Cascade Crew

TecherB · Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:42 pm Post subject: what do you think it could be

At work today I got a chevy 1500 with a 5.3 vortech that smokes really bad at start-up. I was thinking that it could be the valve seals. When i pulled the plugs their was a lot of oil on them. The owner also claimes that they burn off a quart of oil every 200-300 miles.

So What Do You Masters Of The Over The Internet Diagnosis Think?

PonchoTA · Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2004 8:58 pm Post subject:

I think you are right. Valve seals. They are probably GONE! Of course, the guides are bad too. Either way, it's going to need the heads reworked.

Of course, knowing the age of the truck/engine and how much heavy use it has done would help with diagnosis too!

With older engines and ones that have done a lot of towing, you could expect that the rings would be contributing as well (longer term 200-300 mile oil consumption)

Good call Bart!
(you ARE going to let us know if we pick the right thing, right?!!!) Laughing

84transam383 · Banned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 431 Location: bend, or

my god, if its a quart of oil EVERY 200 or 300 miles,its either the rings,or an oil leak somewhere,i seriously doubt valve stem seals alone would cause that much oil loss or consumption.

since hes reffering to the 5.3 vortec it cant be older then what? 98 or 99?

customers have a habit of over exagerating stuff like that though...

at my shop i get it all the damn time,its agravating,or they have done something thats related to the problem there having,yet they will not admit it or hint to it { i hate that the most}... case in point..

weds i beleive it was a 87 dodge 600 k car with the 2.2 alum head was dropped off at my shop needing work... i ask the customer what was wrong with it,her response was the following... " i dunno!! it just died on the freeway and wouldnt restart" i got in in the car and tried to start it,no dice,wouldnt even TRY to fire,i get out,examine connections{efi,dist,coil} and notice theres a small puddle of coolant on the ground,i was like wtf?! further examination revealed that the cooling system was being pressurized during engine cranking,obviously a blown head gasket/cracked head or block... i mention this too her,when she FINALLY reveals that her super duper father whos a mechanic noticed a water leak,ans was going to fix it....she aparently noticed the temp gauge on this car,which reads to 280* was pegged,she said she thought it was the oil pressure gauge Mad

her father told her it would be fine Rolling Eyes

then i had to inform them because of basically there ignorance,the head had warped AND cracked in several spots,and i dunno wtf was up with the oil,it smelled HORRIBLE,like it had been boiled and coked and was about 10 years old.

eh,anyways sorry about the rant,ive just been dealing with this kind of BS all week Evil or Very Mad

but back to topic,bart id seem to think the rings are shot,maybe they ran it low on oil and cooked the rings? if you find something out though lemme know,im kinda curious what the problem actually is.

rjmcgee · The Hammer Joined: 08 Jan 2004 Posts: 2320

People actually fix K-cars. Shocked

PonchoTA · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 8:41 am Post subject:

<--- Rodney!!

I was thinking valve seals/guides because Bart mentioned that it smoked at startup.

I've only seen problems with rings displayed by big clouds of blue smoke under acceleration. The startup oil would be the oil that puddled on top of the valve(s) after shutdown, by leaking past the seals and guides. Typically called the Chevy salute, this seems pretty standard on abused Chevy engines. I would seriously question the owner's care standards.
If the car is started and run enough each day, you could go through some serious oil too!

2 more pennies for the pot...

chevymad · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 10:51 am Post subject:

If you do a net search bart you'll find a million compliants on the new LS style chevy motors and oil consumption. Most of them have to do with piston/ring problems. Seems the early versions had alot of piston slap. This scarred the cylinders up bad ruining the rings. I dont think chevy really got it taken care of till 2001-2 models. Theres quite a bit of pressure for a recall too. If you pull the magnetic oil drain plug out and theres alot of iron filings, i'm told this is material from the cylinder walls.

84transam383 · Banned Joined: 25 Jan 2004 Posts: 431 Location: bend, or

TecherB · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 4:32 pm Post subject:

You may be right B. When I did an oil change there was a little bit of metal shavings on the plug. I did not think that it was excessive but I don’t know how long ago the oil change was.

So you guys know the truck is a late 90's like 98 or 99 I cant remember exactly. The truck is sitting all weekend and I’m going to fire it up on Monday to see how smoky it really is. After I gave it a tune up on Friday (plugs, fuel filter, PCV, and oil change) I let in run in one of my stalls until it got warm and then some then parked it out side for the weekend. I’m going to start it up this Monday then see what they'll let me do. What do you think the nest step should be pull the head and get the valve seals done or would bad rings show up on a compression test on it?

-Bart

Demon · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 6:58 pm Post subject:

Roshambo · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 7:58 pm Post subject:

TecherB · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 8:04 pm Post subject:

Demon · Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2004 8:11 pm Post subject:

chevymad · Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2004 11:39 am Post subject:

Have you looked at the TSB's yet Bart? I'd definately do that and see what chevy's latest take is on it. From threads i've seen, some people are actually being told 1 qt per 500 miles is normal! Shocked

In fact chevy has changed their definition of "normal" several times. And I think now its not even listed in miles but in pounds of fuel burned. Which of course makes it much harder for the consumer to figure out if his vehicle is normal or not. Probably the point to it actually.

Edit: Just did a search on my favorite reference site(TC) and found a whole website devoted to this problem. http://www.pistonslap.com/

TecherB · Posted: Mon Feb 16, 2004 6:43 am Post subject:

Thanks B for the help tell you guys what i come up with tonight

So I got valve seals oked and well see if that fixes it

TecherB · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject:

Valve seals did it.

the intake side one were very bad and the exhaust was bad as well.