anyone recomend descent leakdown tester?

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pjc360 said:
the engine is 10 years old, and another thing i forgot to add i have 18 inches of vaccum at an idle, wouldnt it be considerably lower if i had an internaal vaccum leak? vaccum is pretty steady, but does have a little movementt to it. if that helps anything?
I could replace the intake and exhaust valve seals and see what happens, i have brand new intake and exhaust valve seals for this motor still in the bad never been opened. There are victor rienz seals. I'm just curious about this internal vaccum leak now.... I just dont think thats the issue when i have 18 inches of vaccum at idle, i'd think an internal vaccum leak would lower it to around 12 to 14 and i'd think it'd be fairly unstable vaccum, right?
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I would inspect the valve seals since you have a 20K mile Mopar crate motor that is 10 years old. I would also fix the intake to where it was correct before I would start throwing money out for parts that there may be nothing wrong with.
 
This engine has spent more time not running then running thru out its life... but it just doesnt have that many miles, like i said its got about 16 to 20 thousand miles on it max. compression test checks out, every cylinder hits 150 psi on the dot, it has 18 inches of vaccum at idle and pretty stable vaccum too, so that pretty much leaves ether bad valve guides or intake valve seals, correct? Also if it had an internal vaccum leak wouldnt it backfire thru the carb and run pretty rough? It has a fairly smooth idle, it doesnt cut out while idling and it never backfires thru the carburetor.
 
what do you mean fix the intake manifold? you mean drill out the 1 broken intake manifold stud thats in the middle of the passenger side bolts?
 
pjc360 said:
This engine has spent more time not running then running thru out its life... but it just doesnt have that many miles, like i said its got about 16 to 20 thousand miles on it max. compression test checks out, every cylinder hits 150 psi on the dot, it has 18 inches of vaccum at idle and pretty stable vaccum too, so that pretty much leaves ether bad valve guides or intake valve seals, correct? Also if it had an internal vaccum leak wouldnt it backfire thru the carb and run pretty rough? It has a fairly smooth idle, it doesnt cut out while idling and it never backfires thru the carburetor.
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That is why I would be looking at the valve seals before I bought new heads. At the salvage we always changed them on motors that had sat around for a long time.
 
what would be the best way to drill this out? because i know these sttuds are rock solid, just drill it out and then use a tap and die to re thread the bolt hole?
 
pjc360 said:
what would be the best way to drill this out? because i know these sttuds are rock solid, just drill it out and then use a tap and die to re thread the bolt hole?
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It would depend on where it is broke. I have seen studs broke at the top so I have just used ViceGrips to unscrew it. I have a set of Matco extractors that work well in most cases. I hate the square extractors because I have had them break too often.
 
he oklacarcollecto, i'm not tryin to argue with you, i just wanted to share with you somethin that was shared with me, if my intake valve seals are at fault for my oil consumption upon de-acceleration, wouldnt i see puffs of blue smoke upon start up as well? Because this engine never smokes on start up and never smokes when driving or when idling, the only time it will smoke is when i back off the throttle after getting on it pretty hard or when i shift out of overdrive. I'm not saying its not my valve seals, i just have friends that say its odd that it doesnt smoke upon start up with bad valve seals.....
 
i couldnt be so lucky to have the stud broke at the ttop lol, No its broke in half clear down in the bolt hole of the head. maybe i will look into some extractors...
 
pjc360 said:
he oklacarcollecto, i'm not tryin to argue with you, i just wanted to share with you somethin that was shared with me, if my intake valve seals are at fault for my oil consumption upon de-acceleration, wouldnt i see puffs of blue smoke upon start up as well? Because this engine never smokes on start up and never smokes when driving or when idling, the only time it will smoke is when i back off the throttle after getting on it pretty hard or when i shift out of overdrive. I'm not saying its not my valve seals, i just have friends that say its odd that it doesnt smoke upon start up with bad valve seals.....
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Logically that is right if they are broken. It they have just gotten hard you may not see that. At higher RPMs there is more oil in the head. After having to repair customers cars with new valve seals after we had sold engines to we started changing the valve seals on engines that had been setting for a long time before they were sold or installed. You have seen how rubber parts get hard from sitting, haven't you? I have also seen clogged oil passages do what you are describing because the oil wasn't draining fast enough. It may not be valve seals but I would check them before throwing many hundred dollars out for new heads.

A great friend of mine that has passed away always said "use the KISS program". KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid and it has worked well for me. I have a motor right now that has 64 miles on it and the valve seals are hard from sitting. I have a set of NOS spark plug wires and the boots are hard from sitting around in dry storage many years.

This is the set of extractors I have.
 

