Valve Seals or Intake Gasket? Please Help!!!

[93ramvert]

O.K. Engine guys, I've got a 93 5.0 LX Vert with 9,400 miles on it. When I bought it it had a little over 6,000, that was in August. I drove it for probably a little over 2,500 miles before I had my mechanic put a Cobra Upper and Lower Intake on it. I did this with absolutley no smoke, none. This thing passed emissions better than my 2000. Now the dink :loser: who put the intake on looks like he might have crushed or misaligned the gaskets on the lower intake. :cussing: It was basically the next day that I started noticing heavy smoking (Blue/White/Gray) on start-up only. And a very light (Same color for a few minutes after start-up when I got on the throttle), then usually gone. I can let the car run for about a minute before I shut down and this will usually eliminate any smoking on start-up later. Sometimes it won't. Now I've just noticed that I was down about a quart of oil, I added the quart, then after driving it about 400 miles I was down again, I'm not sure how much this time. Does this sound like Valve Seals, or could it just be the fact that the idoit did F up the gaskets and the oil is getting sucked up the the PCV valve, (which is also very oily, now). HELLLLLPPPPPPPP. Please, I hate having a car that looks like this which smokes on start-up. It's F'ng embarrassing.
93RAMVERT

[NoSlo5.0]

He's likely buggered up the gaskets. The vacuum leak is causing a bunch of flow into your PCV system, entraining a lot of oil with it. Car should be running like crap at the same time though. Spend the 30 bucks on a new gasket set and fix it yourself this time around...

[93ramvert]

No, the car is running strong. There was noticeable increase in power. Yes I'm doing it myself this time, but I figured I get some opinions before I opened her up.

[NoSlo5.0]

Here's the way I do the lower:

get youself about four 5 to 6 inch long hex head bolts from Lowes or the Depot and cut the heads off. Thread those into your heads at approximately the four corners to act as guides when you lower the intake into place. This will just about eliminate any chance of the gaskets getting bumped out of place.

If your gasket set comes with cork end gaskets, toss them out and use a thick bead of black RTV instead. Let it just start to skin over before dropping the lower on it. If you get the rubber end gaskets, use a bead of black RTV just where the gasket meets the heads (in four places).

Use a torque wrench on the lower. Follow the torque sequence. Use three steps before applying max torque. 10lbs,18lbs, then 25lbs. An go back over the lower a few times once you reach 25lbs, I always seem to get a bit of movement on at least a few of the bolts after they sit torqued for a while.

I have never had a vacuum leak or misaligned gasket going this way. A vacuum leak is most noticably going to foul up your idle, not your WOT. (but it will affect all aspects, just worse at idle)

[93ramvert]

So Stalker you don't think the valve seals are F'd up. I mean I'm totally agreeing with you, I can't imagine the seals just going overnight. Unless of course he F'd them up himself. A number of people at car shows and such have said seals. But I can't help but see the mess sticking out of the lower intake and not having that be the problem. Would that type of vacuum leak cause that much oil burn / loss?

[NoSlo5.0]

Well, the seals would not have been touched by your mechanic when he did the intake swap. The car has really low miles, they could be rotted. It's a bigger deal to replace the seals with the heads on the car unless you have at least a 30 gallon/5hp compressor to hold the valves in place when you pull the springs. It can be done in an afternoon in a garage, but a PITA. I'd be inclined to redo the lower first, since the problems showed up immediately after the swap.

Kinda like replacing your harddrive because your video card quit working...I'd follow the obvious first. Valve stem seals will give you some blue smoke, especially if you idle for a while then tap the gas, you'll see a blue puff. Really bad oil inleakage would be blue smoke continuously.

[93ramvert]

True, very true. That was my original thought. I just thought I might throw it out here and get some feedback. I figured Cobra94 trusted him to work on the Cobra, You know brakes, lowering springs, clutch. I figured what the hell I'll let him do it. I had a car show coming up and I wanted the polished intake on. I figured it would be my first time doing it and I only had two days to get it done, If something went wrong and I couldn't make it to the show I would have been pissed at myself. Took care of that, I'm pissed at myself anyway. All further work will be done by me, well, stuff I can do. I think I send it to a all Mustang shop for the Cam swap.

[NoSlo5.0]

Man, a cam swap is old hat. I'd be happy to walk you through that step by step as well. It's easy to do in about 8 hours for a first timer. Barely more involved than the intake swap. You just need a few extra tools.

[93ramvert]

I may take you up on that. My Dad has experience with the 302's as well, He worked on the Mass Pike here in MA, He used to work on the Crown Vics, and the F150's then he ended up supervisor of his section of road and drove up and down the highway in the F150. He's willing to help out a bit, but doesn't want to bust his ass. Which means I'll be turning wrenches and smashing knuckles and He'll be Bitchin saying how I'm doing it wrong. I figure I worked on Helicopters in the Marine Corps, I shouldn't be to afraid of the cars. It's the technical shit and the whys I need to figure out. Thanks for the help. Give me a Turbine engine and I'm your man.