Rebuilt 350 using oil and smoking

[sjenkinsk]

Installed a remanufactured 350 in my 1982 Sea Ray 225 about two months ago. The engine has been running great but is using oil; approximately 2 quarts in 20 hours.

My mechanic seems to think it will stop once it it through the break in period. Reman company said it should not be using oil. No leaks detected.

The engine also puffs a lot of smoke when the engine is fired up. I am sure these two are related but my mechanic or reman comany can offer NO advice.

Do I have a problem or is this common of remanufactured engines? Any suggestions on a cause and a cure?

Really do not want to pull the engine again.

Thanks in advance for your comments and advice.


Steve Jenkins
1982 Sea Ray 225 Express Cruiser
350 w/Alpha 16x16QS

 

[fc3]

20 hours should be broken in assuming you used proper break-in procedure. Sounds like bad valve stem seals if it smokes at start-up.

 

[JediJD]

Concur...doesn't take but one valve stem seal to help you go through a surprising amount of oil. If it was during operation it would be more likely to be rings. Pull the plugs, see what shape they are in. Suspect one or two are blacker than the others.

This may be incredibly basic to you, but very doable to replace valve seals on a cylinder or two without pulling the engine. Pull the valve cover gaskets...go to the offending cylinder...rotate the engine to TDC on the compression stroke for that cylinder...use pressurized air to keep the valves up and replace the stem seal on that valve.

 

[ShamuToo]

Pull all the plugs and look at them. Keep track of which hole the go with. If you have one (or more) bad valve stem seal, that plug will be really black by comparison. Then you know which valve seal to go after. Unfortunatley, the valve seal replacement includes popping the spring retainers and removing the valve springs. You need a valve spring compressor for that. The operation requires the head to be off the motor. Look to the manuf for warranty if you can pinpoint the issue.

 

[stevea661]

Pull all the plugs and look at them. Keep track of which hole the go with. If you have one (or more) bad valve stem seal, that plug will be really black by comparison. Then you know which valve seal to go after. Unfortunatley, the valve seal replacement includes popping the spring retainers and removing the valve springs. You need a valve spring compressor for that. The operation requires the head to be off the motor. Look to the manuf for warranty if you can pinpoint the issue.

The head doesn't need to be off the engine, just at tdc with air pressure of about 100 psi into the spark plug hole, with an adaptor, like from a compresson tester, or made up from an old spark plug and some air hose. as jedijd said. :thumbsup: