Hey, guys! I've got a couple questions I could use answered....Noticed them while we were working on my brother's '89, so these apply to the '93 below. First one....I noticed while I had my airbox lid off to paint it there was oil on the filter and in the TB. Not a lot, but enough to cause me concern. What would cause this or is it normal?

Second one is about my sway bar....We've got disconnects since it's got a 3" lift and today I noticed, we didn't put bushings on them! Been driving it like that for....Two years now. All that's on there is the nut and a washer, no rubber or poly bushing. Could this explain some vibrations I have? They're not in the steering wheel, but in the seat of the pants feeling.

Thanks in advance, guys! I'd really like some help on these, especially the sway bar....

 

The oil is a result of blow-by as a result of an ineffective CCV. The solution is to replace the rubber CCV orifice at the rear of the valve cover and clean out the vacuum tube that runs from that orifice to the intake plenum. A word of warning, the rubber elbow on the intake will break because it's old and brittle and has all the flexibility of a chunk-o-granite.

The sway bar bushings won't cause any sort of vibrations. The sway bar, sans bushings, might act as a tuning fork and transmit existing vibrations to the chassis but it won't cause them. Interestingly, I noticed that Autozone carries Energy Suspension urethane swaybar bushings. They're like $15 a set. As for the true culprit, there are many candidates. I had a weird wobble at 55-ish mph that I traced down to a lower control arm bushing that was no longer pressed into its hole. It was a wobble that I could feel in the heels of my feet on the floor but not anything like Death Wobble™, which is much more violent.

 

Just to be sure, this is referring to the small round bushings on the sway bar links, right? Where they bolt to the sway bar?

 

I had the same relatively small blow-by in the airbox of my '93 and it turned out to be not the CCV fittings or tubes but rather the fitting on the intake plenum that the rear hose attaches to. A bit of carbon had built up inside the fitting which was easily dislodged with a stiff wire. I couldn't believe that tiny bit of obstruction could cause the oil in the box, but haven't had so much as a drop since cleaning it.

 

Sweet, I'll give that a look tomorrow as well! Thanks!

 

Correct, they're like little donuts and dished washers that squish the swaybar onto the link with a 15mm nut.

Good idea to check that, too. I just replaced my vacuum harness and CCV orifice this weekend. Incredibly, the vacuum harness is available from Autozone for $23.99 and includes the rubber elbow at the front of your valve cover. The CCV orifice is available under the HELP! brand and runs about five bucks. I wasn't having blow-by but both (formerly) rubber fittings were leaking so much oil on the valve cover that it was running down the back of the block and dripping on the ground.

 

Thanks for your help once again, F1! I'll check the line and fittings to be sure they're clear. Also gonna pick up some of those bushing....I have a good feelings it's not good for the suspension to be missing those.