, worn rings, stuck rings, popped head gasket.... ect... All the conditions above ,except just low numbers on all cyls, will require that the head/heads come off to find the problem... and correct it.... With just low numbers, squirt some oil into each cyl and retest, if the numbers come up , the problem is worn piston rings..... if the numbers are in the normal range on the first,initial test , then you know that the engine can be tuned up to run right.... As for the blowing oil and leaking,,, take a hard look at the pcv system , rocker arm cover gaskets, crank seals, ect.... if the pcv system gets plugged up or vac hose broken , or a hole in it ,,, it wont keep the crank case pressure down.... There should be a slightly neg. pressure at all times on the engine , except at wot.
i was getting blue smoke and a little oil coming out of the drivers side oil fill cap (vented). i changed the pcv valve on the pass side cover. problem solved. they sure do not make the new ones like the old. jim
My Electra used to do that too. It had 180,000 miles on it and it was shot. On idle it would run quiet and clean, but the moment it was loaded up it would spew smoke and oil out of the caps. The whole interior of the car would start to stink like rotten crankcase. It also burned a bit of oil too, but not so much to be a problem. Compression was a uniform 120 at that time too, and the vacuum at idle was 18. The only thing that indicated a problem was the vacuum gauge, - the needle was "noisy", meaning it bounced very quickly between 16-18. When I took it apart I discovered that it needed a bore out and a new set of rings, it had to punched 40 over and the pistons and rings were both replaced. Lifters and rockers are not adjustible in those engines, and an excessively old set will clack when loaded up quickly. These engines were good long-lived units, but eventually they do need to be rebuilt. A good Buick would generally hold out to about 150,000 miles before the timing chain was stretched to the point of no return, detonation would happen, and those poor pistons would pound the taper out of the walls. 401s were notorious for prematurely burning oil to begin with. The 425 had that problem corrected. Does the car overheat at highway speeds? Do you get an oil light on at idle, shortly followed by the temperature light? If so, you might have to bite the bullet and rebuild it. A compression test and a vacuum test will tell you if the motor is generally sound, but if you're dealing with a worn-out block where the rings still seat at low revs you'll never know it until you take it apart.
I put a new pvc valve on and it didn't change anything. Engine seems to run well and oil and temp light are normal. I agree that I probably need to rip it apart.
ok did the compression check -all are at 120 psi range besides 2nd cylinder back on driver side has only 25 psi I put a squirt of oil in the sparkplug but nothing changed.:blast:
OK, Now you have found the problem... pull that head and see why the compression is so low on that cyl....take a good look at the rocker arms, pushrods, cam and lifters for that cyl... check the valves for warpage, being burned ect.... 120 psi should run with no problems.... if the rings are stuck down or broken on the low cyl... that piston and rod assembly will have to come out and replace them.... That situation will bring you to a choice,,,, do you do the whole engine or do you just ''fix'' it????? If you find burned or warped valves and the cyl wall looks good and smooth then the valves are the problem....if the valves are ok... and you will have to break them down to look at the seats to see if they are sealing... then the problem is a hole in the piston, or stuck rings [the most likely] ..... You can buy one rod bearing, rings for one piston, and of course the individual gaskets... If you decide to go completely thru the engine there is 2 ways to do it,,, a ''overhaul'' in which you put new bearings, grind the valves, new timing chain and gears, gaskets, rings, ect.... or a ''rebuild'', which is all of the above but with the engine pulled out and broken down and a new cam and lifters and the cyls bored and new pistons installed....and rods reconditioned.... Think it thru before you start.....
You might want to consider doing a leakdown test before pulling the head. That will indicate whether it's an intake valve, exhaust valve, or rings.
I pulled off the intake manifold and valley cover and something doesn't look right to me-I hope that all nailheads are supposed to look like this. Take a look around the lifters- it looks the the metal has rusted or rotted away.
Do you mean the sharp irregular shape around the bottom of the lifter casting? This is normal, they are all rough until someone takes the time to smooth them out during a rebuild. This will minimize high stress (crevice) areas.
Well, I looked at the pics and it looks like there is a white chalky corrosion on the cam and some of the lifters..... is that right????? if the cam is corroded like I think, then it is time to get a cam and a set of lifters.... a cam is flame hardened , which means that the surface of it is hardened and the center is soft.... if this hard, outer part is compromised by wear or corrosion then the cam will fail....definitly...
Question.... Has that engine set up without running for a long period of time....??? You need to know what the pistons look like on the bank of cyls that is blowing oil....I am suspicious that you have a piston or pistons that have corroded and the rings stuck down .....
In addition to Doc's questions; - I thought I saw some grey gunk around one or two of those lifters, - that would indicate the presence of water in the oil to me. That's either caused by a lot of blow-by, (like Doc suggests, stuck rings) or is there a chance that a head gasket could be gone?
The white stuff in the pics is some sludge that I dug into. The lifters move smoothly in and out. The surface of the cam lobes are visibly worn- same with the lifters. I suspect ring/piston trouble also. At this point I must ask what will a rebuild cost?-doing it right. A crate motor chevy 350 looks pretty attractive right now. Will a chevy small block bolt up to my 1965 th400? Would be nice to be able to afford some chrome parts. Is this talk going to get me 86'd from this forum?
Okay;... First off, a rebuild is probably warranted on that motor if you've got that much gunk in it. It's probably a high mile engine. That'll set you back around 2 to 4K if you do most of the work yourself and have the machining done professionally. It all depends what would have to be replaced, and how many mods you want to put in. Doc would be able to answer what you could and should do with a Nail better than I can. I rebuilt mine straight stock with no mods and it still cost me about $2500. Next: A Chevy crate motor is an animal of a whole different colour. It will not drop into that Riv without a lot of modifications. Second, I don't think you'd be very happy with it, that's a pretty heavy car that it has to tow around. Chevy small-blocks are good cheap horsepower engines, but they have no torque, which what you need with a heavy car like that. The 401 rebuilt will out perform the small block any day of the week. Your original 400 transmission will not bolt up to a small block. If that's the 64 version, the only thing besides that 401 that will bolt up to it is a Rolls-Royce engine. The starter is on the wrong side for starters, and the 64 bell housing is unique to the year. You'd be better off matching the Chevy to a more modern transmission. This would require even more modifications to the frame and it would require a different driveshaft. I'm sure some people on this forum have swapped out older transmissions for modern ones, so they would be the ones to ask on how to do it properly. I would think in the end it would cost you more to modify the car to a Chevy than it would to rebuild the original equipment, and you'd probably wouldn't be happy with the end result.
Starski, I see you are in Eugene... Right im my back yard. I'd be happy to help you if I can. Always good to network with my fellow 65 Rivie neighbors! I can connect you with some local resources too. I'll send you a PM. Erik
For goodness sake , dont put a chevy engine in a riv.... like cussing in church... just how skilled are you???? How are you fixed for tools and space to work on an engine,,,,It cost money to go down the road,,,, But I dont believe in charging out the wazoo for mechanic work... so I do all that I can myself..., farm out the rest, and beat the familar stuff out of the robbing dealers around here.... pm your phone no. and i will call you and discuss your options....
You can slise and dice those cars but you just cant remove nailheads from themou: .Those engines are like diamonds among any other power mills. Theu looks good, sounds good and what is most important they have POWER:3gears: . I have gone thru that engine over the winter and believe me if you got some skills you can do a lot by yourself.I am almost done and i am living in east Europe,believe it or not but getting anything for 66'Riv here is really hard....:moonu: , not to mention shipping charges when you cant convince them to not ship by f#$%^& UPS or DHL.
