Stabsthedrama

Sorry to start another thread, but just had to question this.

So....it had been way too long since my last oil change (since the thing leaks like crazy anyway and I've been lazy, I'm finally getting the RMS done in a few days at a nearby shop for 250-300$, a fair deal considering I'd be doing it at my apartment in the snow) - I even got a new oil pan and gasket already, since the drain plug on mine is stripped, and that is leaking too. So anyway, the oil was real old. Also, it's Winter...my wife has been driving it to work for about a month, just short ~10 mile trips at a time. So all those things I have heard will contribute to a bit of gas in the oil. I had only started recently noticing it, and yes, there was definitely gas in it. You could tell with how it sat on my hand. It wasn't a WREAKING smell of gas, but it was there. The other symptom I've started seeing recently is a lot of "smoke" on startup. Again, it's been cold and snowy here, and to me it doesn't seem like oil, gas, or coolant. It smells like nice, normal exhaust - no coolant has ever been seen in the oil whatsoever, and I haven't ever lost any.

So I changed the oil and am now halfway done swapping injectors for upgraded 4 holes. I figure the other common cause is a leaky injector, and I wanted to swap out the stock ones for awhile anyway simply as a safety concern, let alone an upgrade. I did actually take the stock injectors out together while still on the rail and primed the truck, and they didn't seem to leak at all, but I'm not sure how good of a test that really is, and one of the injectors didn't have a clip on it and was barely staying in the rail, and the other one had an oring lodged in the hole and came off the injector...so...

Last thing that leaves? Piston rings...

How much of a chance would that be on an 89 renix with only 140k on it, though? I did a wet/dry comp test awhile back but the results were kinda hard to believe with the crap HF tester I used, though the numbers were consistent and didn't change much on wet, all-in-all they seemed pretty good.

I know the first recommendation would be a comp test, so has anyone used the Innova compression tester?
Ya, ya I know...another cheap comp tester, but the reviews seem solid, and with 2 crappy comp testers to compare, I would think as long as the results are consistent, I should be in the clear, no?

I'll be getting the RMS/pan done in a few days, so when that is done this new batch of oil will get flushed out for a new batch. I will also check/change plugs soon after that so that I can monitor them as well. And then I guess it's just a waiting game to see if it starts smelling like gas...

I guess there's not to much of a question in this, more of just a rambling.

Thoughts?

cruiser54

You're a Rambler!! LOL.

You're on the right track. The better injectors will help. Don't overthink this too much. Monitor it now.

DFlintstone

Twice now I got this >.. < close to going after a RM on two different 90's. First one. I had bought the gasket and seal. In time I discovered my front vent tube to the air cleaner was blocked, (100%) Trust me, as good as a kinked flex tube). After leting it vent, leak stopped and I returned about $30 worth of stuff.

Now the second 90. A little trickyer of a story. I put a few hundred on it before driving it 300 miles home. Waz OK. Then it starts pissing like a big dog. Gassen it up my hill it left a cloud of smoke. Suspecting blow-by, I look at the filter. it's wet with oil. (but just a little a couple inches near the end). Being it's raining buckets with no dust, I remove the filter. Now follow me here. I find the adapter is leaking, blowing back on the pipe crossover, and the smoke was because coming up the hill is when the pipe got hot enough to burn it off. So I stop the adapter leak. ......Now there is still oil getting on the pipe?? How can this Be? (it was OK before) I check the rear CCV tube..completely clogged! (not sucking to help lower crankcase pressure) I fix that.. still leaks!!! WTF! Then it dawns on me. Even a clean air filter will cause a little negative pressure, (vacuum) for that forward vent pipe. I put the filter element back, and BINGO. That changed the balance of blow-by going in the crankcase, and the venting system dealing with it. It stopped dripping, it stopped smoking, it stopped making remakrable oil slicks in wet parking lots, it stopped using oil. JUST THE VENTING. (everything needed to be right).

Stabsthedrama

I follow ya, but for sure the ccv/venting is fine on mine. Ive changed it and gone back over it a dozen times. I actually just pulled the rear off a little while ago for whatever reason and it was fine. I mean ya I get a bit of blow by and smoke out the oil fill cap when I take it off and it's running, but I've already been down that road. I've cleared up a good bit of it and at this point am fine just living with it.

All hoses are fine, all vents are fine. I wish it was that easy :/

I'm not saying its not because of some weird vacuum or pressure thing that I'm getting blow by or even a bit of gas in the oil, but I can promise that I have done everything I can to stop/minimize that side of things.

How has the new girl been treating ya by the way?

Radi

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That's enough to do it in the winter. My oil stunk like gas in short order when I was making short trips back and forth to work. There is always some cylinder leakage in these old motors and they aren't getting hot enough to burn it back off.
Change the oil more often and hit the highway once in a while.
If you had ring problems you'd have a whole lot more blowby spilling out of the oil filler.

Stabsthedrama

When you say a whole lot more how much do you mean? Like "holy crap look at all that oil coming out of the valve cover" territory?

I mean I definitely get blowby, but it has been minimized to very little, and I know that it's 100% normal on these Renixes. No actual oil seepage is happening whatsoever out of the oil filler, just a bit of oil in the air box since the CCV is doing it's job.

Radi

Pretty much. I've seen oil dipsticks unseat themselves on really worn motors, lol. You can screw a compression gauge in there to be certain. That Innova kit you linked will work fine, it doesn't have to be anything fancy.

cruiser54

Is it "making oil"?

That's when the oil level raises on ya.
Simple old fart test is to take the dipstick out of the engine and drip some oil off the tip of it on to that web on your hand between your thumb and nose-picking finger.

Does the oil dissipate all out into the wrinkles of your skin or stay together?

Stabsthedrama

Nope, not making oil, losing it like crazy instead. Getting the pan/rms done this week though. Have done everything else/tracked down any other possible leaks COMPLETELY, and ya it's the pan gasket/rms/drain plug. No biggy.

And yes, there was fuel in the oil - it webbed out a bit. Not like crazy, but I could tell it was a bit fuel fouled.