Need MOTOR or HELP in CT

[01PearlWhiteGT]

I have a 97 Mark VIII LSC and finally trying to put my car back on the road.. Come to find out its got oil on 4 of the plugs and it sounds like a bad lifter also... WHen revved it sounds great but smokes... NEED HELP im no mechanic.

 

[warrioralumni08]

Where is it smoking from? Engine? Exhaust? Or both? You could have 1) Worn Valve Seals, 2) Worn Piston Rings, 3) Blown Head Gasket. I am no expert, just some thoughts that popped into my head.

For the lifter tick, did you check to see if the car had a good amount of oil? I believe if the oil is to low, the lifter will not be lubricated and will start to tick, or it may be a worn lifter or low oil pressure. I believe low oil pressure is due to worn out main bearings, and rod bearings.

Then again, where is the oil at? On the spark plug tips, or just around the spark plug itself?

 

[marked8]

car-part.com.

 

[ASMBLYLINE]

Oil on the plugs is no big deal. There are seals under the cam cover that seal off those holes. Pull the cam cover change em and your done. The ticking could be wrong oil, low oil, worn valve train but seeing your smoking sounds like the motor is getting tired.

 

[Sapperfire]

ticking in these motors is more often than not, just weak timing tentioners
use a mechanics stethescope to listen to the motor, this will help determine which end its coming from, if its closer to the front, then thats usually the case

what color is the smoke, and does it go away after driven for a while?


oil on the plugs... oil fouled or on the porcelean?

 

[01PearlWhiteGT]

The oil is not on the tips of the Spark plugs but is on the threads and i am getting white smoke out the exhaust. Car was sitting for a year and half while my friend was in IRAQ. This sounds crazy but i want to save the car. Not sure where to start, but really thinking if i have to dump money into it and i have to remove the heads what i can do to improve performance without Supercharging for i do not have that kind of float cash lol.

 

[DieselDan]

How old is the gasoline in the tank, and how does the oil look. Also, how many miles are on it. In my experience, these engines don't wear out to the point that you are getting that much oil past the rings. That said, you may have oil leaking from the cam cover seals on the holes for the spark plugs, leaking oil into the plug wells. The ticking may be a number of things, but is common for worn cam chain guides and tensioners. The smoke may be because of year old fuel... Try a tank of fresh fuel and clean out the plug wells and do an oil change, and then go beat the he'll out of it. See if it clears up.

 

[chris2523]

my car sat all winter before i turned 16. wouldn't start. changed the plugs and gave it a shot of ether, it cranked up and smoked like crazy for about 5 minutes, had to rev it up to keep it running. a few full throttle passes down my street and it cleared right up. that was about 40k miles ago.

 

[zmt325]

my car sat in a field for 5 years before i rescued it i changed the oil, filled it with 93 repaired the mouse chewed wires going to the cps, and it ran like shat for like 30 min it was knocking and smoking ( I thought i was going to puke for a while there). let it run in the driveway and it smoothed right out.

then i went for the maiden voyage the trans would not shift on its own. i had to manually shift it. plus the air ride was under a vacuum.
bought the shocks strutts and springs, threw them in and went for a speed limit run. still would not shift, 1 jmod later and bueno...


my point is dont give up,it has been asleep for a long time, give it time to wake up... a valve cover job sucks but it is better than an engine swap.
if it has less than 150k on it and the rings are bad I will kiss my own ass.

 

[Sapperfire]

oil on the plug threads is the valve cover plug well gaskets, the round ones in the center of the valve cover, white smoke is usually water/coolant in a cylinder, you can use a plastic bag and let the car idle for a good 15 minutes (until car is Op temp) and then place the bag over the exhaust tip and see if the bag is gathering condensation.
or you can pull all of the plugs prior to start-up, use a flashlight and check each one ( i would start with cylinders 7 & 8 ) and check for a puddle sitting on top of the piston.

if the white smoke is breif you could use some BlockFix to try and seal up the coolant breach ( this is still a temporary fix), but before you do that you still need to verify that you actually have a coolant/cylinder breach

this can be accomplished with a coolant/exhaust gas test, or a coolant pressure tester placed on the overflow bottle and not pumped, but just place it on the bottle and start the car, if the pump gauge is showing a build in pressure, youve got a breach

if you do in fact have a coolant breach, grab a bottle of Block Fix and follow the directions on the bottle, then start shopping for another engine.. usually a complete engine swap is cheaper than replacing head gaskets, because the entire block must come out anyway, have both heads re-decked as well as the block, then the head gasket set, and paying someone who has the setup tools to retime it

 

[01PearlWhiteGT]

How old is the gasoline in the tank, and how does the oil look. Also, how many miles are on it. In my experience, these engines don't wear out to the point that you are getting that much oil past the rings. That said, you may have oil leaking from the cam cover seals on the holes for the spark plugs, leaking oil into the plug wells. The ticking may be a number of things, but is common for worn cam chain guides and tensioners. The smoke may be because of year old fuel... Try a tank of fresh fuel and clean out the plug wells and do an oil change, and then go beat the he'll out of it. See if it clears up.

Gas is a year and half old. As far as coolant well its to dark to see if its oil in it... I think im going to drain the coolant and put fresh coolant in so i can tell. I am going to be really upset if this is the case because dropping in a new motor looks to be a royal pain. Prob just as much of a pain to convert it to a 03 cobra motor huh?

 

[JC1994]

If it sat for a while chances are, lifters bled down and u should change the oil restart and let it run until normal operating temp is reached. fresh premium gas as well needs to be added. it will sound like junk until the lifters get pumped up again.

 

[Sapperfire]

Sat for a year with the gas...remove the fuel filter...prime car to drain the tank (key on, key off, key on, key off) until tank is empty, install NEW fuel filter, add premium gas.
Oil change ....go from there...

But quit squirting varnish into your motor!

 

[JC1994]

Sat for a year with the gas...remove the fuel filter...prime car to drain the tank (key on, key off, key on, key off) until tank is empty, install NEW fuel filter, add premium gas.
Oil change ....go from there...

But quit squirting varnish into your motor!

I agree, I bought a 93 to part out 6 years ago. it had sat for 5 years. gas tank was bone dry I added 5 gallons of premium, changed oil. when it finally fired up it sounded like ten chickens on a tambourine! smoked like hell. but it came completely out of it. I sold the engine for 750.00 and it got put in a 84 Mustang and is still running today.