So i got the car back from the shop over the summer, and it had a small oil leak, the shop kept saying it was blowby, and you can see oil leaking from what appeared to be the back of the block and you could also see oil that had squirted onto the bottom of the hood.

Well i didn't know the oil leak was going to get worse, but on the way up to nor cal, I stopped every 200 miles to check the oil, and it turned out that i had to put in 4 quarts of oil every 200 miles. The block has 2800 miles on it now since i got it back in august.

The shop said it is blowby, so oil is just leaking through all of the gaskets. It does appear that it is coming from the rear main seal however. The guy at the shop also said it could be blowby because the rings are not seated properly or might never have seated properly. (and that is a series of other issues that im trying to take care of with the other guy as far as warranty on the rings).

Is there any way to know if it is blowby or something else that is causing the problem.

I also believe the rings have gone bad or never seated right at all since The car started to shoot out blue smoke when i got 800-1000 miles on the motor.

I don't think brand new heads with brand new valve seals would be to blame since i know lloyd does great work, unless i just got unlucky.

just wondering what you guys think and if i could just get some suggestions and opinions on the best way to go about this.

thanks
Zeeshan

 

i had an engine that had a bad oil ring and it went through 4 quarts in 200 miles. and as a matter of fact the piston skirt was gone of that piston also

 

the oil leak started from the moment i took the car off the shop's property, so im kind of thinking the guy just didn't put the oil rings in correctly to begin with.

is that probably what happened, or maybe it was just a crummy ring he installed?

would that pretty much be the main problem to be looking at is piston rings?

and yeah, that really sucks man, im pretty much in that boat right now. and the oil just leaks all over the undercarriage and burns off and the smell gets everywhere if i drive anywhere.

 

these LT1 oil rings are VERY delicate to install and if you dont take care to install them correctly, they can become wedged in between the bore and piston and never even know it resulting in oil ring failure. There are only 3 places for oil to go and thats either on your driveway, out your tail pipe, or in your coolant. just as a precautionary action, check your PCV valve.

 

these are the more obvious external oil leak symptoms,

oil from back of engine:
1. Intake gasket leak
2. Valve cover gasket/ cracked valve cover
3. Rear main seal
4. Oil pan gasket

Oil from front of engine:
1. Harmonic balancer hub seal
2. Opti seal
3. Timing cover seal
4. intake gasket
5. oil pan gasket
6. valve cover gasket

out of all the items listed above i would check the rear of the intake first to see if it is leaking which is a common problem with LT1's from the factory. this leak usually ends up on the passenger side exhaust header and smokes badly.

 

the shop checked the pcv valve the first time i went to them, and it still seems fine.

I am almost 100% sure that sometime is wrong with the piston rings since i do get a lot of blue smoke that comes from the exhaust, even if im at idle and not moving.

the shop did check and make sure no oil is leaking from the front of the motor since i did have to take the opti off recently as it blew. the rear of the intake manifold would probably be something i will check pretty soon.

thanks again
Z

 

If you're burning oil at idle then you have serious problems. A rebuild is in your very immediate future.

PS - Find a new shop.

 

yeah, everything was rebuilt 3k miles ago, all new rotating assembly, cam, heads, everything. i didn't go cheap or take any shortcuts here, but i do believe i chose the wrong shop.

 

Check the back of the intake and under the car. If it's leaking that much the floor pan should be covered in oil.
Don't condemn the rings until the last thing. The rings may not have seated yet.

 

Its also possible the intake is sucking in oil from the lifter valley and leaking out the rear of the intake. You could pull the intake and try resealing it with new gaskets in an afternoon unless you find it needs milled down in order to fit properly.

 

Larry, with the apparent amount of oil that he is losing, if it IS the rings and they've NOT seated, then I'd say that they never will due to the sheer amount of oil.

 

Ya might be right,but we don't KNOW that yet. There has been no leak down test done(hard to tell oil ring failure with it) no indication of fouled plugs either. It needs to be checked by a good tech that is LOOKING at it to find out.
It's hard to fix one on the internet.

 

Might I also add the oil pressure sensor. I think on earlier models it's down by the oil filter, but on mine it's on the back of the block on the flat machined surface that the intake manifold rests on.

 

just so we are all on the same page, blow by isnt an oil leak. im sure you guys knew that but it sorta sounds like zbomb was a little confused. honestly, not trying to offend anyone.

blow-by isnt going to squirt oil on the bottom of your hood, that sounds more like your oil sending unit, but could be other things as well. sounds like this is a serious oil leak. the first thing that i would do is wash the motor off and find the leak and fix it. then i would do a compression test and a leak down test.

does the car burn oil only when first started or does it do it all the time?

 

I had one of the valve cover gaskets out of place when I put them back on after adjusting the valves. Leaked oil like crazy, right on the exhaust manifold. When I looked in the mirror while driving down the road it looked like blue smoke coming from the exhaust, but it was just rolling out from under the car. I put a few spots of RTV to hold the gasket in place while installing valve cover. No more oil leak, no more smoke.