Blowing oil and too much crud in the engine

[Big Rectangular Car]

Probably a stupid question, but my brain is mush...
Okay, so the crankcase is blowing a lot of oil into my air cleaner box through the PCV hose that coonects to the little sponge filter otherwise know as the diaper.

Also the interior of the engine, being that it has so many miles on it, is full of carbon grit and old oil crap and I'm wondering if there's a clog somewhere where oil isn't circulating well and causing too much pressure? Oil is oozing its way out of all the seals-- rocker arm covers, head gaskets, front gaskets, and I figure the gaskets are old but why is is blowing oil so much now?
Does this mean overhaul in the near future? The compression was tested fairly recently and the people who did the test, (some Ford dealership garage the PO has taken it to throughout the life of the car) said it was still good. Not the best, but still okay.

Okay enough blathering from me for now... :P

[mrltd]

That's more like a PCV valve issue or just bad rings causing a lot of blowby. The oil isn't pressurized in the valve covers and such. Those are just bad seals/gaskets.

[gadget73]

+1 on what he said. Pull the PCV valve out of the oil cap and feed some Seafoam or carb cleaner or something through it to make sure its working properly. I'd also check the grommet where it sits into to make sure its a tight fit. Not sure if the oil cap itself has any foam or whatever in there, but if it does, it might be clogged up, and the rubber gasket that sits between the oil fill cap and the valve cover may be shot. Valve cover and leaks at the front and rear of the intake are pretty common, and so is a bad O ring on the distributor. Its really nothing unusual for a 5.0 with miles on it. Changing the gaskets should take care of the leakage problem, and unless its got bad blowby, a properly working PCV system should take care of the rest.

[mrltd]

Also check the tubes that go to the PCV...Those get clogged too.

[Big Rectangular Car]

I'd cleaned the PCV system and so forth when I was trying to solve the gas mileage problems. It shouldn't clog up so fast after 2K miles, would it? Or would an older car like this need to get it done every 2K miles?
Would a compression test reveal bad rings as well?

Also was wondering what would be good for trying to clean up the carbon/oil crud inside? Some oil additive that can dissolve buildup just before you change the oil?
I used Seafoam on the oil cap, PCV, etc, but it sure took a while to get that stuff cleaned off. Had get an old toothbrush and really go at it. Kind of like the Valdez disaster without the water.

[mrltd]

The problem with dissolving the crud in the motor is larger chunks will dislodge and clog the oil pump screen...Which is really really bad.

You already said the compression test didn't come out great...

The system shouln't clog that quick, but if it's blowing that much oil out...The PCV have a bunch of suction?

[Southern_Pride]

Run some tranny fluid in it about a week before the next oil change.

[Big Rectangular Car]

The problem with dissolving the crud in the motor is larger chunks will dislodge and clog the oil pump screen...Which is really really bad.

Ugh... is it possible that there might be a clogging problem already?

You already said the compression test didn't come out great...

Not exactly bad, it was more like borderline good, the numbers were still high enough to not cause any problems, yet. So I was told. Not enough to need anything done with it, yet. But if the rings are starting to wear, then the foregone conclusion is that they will cause more and more blowby problems, then? Gee, I guess I can still learn something, after all.

The system shouln't clog that quick, but if it's blowing that much oil out...The PCV have a bunch of suction?

Seems to be okay, but I am not really familiar with how much suction a V-8 PCV should have.
Anyway, I cleaned the diaper, hoses and valve once again with seafoam. The valve did have some carbon bits come out of it, so maybe it's dirtier than I realize. If I just go and get a new valve, then I can start over.

[mrltd]

Ugh... is it possible that there might be a clogging problem already?



Not exactly bad, it was more like borderline good, the numbers were still high enough to not cause any problems, yet. So I was told. Not enough to need anything done with it, yet. But if the rings are starting to wear, then the foregone conclusion is that they will cause more and more blowby problems, then? Gee, I guess I can still learn something, after all.



Seems to be okay, but I am not really familiar with how much suction a V-8 PCV should have.
Anyway, I cleaned the diaper, hoses and valve once again with seafoam. The valve did have some carbon bits come out of it, so maybe it's dirtier than I realize. If I just go and get a new valve, then I can start over.

1. If you have oil pressure, prolly not.
2. Borderline good, would mean a bit of blowby to me.
3. Might want to replace the PCV if it's over a year old. As for the suction, it should have a good bit. Should be full manifold vacuum.

[Big Rectangular Car]

Thanks for the info, mtltd.
I think I will do an oil change, after only 2K miles, because it got dirty pretty quick. I suspect that for the driving conditions it's had, like short trips at low speeds, it got the oil dirtier faster, and possibly, though the PO did change the oil at the specified intervals, maybe he wasn't driving it far enough to keep it from sludging up.
Long day, once again, I get on here and me brain is mush. :P
I noticed a big improvement in the amount of crud in the rocker arm covers when I cleaned the PCV hoses and such, and the dipstick is rapidly turning very black, so all that long distance highway driving last month hopefully helped clear some of the stuff out already.

[mrltd]

Prolly. The short trips do cause a lot of issues. Our old versailles was like that. S

[p71towny]

A buddy of mine was amazed at how clean his engine became after running some mobile 1 through it. It was all gunked up inside, and after a couple oil changes you could see the metal again.