oil running into air intake
Asked by johntgift Mar 29, 2010 at 09:29 PM about the 1988 Ford Festiva
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I have a 1988 festiva. When I drive at hwy speed (55mph) Oil is being forced out of the valve cover, and up through the hose that leads into my air filter housing. I replaced the pcv valve, thinking that this would solve the problem, but its still happening. What do you think the problem is? I tried just plgging off the hose in question, but when I do that, it causes pressure build up in the motor, and will cause the dip stick to blow out of the metal tube it sits in. What next? I should mention that it seems to be a substansial amount of oil that is being blown into tha air intake...... Enough that its running into the carb, causing the engine to smoke.
5 Answers
Needs an engine - The Oil rings on the pistons are broken causing excessive combustion pressure into the crankcase. No PCV system in the world will handle that kind of pressure. In the old days they used to just pull the Hose off the breather side of the valve cover and stick it into a can and let the excess pressure go into that - Keeps the oil out of the plenum/Carb and you can empty the can every time it fills up :) A wet and dry compression test will verify my diagnosis
CRAP, I was afraid of that. So an engine rebuild is in order then? Ever tried doing one on a Festiva? Doesn't look like theres much to them. thanks for the help. Looks like I better head to the parts house and buy a manual. Checked prices on rebuilt engines and the best I could find was 1100 bucks!
cruiser627 answered 14 years ago
I just had a VERy similar problem, did a compression test, and found cylinders 2 & 4 to be 45lbs and 75lbs of compression, which supports the idea of the rings being shot. Let me know if you found any more info!
replace your pcv valve,if it has one.but to me sounds like it has layed an egg.
I own the same car , and would not dispute any of the other suggestions. However before I went and did all that I would check the simple things first. For example I would check to see if the vacume operated air intake damper on the air filter canister is opening. If it's not operating and closed then the carburator is going to suck air in from the next least restrictive source. In your case it would be that little hose that runs from the valve cover to the air filter canister. If the damper is closed or partially closed the carburator is surely going to suck in a certain amount of oil from the valve cover magnified at highway speeds because of the increased air intake flow to the carb..
