[FoxBodyNut]

alright guys. on my '89 5.0:

I noticed a decent amount of smoke coming from the engine bay, teamed with a burning oil smell this weekend when i ran it WOT. I know for sure its not a Valve cover gasket... no oil above the spark plug holes.

I found some oil film down the side of my block and oil pan. i pulled the driver's long tube and found the color change to originate right around the middle two head studs. Spark plugs look perfect. No loss in coolant or temp fluctiations. The heads have been on for a year and a half now, installed 'em myself to the chiltons torque specs. they're iron GT40Ps on top of some 9333PT-1s, buttoned up by ARP studs.

my question: before i go and pull off the head to change the gasket, what does everyone think about just pulling the valve cover and re-torquing the studs? anyone been in this situation before?

it could also just be a loose dip stick tube, allowing oil to spit out under WOT.. is there supposed to be an O-ring on the dipstick tube, or some kind of sealant??

Thanks for your input.

-Kevin

[Allnuts]

Originally Posted by FoxBodyNut

alright guys. on my '89 5.0:

I noticed a decent amount of smoke coming from the engine bay, teamed with a burning oil smell this weekend when i ran it WOT. I know for sure its not a Valve cover gasket... no oil above the spark plug holes.

I found some oil film down the side of my block and oil pan. i pulled the driver's long tube and found the color change to originate right around the middle two head studs. Spark plugs look perfect. No loss in coolant or temp fluctiations. The heads have been on for a year and a half now, installed 'em myself to the chiltons torque specs. they're iron GT40Ps on top of some 9333PT-1s, buttoned up by ARP studs.

my question: before i go and pull off the head to change the gasket, what does everyone think about just pulling the valve cover and re-torquing the studs? anyone been in this situation before?

it could also just be a loose dip stick tube, allowing oil to spit out under WOT.. is there supposed to be an O-ring on the dipstick tube, or some kind of sealant??

Thanks for your input.

-Kevin

Any power adders on your setup? I would re-torque the heads again but to the same specs. Any breathers on your valve covers?
Have you checked behind the lower intake where the intake sits on the block? Did u use a gasket there or just silicon? What type of gaskets are you using on the valve covers, cork or rubber?

[FoxBodyNut]

yes, i recently installed nitrous, but I noticed the smoke and oil before i ever ran the nitrous. now that im going to be on the bottle, i want to figure out this leak situation before it gets worse.

rubber gaskets on the valve covers, plenty of RTV to go along with it. blue rubber intake-block gaskets, with RTV too.

oil is localized to drivers side block mostly. only a little above the head/block junction. nothing at all up near the valve covers.

the more i think about it, it could easliy be the dipstick tube. i think im gonna check the trque on the lower head studs, clean/degrease the entire drivers side, and then seal up the dipstick tube with some RTV and secure it with the header bolt. then, hopefully that'll be all. if not, then a clean block can help me figure out wheret he oil is coming from.

[bighoss88lx]

The leading reason for oil leaks and oil coming out of the dip stick is a clogged or inop PCV system. The PCV valve and screen need to be checked along with the hose to the intake. Re-torqueing head bolts is usually a bad idea. Once there torqued thats it. Anything after that stretches them out and can cause other problems.

[Allnuts]

Originally Posted by bighoss88lx

Re-torqueing head bolts is usually a bad idea. Once there torqued thats it. Anything after that stretches them out and can cause other problems.

True..maybe if he had studs it would be different.

[bighoss88lx]

Originally Posted by Allnuts

True..maybe if he had studs it would be different.

Even then headgaskets are designed to be torqued once, most of them anyway.

[FoxBodyNut]

i've got studs. i dont think its the head gaskets, and i agree that retorquing them isnt a good idea, i'll just focus on the oil dipstick tube. as it was, the tube was literally just stabbed into the block, held loosely by the friction of the tube in the hole in the block. no RTV, no o-ring... not even the header bolt securing the mounting bracket. just stabbed it in there and let it kinda hang around... this time around, i'll completely clean the block and work on how to fasten the dipstick tube mounting bracket to the header. then i'll throw a bead of RTV around the tube, stab it, and secure the header bolt mount.

I removed my baffle on the passenger VC to make room for the Rockers. i have the nipple for the tube venting to atmosphere. i'd rather have it vent to atmosphere than suck up oil into the intake. anyone think thats a bad idea? the PCV valve and screen are one year old and when i checked the PCV last week, the ball inside moved up and down when shook.. i figure its not broken. is there anything inparticular to look for on a PCV valve to tell its busted?

thanks for the responses.