454 oil burn... questions on what to check first
 

I have a 97 454 330 hp. It started to burn some oil last week. I could smell and see it coming from the exhaust. It was not a whole lot though.

The previous owner installed a edelbrock performer rpm intake with an edelbrock gasket. I did not see any RTV used.

Could the gasket have failed? The oil looks good. No discoloration.


Should I go through the whole compression/leakdown test or should I just yank the intake?

thanks

Do you mean you don't see any RTV around the intake ports? That's not unusual, but he should have used it around the water ports.

If it is pulling in oil through the lifter valley around the intake ports, you should also notice a vacuum leak. Sometimes this can be checked by spraying some carb cleaner around the area where the intake port meets the head, and see if the idle increases or smooths out. I have seen others recommend spraying it into one of the breather holes to see if the idle speeds up or smooths out a few seconds later. I think the idea is that the vapors will make their way to the lifter valley and get sucked into the cylinder via the intake port if there is a leak. I have never done this, so can't vouch if it works, but makes some sense that it might.

retorqur the iintake bolts to 30 ft lbs..its the nature of the beaste,,they burn a little oil..make sure the flame arrestor is clean..

Check your PCV valve to make sure it is not plugged and works properly. That's a long shot but simple. I doubt it is your intake. I would pull each plug and run inspect them for one that is very different from the others. Check compression to make sure they are all similar. Should be 150 ish but consistency is where I would focus. Or, just add oil and run it. Oil is cheap comparatively speaking.

you did not say how many hours are on the engine but it is not uncommon for a bbc to use a little oil when they get a lot of hours on them.

also pull breathers off of flame arrestor and see how much blow-by comes out of them from the valve covers. if none or very little, it may be worth r&r the intake. if any significant amount of blow by, run it till it gets cold and get ready for a winter refresh-rebuild. also look at the ports in the intake compared to the ports on the heads. and start shopping for ovals to replace the round ports if you are gonna do the rebuild. the raw water blocks hold up pretty good as far from salt as you are but you don't wanna reuse heads with 15 years of no antifreeze.

Thanks guys. I have 540 hours on it. I ran it this weekend after torquing the head bolts. They were a bit loose. But no change.

I only get the smell (no smoke) when coming off plane. Then after a few minutes it goes away. I see no smoke at all.

Ill check all these things asap. Just need to find the time.

540! That thing should still be under warranty.

do you clean your engine on a wekly base's lke i do? if not you might want to get some degreecer and give the engine a good cleaning..a hot engine with oil on it will stink after a good run..

This is now what I am leaning toward. I do have some valve cover leaks around the bolts.