Hi guys,

SBC 350 - A little over a month ago my radiator cracked on me and my engine tempature spiked up before I got over and shut it down (and then had it towed home). I've since replaced the radiator, got it all flowing again, and checked the oil a few times to make sure it wasn't "frothy" (no antifreeze in the oil, best that I can tell). However while doing all this, I noticed that now there is a very faint oil mist that's coming out with the exhaust, that wasn't there prior. To give you an idea of how faint, my roommates white Mercury was parked behind my fiero, about 2 feet away. The engine was running for a solid five minutes before I started to notice the dark dots appearing on the Mercury during one of my many walks from the engine bay to the radiator.

I'm guessing that my piston rings are damaged a little? How serious is this?

I've put on about 300 miles since the radiator swap, the oil level on the dipstick has not visibly lowered, but my oil is blacker than sin now (only has about a thousand miles on it). Again, no drops in antifreeze level, and no milky or frothy look to the oil when I've checked it (cold for oil level, hot for antifreeze contamination). I figure I could wind up putting on around 300-500 more miles before it's in for my engine upgrades - it's not necessary though, if this is a critical issue.

Thanks all!

Do a compression check and follow the instructions that come with the compression tester.

It will tell you alot.

Also, run a vacuum check. Follow the instructions that come with the vacuum tester.

These are the best ways to tell if you have a problem and what it is.

Good luck on it

Arn

Hi Arn,

I appreciate the suggestion. I'll likely take it in to have both of those processes done!

If your plugs are black too, your running very rich and maybe getting gas in your oil which will thin it and let pass the rings. If you have good size vacuum gauge; plip the throttle at idle, if the vacuum drops all the way zero -should not go much below 5"-, its likely rings.

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