Blue exhaust and pinging....

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Had my brother move the 80 yesterday as I was getting ready to hit the road back to school. Truck was cold and hadn't been run in 24 hours. I never get to watch the truck as it's driven, so I have no idea if this happens a lot or not, but the exhaust was noticeably blue for about 30 seconds. I lose about a quart of 5w30 every 3 weeks, but I also have a slow leaking seal somewhere at the rear of the motor(haven't figured out if it's the pan, the valve cover, or the rear main). As far as I know the truck didn't do this when I took possession of it in November. Since then I've put 8k highway miles on it, and about 1k in-town miles. I admit that I am classified as an "spirited" driver(ok, aggressive ). Am I killing my motor? Is this normal?

The second issue is that when I run 87 Octane I get pinging when accelerating under load(such as up a hill). When I run 89 I get a lot less pinging, but if I really push it up a hill(which is required in this mountainous area from time to time) I get pinging still. The truck has fresh plugs/wires/cap/rotor as of 6 months ago. Any ideas? Oh, and I've run seafoam through the gas twice and it has helped w/ my lack of power immensly and combined with replacing the 02 sensors completely fixed my sporadic idle.

Thanks

Ary

 

[BOUNDER]

I see flags...

Had my brother move the 80 yesterday as I was getting ready to hit the road back to school. Truck was cold and hadn't been run in 24 hours. I never get to watch the truck as it's driven, so I have no idea if this happens a lot or not, but the exhaust was noticeably blue for about 30 seconds. I lose about a quart of 5w30 every 3 weeks, but I also have a slow leaking seal somewhere at the rear of the motor(haven't figured out if it's the pan, the valve cover, or the rear main). As far as I know the truck didn't do this when I took possession of it in November. Since then I've put 8k highway miles on it, and about 1k in-town miles. I admit that I am classified as an "spirited" driver(ok, aggressive ). Am I killing my motor? Is this normal?

The second issue is that when I run 87 Octane I get pinging when accelerating under load(such as up a hill). When I run 89 I get a lot less pinging, but if I really push it up a hill(which is required in this mountainous area from time to time) I get pinging still. The truck has fresh plugs/wires/cap/rotor as of 6 months ago. Any ideas? Oh, and I've run seafoam through the gas twice and it has helped w/ my lack of power immensly and combined with replacing the 02 sensors completely fixed my sporadic idle.

I see all kinds of flags being thrown in what you've described here but one of the ABSOLUTE worst things you can do to any vehicle -especially an LC - is fast starts and stops - period - don't do it. Blue smoke out the exhaust could be (gulp) burning oil (cold/worn rings/seals??)- not an especially good sign. If you're haven't already, try the Mobil Drive Clean High Mileage semi-synth oil (10w30) - it's like givin' your engines internals a big hug Good luck.

 

[Tools R Us]

Most of the time startup blue smoke is valve seals. Caused more by age/wear than romping on it.

 

[Cruisin'Carolina]

Most of the time startup blue smoke is valve seals. Caused more by age/wear than romping on it.

Ditto....I owned a dump truck in college (350 chevy) and a 65 Mustang a couple of years ago that both had worn valves that did this.

EDIT: I AM NO MECHANIC but the way it was described to me is that oil is getting past the valve seal, even if only minute amounts. This might be undetectable during driving, except for a small increase in oil consumption. When you kill the truck, the oil that seeps through accumulates in the cylinder, and puffs when started up and it is burned off.....

You probably have a good bit of life left, I would monitor it for awhile, or commit to checking compression for the bottom end and consider getting some head work done.

Even after you fix the body and do this, you will have a whole lot less in it than I'd bet 99% of the rest of us do in our 80s....

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Even after you fix the body and do this, you will have a whole lot less in it than I'd bet 99% of the rest of us do in our 80s....

lol, true. Maybe when the motor and tranny go south I can fix both of the two things I don't like about the 80 by putting in a massaged 350 and an NV4500.

 

[2cruisers]

A clear and easy way to determine bad valve seals is to idle the vehicle in place. If you see blue smoke after some time has passed you probably have bad seals. You say you lose a quart every three weeks. How many miles does this relate to? If you had to guess ,how much are you leaking? If you punch it does it leave a plume of blue smoke behind?

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

I'd say about a quart every 1500(that's a guess). I'm not leaking a ton, there's no puddle in my parking spot and I park in the same spot usually. When I punch it I can't see any blue smoke from the driver's seat. If I let the truck idle after a drive there's no smoke.

Ary

 

[speyrod]

just as a measurement my 96 uses less than a quart of 10-30 M1 every 5000 miles of normal drivingm, abouta Q every 3000 if I drive spirited. I'm switching to 5-30 M1 this week and will get a good gauge as I'm headed on a road trip. You might give the 10-30 a try and see if it makes a difference.