worn down engine help

[duttysean]

Hey all, I'm just getting into this whole Bronco thing, I bought a 90 Bronco with the 302 with somewhere near 170k miles a little while back as a project truck, I've been working on it slowly but surely, and now I've come to a problem that I can't diagnose. My truck burns oil. A bit of smoke comes out of the dipstick when you pull it out, and out of the oil cap, if you take it off. It also comes out of the air box, and my air filter is slowly getting covered in oil, I'm assuming that it's coming through the breather tube. My truck is also sluggish when I step on the gas from idle. When I'm at a stop sign and hit the gas to go, if I hit the gas too hard, it almost stalls out, and has stalled out a couple of times before. If I step on the gas really slowly, it does alright. I'm not sure if thats related to the smoke and oil thing, but I thought I'd throw that out there. I've done a pretty good tune-up, including top of the line spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor, pcv valve, air filter, and oxygen sensor. I've given it an oil change with high mileage oil and new oil filter. The fuel filter was replaced a little bit before I got it, so I left it because I really didn't feel like messing with gas lines and spilled fuel. I've been reading about all kinds of options, from the simple "seafoam" to the more extreme rebuild or even new engine swap. Does anyone have any advice on my situation? Although I'm not an expert mechanic, I really want to do as much work myself as possible, because I am a dirt poor college student. With that in mind, I also want to keep this as cheap as possible. I'm a really dedicated worker, and if I don't know how to do something, as long as it is not too complicated, I'd probably be able to figure it out.

 

[Justshootme84]

Get a compression check done. that will tell you if anything is bad in the heads or cylinders. A quart/1000 miles is normal for an older/high mileage motor. IF it's burning a quart/100 miles, you likely have worn bearings or a weak oil pump or both. You could possibly pep it up for a while with a replacement cam and timing chain if those are worn out, too.

 

[Seabronc]

Another possibility here is that the Positive Case Ventilation system is not working because something is clogged. The system is from the air box to the driver side valve cover, then down the oil drain hole to the crank case, up through the oil drain on the passenger side, through the PCV valve to the lower intake. A common problem is the PCV valve being stuck shut or the hose from the PCV valve to the lower intake being clogged. That will cause the engine to **** oil laden fumes through the air box. Also like Justshootme84 said, it could be caused by worn rings which allows some exhaust gases to blow by and pressurize the crank case, etc.

Good luck,

>-

 

[duttysean]

Everything sounds good. I'm going to have a compression check done, what price should I be looking to pay for that? I just changed the PCV valve, so I know it's fine, but I didn't check the hose, so that will be next on the list of stuff to do. Camshaft sounds good and simple, not too expensive, either. I'd like to try that seafoam stuff, but I'm worried that it might clean my engine too good and mess it up. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?