Hoping to compression test this week, but I'll tell you, we brought to to temp after changing oil today and it just runs so well I can't imagine there's much compression difference between all 8. I'm certainly not an engine builder though!

I have to get the spewing valve cover gasket & radiator replaced and the brakes working so I can get it on the road to really get it to temp and see what we see about the blow by.

1956 F600 272
2005 F250 5.4

I do come across stuck piston rings on the core engines with regularity.  For many of the engines, this comes about as a result of how the engines or short blocks are stored.  Condensation would appear to be the biggest culprit for this.  Because the engines are being rebuilt, the pistons are typically being discarded so there’s not a lot of effort being put into freeing up the rings.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Ted - I performed a similar routine last fall when I put up the Y-Block for the winter, "Fogging" the engine at a fast idle with Marvel's oil till it stalled out. This sat through the winter. I figured if a few hours (or days) of ring soaking was good, a few months would be even better. I believe it does idle and run noticeably smoother, though it could be my imagination.

You've torn down your share of engines, I expect, both running and non-running. Are a high percentage of varnished or stuck rings common in your experience? I'd expect that too, but I don't know for sure.

Windmills are a perfect example of why using the appropriate oil for an application is important as those units would be in service for years with very little maintenance performed to the gear boxes.  For this particular application it’s necessary to use only non-detergent oil and not what would be considered a more superior oil such as a detergent or mult-grade oil.  For those gear boxes it is necessary for the worn metal particulates to always drop to the bottom of the sump rather than be repeatedly circulated through the gears and bearings.  Using a multi-grade or detergent oil simply holds unwanted particulates in suspension which does not get filtered out in those older gear or bearing systems.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

WINDMILLS?




"FREE SAMPLE"

Hopefully you have not found the reason this truck has been parked for awhile.  A cranking compression test can help to isolate exactly which cylinders have problems.  Besides the rings being stuck, other problems with blow-by can be caused by rings being broken and/or the piston ring lands also having issues.

For stuck rings, I have two fixes that do not involve tearing the engines down.  The first is to pull the spark plugs and squirt a couple of ounces of ATF in each cylinder and then apply air pressure to those cylinders with the valves being closed.  The second option is to simply run the engine at fast idle and dribble ATF into the carburetor so that the rings get saturated with the added oil.  Getting the engine up to operating temperature is still a key metric for loosening up the rings if they are stuck.

In regards to engine oil and as a general rule, non-detergent oil is used in those instances where the oil is not full filtered such as is the case with windmills and the Ford Flathead V8.  Contaminates are not held in suspension in non-detergent oil and simply drop out to the bottom of the pan rather than circulate back thru the engine.  On the flip side of this, detergent oil allows the contaminates to stay suspended in the oil so that the oil filter can take them out.  The Ford Y was designed to use detergent oil.  The best way to keep an engine internally clean regardless of the type of oil being used are routine oil changes.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Without an effective PCV system there will be vapors from any internal combustion engine. The more there is the bigger the problem. Most manufacturers used the same type system before PCV’s came along. A road draft tube from some where on the engine was usually the slightly longer than the lowest part of the engine and cut on a 45 degree angle. As you drove the air passing by sucked the vapors out of the engine. The oil filler tube usually had a filtered cap where the air enters the engine mixes with the blowby and goes out the road draft tube. But not at idle. Rings are the usual culprit in excessive blowby.

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Great answers, all!

Yes on Tstat.

No evidence of actual water in crankcase.

I'll clean up the breather filter (driver side front off block), change oil and filter (maybe a couple times), & run a compression test. See what happens.

I go back and forth on detergents. I worked on old tractors a long time ago and the debate raged then, too.

As for running as is, oh yeah! We'll run her either way, likely til she dies, then learn how to rebuild a Y block!

Might was well try the easy stuff first!

You guys are great! 👍

1956 F600 272
2005 F250 5.4

Good call on changing the oil and filter. But if the smoke does not get any better, the solution may be, does it bother you? I'm running a very worn out 292 in my Model A sedan and it smokes out the breather when sitting still mainly when warmed up. (been like that for over 5 years) as I'm not running a hood it does look a little bad. I'm in the process of building another motor for it but will drive it the rest of the year like it is.
One more thing, are you running a thermostat? keeping the engine temp up will do a lot in keeping moisture out of the motor.

The rings may be sticking causing some if not all of the blow by.  Fifteen years of sitting would be the root cause for that but continued running with the engine at temperature is expected to help that assuming the engine is simply just not worn out.  If it’s moisture causing the blow by, you have bigger problems but any excess moisture should be evident on the oil dipstick or in the oil fill tube after running the engine for a short period of time.  If moisture is not evident, this is a good time to consider changing the oil and filter if you haven’t already done so.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)