Yup. After 263K miles, a mystery oil puddle now greets me on the driveway beneath the air cleaner snout. Pulled the filter box off and the air filter is soaked! Drips thru the access hole for the screw that holds the snout on.

Rather copious too....qt every 200 miles or so!

I've dis-assembled the crankcase breather hose junction and cleaned (carb cleaner) all the elbows and the orifice hole. Have un-impeded air flow, bothways, thru all the tubes. Put it all back together and it's still pumpin' oil thru the air cleaner!

The valves and valve guides were replaced about 20K miles ago, and the spark plugs are nice n' grey, so it's not burning oil.

Is there more to the crankase ventilation system that could be causing the pressure/pumping problem? Anything clogged under the valve cover?? The valve guides going south already???

My shop manual is kinda vague (and it's the factory edition!).

I've owned the car, btw, for almost 23 years...2-door model. It's been pretty bulletproof with only the expected (tires, alternator(s), battery(s), CV joint(s), etc etc) replacements. Did the head job as a preventative...compression is still good.

Found this site today via GOOGLE, btw... some *very* good reading!

Any ideas on my problem? Hate to shoot the 'ol hoss in the head!!

'Preciate the help...

David

 

David,

At 263K I think that your oil control (scraper) rings on the piston are worn. You might be getting good compression (did you check?) and not noticing the blue smoke when you are driving. My 84 4000S had a very similar problem as far as oil consumption is concerned. I was perplexed as to where the oil was going I didn't notice any obvious leaks, the compression was good and no "blue smoke". It wasn't until I was stuck in traffic on a hot summer day, then I couldn't miss the blue smoke even when looking in the rear view mirror. New rings solved the problem.

The oil dripping out of the air box could be the result of too much blow-by passed the rings and possibly forcing the oil up the tube. Normally this is not a problem but over the years the breather tube gets restricted with buildup of sludge and the diameter gets smaller, making it easier to force the oil up the smaller diameter.

Another problem is that on a 1980 models the plunger in the K-Jetronic fuel distributor is worn and fuel is leaking. The fuel breaks down and leaves behind a thick dark brown residue. Later models that have KE-Jetronic have a Viton o-ring that is supposed to stop the fuel from dripping. What you are seeing might not be oil did you smell it? You shoul be able to smell fuel if that is the case.

 

Thanks Offramp ....

I Think your observation about the oil scraper rings may be spot on (no pun intended!). While cylinder compression is still good, running the car with the crankcase hoses disconnected -does- result in all kinds of blue smoke...

...and I think it all condenses in the pipe which leads to the air filter box (path of least resistance). While I've not noticed tail-pipe 'contrails' while driving, I had someone follow me up and down the highway, and they reported a faint trail while cruising with blue puffs on acceleration/deceleration.

The oil itself doesn't have a gasoline smell, so I don't think its' the fuel pump plunger situation you described.

So it looks like I'll have to bite the new-rings bullet.

I hadn't considered the oil-ring aspect.

Thanks again for your considered response and help!

David