Oil on spark plugs??

[Synchro909]

That's likely a set up. Put diesel fuel in a petrol powered car and that's what you get.

[mike657894]

these 4cyl foreign jobs are notorious for smokey startups but clear a mile down the road. But my point was if you have two oiling cylinders there would be no question what you need to do. your burning eyes and hacking lungs would be the indicator. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4vVMxT_qK4

[mike657894]

It used to be more common. It had been a few years since I had seen a real fogger. But a few months ago someone was getting their rusty truck home putting out more smoke than james bond trying to lose the bad guys. And you can use oil to cool a computer by sumberging it. It doesnt make stuff run like crap. Or have that much affect on electicity. If it is oil on his plugs its the loss of compression making it run bad not the oil itself.

[mike657894]

and here is diesel in a gas car to prove that white ford ranger was a oil smoke situation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwv5esyv9-U

[mike657894]

To the original poster put head gaskets, head studs, intake/exhaust gaskets, water pump gasket, water outlet gasket. and do proper torquing on head studs and intake studs. dont over tourqe!!! 55lbs on head nuts. Through a three step process 35 45 55 radial from the center. when the heads off you will see if it is oil. But being two cyls next to each other I would bet the big money on head gasket. Head gasket is a easy/cheap job compared to pulling and rebuilding an engine.

[Mitch//pa]

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If your truly fouling the plugs with oil i like Toms advice in his two posts. You can also do some diagnostics when it is running such as looking for blowby or visible smoke as mentioned by Rob Gross 1930. (you would think it would be doing both, especially crop dusting), other engine abnormalities noises etc.. burning coolant vs fowling the plugs with oil should be easily detectable with different tell tale signs of which one it is. This thread took a full circle so i bet the OP is a little confused now.
Your best bet might be is to PM someone who doesnt blow smoke. Pardon the pun..

[Cornishman]

The OP states that he hasn't driven the car. I wouldn't do anything drastic until I had driven it, got it up to working temperature on the road then, possibly changed the oil, and run it again. Running the car (at tick over) in a garage or workshop is not ideal.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Smooth,

1. Forty (40) years is a long enough time to witness the volatiles evaporating from any petroleum base product.

2. After volatiles evaporate from lubricating oil, this condition allows a dense, gummy residue to remain that can greatly increase friction between two (2) moving metal materials.

3. Valves usually get stuck in the open position and do not function well, thus causing improper valve timing and backfiring.

4. As pistons travel downwards to the smaller diameter of the cylinder, the rings get compressed, get stuck in pistons, and do not flex outwards fast enough; hence when the pistons approach the tops of pistons cylinders, the rings do not expand and allow open gaps between the piston rings and larger bore parts of the cylinder bores at the tops of the cylinders ..... oil naturally gets on plugs.

5. Worse to mention, is the fact that this condition mentioned in 4. above, (with well worn engines years ago), can even very easily occur if the engine is operated every day and not laid up for 40 years, because carbon begins to build up between top and bottom sides of rings and pistons.

6. The "cheap" Depression Era and Post WWII fix for poor people years ago was:

a. Remove rings. clean carbon from rings and clean piston grooves every now and then; or,

b. Provide either new rings; and/or, provide new clean pistons and new rings after honing.

c. a. & b. above are not heard of today of or done often today ..... Depression is over, nobody is poor, & everybody is rich. LOL

[tbirdtbird]

I think Tom and Mitch have it sewed up pretty well. It may be quite simple. I'm not in favor of dismantling a bunch of stuff without more diagnostics.
To summarize what they said,

1. do compression test, looking for numbers that are close to each other. Ideally within 10%. Post the numbers. If you can get 45-50 per hole I think you can work with what you have.
2. Depending on what numbers you get, ie if one reading is low, yes you are never wrong to do a leak down. Then or maybe before the leak down I would add Marvel Mystery Oil (yes that exact brand) to the gas and the oil (in this case 6oz per 10 gals in the gas and a full QT to the oil), and take it for a long hard ride, and repeat several times if need be. Idling does not put much of a load on the engine at all. Make the motor do some work and things are more likely to loosen up.

I freed up stuck rings on a 1947 Stude M5 this way. Hole #4 had seized due to a poor torque job on the head bolts. It was my bargaining chip when I bought it. Seized motors do not scare us away, here. Freed it up with the method I described in the other thread with MMO, then it belched smoke horribly when running. Rings were free of the cyl wall, but not free of the piston. I took it out at night and drove it fairly hard. Did this several times. At night because I did not want to tip ppl off about the smoking. Rings freed up nicely, compression went back up, starts and runs nicely now. We are doing a total resto on that truck right now

You may need a re-torque on that head, also, if the readings are low

[George Miller]

I say run it for a while before tearing it apart. After setting that long I,m sure the rings and some of the valves are stuck. Clean the plugs and run it. It will unstick the rings when it is running for a while.

[Y-Blockhead]

Taking a compression test will tell you nothing about the condition of the oil ring. As others suggested Soak it (I like Seafoam) and run it. Maybe try a little hotter plug to get it to run clean. THEN determine if you need to go inside.

[Barber31]

Not knowing your mechanical abilities, my first thought would be to ask are you sure it's not a fouled plug that's running rich and is wet with gas? You said you changed out the carb so i would check to see its adjusted correctly. Then I would move onto the compression testing.

[robgross1930]

[QUOTE=Y-Blockhead;1404923]Taking a compression test will tell you nothing about the condition of the oil ring.[/QUOTE

Yes, the compression test results could be confusing but it is still an easy place to start and will show which cylinders have worn compression rings …. and they must be worn for very much oil to get past them. Then again they may be worn but still show fairly good compression with the oil getting up on them.

The rings could also be cracked or the pistons broken.

[mike657894]

I cant believe I or anyone else didn't tell you this yet. If you haven't taken down your oil pan your pump is submerged in about 3 inches of the grittiest dirtiest sludge you have ever or will ever see. I would get that oil pan off first. Its probably a mess in there.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi Smooth,

Appears you are taking the approach of wanting to do as little as possible at present and just start driving your Model A. This is OK ....... it is yours.

A. Some will say, "Yes, do as little as possible and begin driving it long distances."

B. Others will prefer the most sound professional advice for a thorough engine internal investigation after witnessing 40 years of idleness where many unknowns can develope; not to mention the "real" reason why the engine was stored in the first place.

C. And as witnessed often, some will express rooting for the A. or B responses depending who is giving the A. or B. response.

In my humble opinion, from past experiences of dealing with "stored" engines, your experience today is similar to going to a Dentist for your first visit after having no dental check ups 40 years.

You wonder why you have immense chewing & digesting problems, poor teeth alignment; however, nobody is permitted to look into your mouth .... and FWIW, a very deep colonoscopy from the other end may not show cause for improving your bite or smile.

Remember the choice is yours. Do exactly what you want to do. Life is short.