legacycentral bbs

OK - I know this is the dumbest type of question. I'm really asking for thoughts before the surgery begins:

Bought the pretty good 91 SS 4EAT for laughably little on the basis that it's peeing oil from the right hand head area onto the manifold.

Now I have it on the street in from of my place and I can tell you that:

1. The oil flow is serious - falling on the manifold so fast that it's smoking and is i think unsafe to drive.

2. Plugs seem fine, though.

3. Super lumpy running at both idle and at higher rpm. Chasiss ear reveals lots of head noise from that head, sounds like from the rear valves.

4. Even with cold engine, clean oil deposits can be felt on the bottom of the head if you reach around.

5. Timing belt cover is cracked and belt exposed at that same corner, but I can't feel any oil deposits in the bottom there ie oil doesn't seem to be coming from the cam pulley end.


SO, any bets before I begin surgery?

a) violently blown head gasket?
b) cracked head?
c) broken valve or rocker (makes sense for the running, but not the leak)
d) The Curse of Mount Fuji (Heavy Industry)
e) all of the above
f) other

f) other

check the valve cover gaskets first.

You think oil leak is unrelated to completely lumpy running? (Maybe)

And can the valve cover really leak that much? Sorry these are my first boxers.

And, last, are the valve cover gaskets available on their own?

Thanks as alway, guys.

I doubt it, but anything is possible

i would think so, but I dont know how much it's leaking

yes.

right hand side facing the engine? (pass or driver would work better )

Valve gaskets are cheap and very easy. I don't know if they come with the gaskets for the 3 bolts that hold them on each side, but get those too if they don't. All you need is a 10mm socket or wrench. FSM spec for torque on the bolts is 3.6 lbs, but I did mine to 5. They all leak from the valve cover gaskets and it doesn't even have to be much to coat the bottom of the engine and the manifold. Gravity is going to always be trying to squeeze oil out and there's also the PCV that runs through the covers. A cracked head is very unlikely as are the HGs to fail in that manner.

Steve

OK - cover coming off as soon as I can get the gaskets. Who do I go to for supply? Anyone know the part numbers?

Passenger side is what I mean by right hand. Right hand as you're sitting in the car. I tend not to use "passenger side" as fully half of the rally cars that I work with are RHD imports, and we're drivers of very little brain...

It doesn't take much oil to raise a big cloud of smoke. The gasket could easily account for it. The valve noise is likely not related to the leak, check the forums for bleeding of the hydraulic adjusters, and if no go there, you may have a weak oil pump or clogged passages to the adjusters, or lastly a lot of wear in there somewhere.

Yeah - I'm wondering if the leak and the noise may be unrelated.

But I've had sticky lifters before. This is a bigger noise I think. Real clackity-clackity and engine squirming around like it's running on 3cyl. But that last thing could be spark loss, too....? Exhaust is not smoky.

if you have a clicking noise its most likely really low on oil and the lifters are making the noise. The rough running could be the timing is off. I just replaced the front crank seal on my car and one of the cams was retarded a little which when i fixed its timing it runs a lot smoother now, doesnt have the low end torque that it was getting tho lol. Bottom line, i'd check the timing on the cams and the oil.

Oil level is fine - first thing I checked. And the only way the timing could be off is if the belt slipped a tooth, right? Is there a marker on the cam pulley for TDC?

A

when you are in there replacing the gasket, take a good look and make sure the valves are doing what they are supposed to do, with an assistant cranking it over a bit (pull the plug wires or coil wire so it doesn't start up in your face !) If one or more valves are broken or the guides are ungodly shot you may be able to see that.

If OK reassemble and check the compression on all four to see if the "trouble" cylinder is low.

Before even starting, check the operation of the PCV valve, make sure you have manifold vacuum there. If stuck closed it will pressurize the crankcase and top end, and create leaks, speed them up, or even blow seals if real bad. It sucks to replace a seal and blow it back out for lack of a good $7 part. In fact just chucking it and replacing it would probably be a good idea.

Hi Andrew, happy to see you in the magnificient legacy world!

I'm one of Rejean Losier service guy, i could give you a hand for the ej22t when you'll be around the mitsubishi dealer.

Let me know when you'll come down Mat

4 main things could be causing the smoking on the passenger side manifold. 1. The valve cover gasket, it is the most likely culprit. Mine leaked and it would smoke really bad sometimes. 2. The rear cam seal O-ring. 3. The turbos oil return line. If this is leaking on the up-pipe or manifold then you'll get an extreme amount of smoke. 4. The oil feed line. Also can cause lots of smoke if leaking.

Hope this is helpfull