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ok, i also checked what is called a bolt extractor, it keeps you straight while drilling out the broken bolt/stud. I will get the intake valve seals changed as soon as i can and see what happens. I sure hope it works because i dont wanna spend the money on new heads ether, but i also dont wanna spend alot chasing down whatever it is. But at least i have limited it down to ether guides or seals, i just dont see it being an internal vaccum leak when i have 18 inches of vaccum a idle. unless it should be generating more vaccum, but i thought 18 was plenty of vaccum at idle.
 
Whats the proper way to check the valve seals? if i pull the valve cover off and the valve seals look good then whats next?
 
Do you have the baffles under the pcv area.(What valve cover do you have......mopar alu?) Under decel. the oil could be suck up into the pcv and then sucked into the intake. remove the vac hose form the pcv valve and plug if.

Go drive it!!!
 
pjc360 said:
Whats the proper way to check the valve seals? if i pull the valve cover off and the valve seals look good then whats next?
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I would follow everything you have been told step by step including on getting a real Mopar shop manual and then look at the valve seal possibility if nothing else shows up. There is more to it than taking off the valve cover. The seals are under the valve springs. Do a search on changing valve seals and you will find several threads.
 
So lemme get this straight, you have a PCV valve running to one valve cover, but the breather hole on the other valve cover has been sealed?!?

Try this, open the breather hole on the other side and take it for a drive. See if that helps. My guess is that because your crankcase is "sealed" at high speed/low vacuum pressure is building up (somewhat normal), then when you lift off manifold vacuum rises quickly but it takes a few seconds to equalize the pressure in the crankcase. This could force oil through the guides. Also all of the pressure (with oil vapor) that is in the crankcase must exit through the PCV system.

Here's the way the crankcase ventilation system was designed to work: At idle and cruise the PCV valve draws vapors out of the crankcase into the intake where they are burned. Clean filtered air is drawn into the opposite side of the engine. This is a GOOD thing as it allows moisture and other combustion byproducts to be evacuated (preventing the milky white goo, sludge, and oil acidification). Now, when the engine is under load manifold vacuum drops off so not much vapor is drawn through the PCV system. But there are a lot more gasses in the crankcase from blowby (even a "tight" engine with say 5% cylinder leakage will pressurize the crankcase really quick) and there is more oil vapor from windage as well. So all this needs a place to escape. The PCV isn't sucking it out, so it vents out the breather side. The factory routed a hose from this side into the air cleaner housing so the vapors would then be drawn into the top of the carb and burned (and not leave an oily film in the engine compartment). The idea is to have the crankcase operate at a slight negative pressure at idle and cruise and not let pressure build under any circumstances. Oil seals work so much better this way. Also evacuating the moisture and exhaust out of the oil makes the engine last a lot longer.

Before you go spending the big bucks on new heads, try the cheap stuff like getting the crankcase ventilation system working properly. I'd deal with the intake stud pretty soon too. They didn't install "extra" bolts so you risk developing a leak there.
 
my valve covers black mopar magnum valve covers, they are the valve covers that came with the engine, there is a baffle on the rear passenger side valve cover where my pcv valve is, there is also a baffle on the rear of the drivers side valve cover, but my brake booster sits so close to the drivers side rear vlve cover that there is literally no room to put a breather or a pcv valve there.
So do i take the baffle out of the drivers side valve cover and put it on the front of the passnger side valve cover so i can run a brether and a pcv valve on the passenger valve cover? then what do i do with the drivers side rear part of the valve cover? just keep it plugged off with a gromment? because i have my oil cap on the front side of the drivers valve cover. I will put the baffle under the breather on the front of the passenger valve cover that way i have a breather and a pcv valve on the passnger side. Then i will check the intake valve seals.
I have the mopar engines book and i looked in there to see how to check the valve seals and it doesnt show me anything, it shows me the exhaust and intake valves and tells me how to take the head off but doesnt show me the valve seals at all.
 
Swapping your covers to opposite sides should give you what you want.

To inspect seals spring and retainer should come off. This can be done with a two jaw spring compresser and compressed air to hold the valve up. What I do is at TDC rotate crank slightly to lower piston, feed in a clean length of vacum hose, with a tail hanging out for removal, then turn back to squish and hold valves up. Remove retainer and spring and have a look, really not to hard to do and the tool is not too expensive.

Leakdown testers are easy to make, search DIY leakdown tester and you'll find lots.
 
will a leakdown tester reveal whats going on? I understand not wanting to blow money on new heads, but i also dont wanna blow money on having the seals replaced and it still be leaking oil upon de-acceleation. And what do you mean swapping valve covers? you mean swapping the baaffles around? i'm going to run my breather on the front side of the passenger valve cover, and run my pcv valve on the back side of the passnger valve cover, and i still havent figure out what to do with the rear side of the drivers side valve cover... My brake booster is so close to it that i cant run a breather on it.... should i just plug it off? or try an run an open gromment in that side stuffed with some of that stuff they put in the oi breathers so that a little bit of air can get in thru there? I will make an appoinment to get my valve seals inspected, it should be obvious to a good mechanic if they are letting oil by, right? And if the seals are ok, then what? new heads? because i dont think i have an internal vaccum leak cause i get a steady 18 inches of vaccum, its not extremely steady, but it its not all over the place like a guy would expect it to be if there was a vaccum leak....
 
