2002 Bonneville SSEi, full rebuild a year ago, head issues....

[mougey55]

had my 3800 rebuilt a year ago and within a month it started burning MASSIVE amounts of oil... had them rework it and they said the valve guides were sticking, they fixed it then but now it's happening all over again.... anyone familiar with causes??

[QUICKSILVER462]

If your quote that they said the valve guides where "sticking" is accurate, these people working on your engine have no clue what they are doing, because no such condition can exist because the valve guides are permanently stationary in the cyl. head. Perhaps the issue they where attempting to convey was bad valve stem oil seals?

[mougey55]

Not sure, all I know is that I have headers that leak a bit at the collector, blower motor is sucking up that oily smoke and blowing it into the car... just like before, no leaks, no fluid mixed where it shouldn't be as far as I can tell. It is enough to make you ill driving in town though...

[RegalGS98s]

What did they do to rebuild your engine? How many miles are on the engine? Sounds to me either they were talking about the valve guides being worn and had to be replaced along with new valve guide seals or they changed the valve guide seals and the valve guides are too worn so they're wearing out the valve guide seals prematurely due to the extra slop. Have you had a leak at the collector the whole time or just since you started noticing the oily smoke?

[mougey55]

honestly have not even picked up the slip of what was done, pacesetter headders have had some leaks off and on over the year I have had them, maybe 10,000 on the rebuild

[GMR Badass]

RegalGS98s is right on the money. If you want to prolong the inevitable then I would suggest having the valve guide seals replaced.....even then if the valve guides themselfs are worn it will cause the valve guide seals to wear out quickly. You'll be back at square one a year down the road again.

[mougey55]

well thanks for the info guys, not excited about opening this engine again but at least I have some idea of things

[GMR Badass]

Air compressor, valve spring compressor, and a $15 set of new valve seals........2hrs of labor and you'll be back in business.

[Turbocharged400sbc]

please tell me they didnt take a roloc disc to the heads/intake surfaces...if they did there's a very good posibility that grooves were ground into the Oring sealing surfaces that are letting each intake port suck out directly from the surrounding crankcase. if its bad enough youll need at least a new intake. if its not too horrible and like most places they install the gaskets dry then you can yank the intake and install a new set with a non hardening sealer like permatex super 300 that can seal most grooves while still allowing the seals to move.

another is to see if you slowly tighten the rockers down so the lifters bleed down?

if one is on the cam lobe nose and you tighten it down without letting the lifter bleed you can open your valve to nearly .650 pinching the valve seal and destroying it. never had this issue with a stock cam/rocker but ive seen it on both 1.9 and the "small" vs cam

had it happen to me a couple times... make sure to turn the motor over and only snug them when on the the lobe base circle.
another thing to note is that once snug, loosen the middle 4, and start with the outboards while holding the rocker nose slightly counterclockwise from centered on the stem. and snug them first before lining and snugging the rest. you should have all noses pretty well centered. the outboard rocker bolts are what index the stand and there is slack to move it around.

while its true you can just slap em together as they did on the assembly line....i like to show my gal's a bit more lovin'

there's no mention but if you have aftermarket rockers they have vastly more play and should be checked.

aside from that id say there's the large possibility that the pcv valve spring is weak and hangs in the high flow position when it should be in the moderate position...its hit or miss with aftermarket pcv valves but god damn can they cause some odd issues. intermittent "vac leaks" and odd off idle chuggles. even an ac delco pcv is pretty damn cheap n easy.

the other thing is you state: "BURNING massive amounts of oil"

are you actually smoking all the mosquito's in your county or is the oil "disappearing"

the factory oil pressure sender loves to seep through the electrical pins and flow down the harness and onto the subframe where it tends to look like that pesky "residiual oil drop from my last oil change" but can leak large amounts while on the road.....

hows blowby? you do a cylinder leakdown test and make sure they didnt ****up the bore/ring sealing?

pull the plugs and see which ones are burning oil, if its only a couple, pop the easier valvecover and look at the intake valve seals...if they are chewed replace em and slowly snug the rockers and you should be good. keep yer damn hands away from the air ratchet. use yer fingers...they like that

goodluck on the diagnostics and repair

regards, James

[mougey55]

thanks for the info turbo, I am not leaking any oil whatsoever, it is being burned and it happened outta nowhere before and now again. runs great and no other isssues previously to this, yes smoke gets quite thick if you're to say warm up the car a bit before getting in and driving somewhere, going to check to see which side it's coming from and pull a cover and plug to start with, hearing that the seals that come with the standard feldpro gasket set may be a joke... also assuming they didn't buy the premium one with the victron?? seals. hope that is all it is, thanks all will post what I find out when I have a chance.... have a 4.3 98 blazer tore down currently in the only warm space I have here in North Dakota lol

[mougey55]

okay, I ordered the new valve seals and installed the easy half late one night, oil smell and smoke stopped altogether... did notice that a couple of seals looked like they were unseated and just "dancing" on the valve stem, plugs weren't clean but not awful either... two days later smoking all over again and did the backside seals tonight and the plugs were oily and black. replaced all and got it back together with no change at all.... in the morning I will pull the collector off the exhaust and see if it's one side or the other, quite frustrated here.... can't warm up the car when all it does is pump poison into the cabin, have I mentioned it was like -40 degrees here the last few days with windchill?? lol

[mougey55]

well now have replaced valve stem seals, and a new PCV valve.... really hoping I just screwed up installing the seals because it has not improved at all.... the smoking and smell doesn't seem to be all the time... I have some beat up Vacuum fittings that are probably leaking, would that have any relation?? runs smooth and plenty of power so didn't replace them yet but I'm running out of options..... I have another set of seals in the mail already just knowing that was my first time installing them, hope I just mashed them when I put it back together....

[RegalGS98s]

I don't know about the vacuum, but I'm still thinking worn valve guides. When changing the seals did you trying to wobble the valve to see how much play you have? If doing them with the head on the engine, you would need to hold the valve with something and turn off the air to the cylinder so you can move the valve around. Check the plugs again for oil to see which ones are leaking.

[mougey55]

when the seals come in the mail I will do exactly that, if the guides are loose and worn I cannot replace without pulling the heads though can I??