350 problems
Asked by Joshua Jul 15, 2016 at 07:50 PM about the 1979 Chevrolet C/K 10
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
My friend put a 350 in a 79 truck with mild cam,
Holley intake, msd ignition system, but still has a
older style carb. Has oils in 4 spark plug cylinders
will not start with out pouring gas in the carb it
smokes and coughs out of the carb and has no
power can some one tell me what's wrong or what
needs to be done to fix
8 Answers
Is your PCV hooked up and really bad? Oil can get in through that and getting mixed in the air-fuel mixture? Could be what's causing the rough running and lack of power too. Then again worst case scenario you have bad rings or bad valve stems/guides. You'll have to do a little tear down to find the culprit.
Forgot to mention, a leak-down test can be a big help in your case, if you suspect rings or valves.
firebird338 answered 8 years ago
First of all you need to stop that oil for getting on those four plugs and that sounds like it needs piston rings as long as oil is getting on those plugs she is going to continue to smoke and cough.
No pcv I think it's rings but it acts like it's not getting enough fuel if it's the rings would it just need a new motor it's not new it's used
You can do a dry compression test then a wet compression test, that generally will indicate bad rings. mid-late 70's trucks are getting more popular, so maybe it's time to do a mild rebuild on this engine?
Alot of poeple don't know this. it is out of time. even know you put the distributor in it can be till out of time. hold your top of your ditributor and the buttom of distributior it ill be hard, but if you can turn the teeth with a cloth around it and pire of channel locks thin that how it is out of time. hold the top with out the cap and thin turn the bottom with channel locks thin there your problem. it will be a little hard but teeth will turn with out rottey button turning .it is a bad distributor. you can put a one in from a junk yard. for about 25.00 the 350 from the older times are made with steal .after about 84 or86 the started building them gears with aluminum causeing them awhile to slip. Aluminum gets hot and weekens gear. . I am 98 % sure that is what it will be. Call your local part store and ask someone who has a least 20 years of experience. and they would be agreeable with that because like I said a lot of people don't know that. Thanks David Bigcountry Wardlaw,