If you put the drivers on the passenger side and the other on the other side you should have PCV drivers front, breather passengers front and the filler cap passengers back.

The PCV and breather MUST be on opposite sides.

I really think doing this will stop much of the smoke. It may not be valve stems or seals, with the pressure your building up in the crankcase. With nowhere to go that pressure can push up past the rings.
 
another issue i stumbled upon today is that i keep fouling plugs, mainly the number 5 plug and the number 6 plug, i figured that maybe running my vaccum advance off of manifold vaccum was th problem. The way i had it set up was 14 degrees of initial timing 32 degrees total timing with 10 degrees from vaccum advance at idle with it hooked to manifold vaccum. With it set p this way, i had to richen up the idle air mixture screws quite a bit to get rid of the thudding out my exhaust at idle, i thought all was good with that but i was wrong, i have a crane cams hi-6 cd ignition and a crane cams lx91 coil, so i figured my ignition was plenty stout to burn that richer idle mixture. I run champion rc12yc plugs gapped at .050. So i took my vaccum advance off of manifold vaccum and am going to set my initial timing at 16 degrees and total timing at 34 degrees and set the idle air mixture screws to the highest vaccum reading. Then i will drive it that way for a few days and check my plugs to see if they are still fouling, if they are then i will be stumped as to whats causing it...
I put a vaccum gauage on it tonight and i idle at 18 inches of vaccum but its not rock solid steady, it moves around a little bit, ut nothing severe, but still it does move a little bit. I sprayed carb cleaner around my vaccum hoses and around my carburetor and around my manifold and didnt hear a change in idle at all, what do you suppose is causing that little bit of flucuwaiting in my vaccum at idle? Is that a sighn of valve trouble? I'm really starting to think that new heads are in order.... My compression test checks out at 150 psi on every cylinder, none of the cylinders are off by even 1 psi they all land on 150psi, so this un-steady vaccum and the plug fouling and the smoking is leading me to believe its all related some how?
 
but i will put my pcv on the drivers front, and the breather on the passenger front and i will put the oil cap on the passenger rear and see what happens, like i said when i put the clear fuel filter in my pcv hose it did help with the smoking, the smoking wasnt as much, but it was still there, possibly because there was too much pressure in the crank case because i didnt have a brether. And hopefully my plug fouling issue was because of running my vaccum advance off of manifold vaccum, requiring a richer idle air mixture at idle, i had to richen up the idle air mixture screws quite a bit when i ran my vaccum advance off of manifold vaccum. I had never heard of running the vaccum advance off of manifold vaccum, untill i purchased a distributer from don at fbo systems and he insisted the vaccum advance be ran off of manifold vaccum. I do notice a cooler idle with vaccum advance on manifold vaccum, and i also noticed slightly better throttle response, but other then that it just caused me problems because i had to fatten up the idle mixture so much to keep the enggine from popping out the exhaust with the extra timing. I think 16 degrees initial timing should be plenty for this 360, it doesnt have that big of a camshaft in it, hell 14 degrees initial and 32 degrees may be ideal for it, i just figure i might turn it up to 16 from 14 since i will be lossing 10 degrees of timing at idle since removing the vaccum advance from manifold vaccum.
 
do you guys think my plug fouling problem was caused by too rich of a mixture at idle? i hopse so, because if this dont solve that then i will have another thing to figure out with this engine.
 
i think i found a vaccum leak!!!! and i hope this vaccum leak is whats causing my issues, i bought a giant bottl of carburetor cleaner and i started sparying around the intake manifold, and on the drivers side of the intake directly below my throttle linkage on my carburetor is a vaccum leak, well at least i think it is.... When i sprayed carb cleaner on that side i noticed the idle would pick up just a little bit, and then other times if i spary alot of carb cleaner on that side it will acts just like it does when i spary carb cleaner directly into the carburetor, it will bog down a little bit then pick right back up to normal idle, this is a vaccum leak correct? Does anybody have any part numbers for intake manifold gasket set for a 360 magnum running a 4 barrell intake? because when i ask the parts houses around here they look at me and say 360 magnums were not 4 barrells theey were fuel injected, and when i try nd tell them i have a 4 barrell intake they dont know what im talking about and dont know what intake gasket i need.
 
Gasket should not be a problem, square or spread bore tell them what carb you have or search it yourself, no big deal.

You have found two problems, get a carb and valve cover gaskets, correct that and take a drive. Sounds like your on top of this, after your drive report results.
 
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