need advice white scum

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jimjimjimmy

jimjimjimmy

lobsterman
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hi all i need some help i just took my oil cover off my new 416 and there is white scum in the valve covers i use rotella t 15-40 with lucas zinc additive i run a 180 thermostat and no pcv valve i think it is moisture but never had this prob before and it worrys me thjis engine is probuilt r3 eddy heads and cost a lot and it uses oil and smokes when you put your foot in it there is 1500 miles on it any input would be very helpfull thanks all :wack:
 
Why are you not running a PCV?

Do a compression test. Drain the oil and see what it looks like. That's what I would do for a start.
 
Seen the name of your thread and thought you were talking about my sister...
 
What kind of vent do you have for the engine ? or Vent's ?
Is it black smoke or white, these big engines need to be vented or you will have oil standing on top in the heads and it could be sucking oil threw the valve seals.

How long has it been setting, if at all ?
 
this is a pic of my engine you can see the two vent caps on the back of the valve cover there is no vacume ports on my carb its a 950 holly so we ran the vents
 

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You should run a pcv valve. The vacuum in thc crankcase will help the rings to seal.
 
when you pound on her she will sing the blues and i did a few short starts just to move the car around and never let if warm right up . there is a plug in the back of the intake maybe i could run a pvc fom there
 
You need a PCV system on it. It can prevent the rings from seating properly. Did you have it dyno'd? Was the carb setup close when you first ran it?
The white comes from condensation in the oil, so I'd say you also need to drive the car and let the engine get to operating temp too. Pull that plug, get a PCV in it, and drive the car (not idle... drive it)
 
the engine was on the dyno 518ft torque 512 hp and tuned the engine works real
. good starts instantly idles good and pulls hard just the moisture in the oil and a little blue smoke is my only complaints
 
A bit of condensation in the oil is not uncommon. I think it is made worse if you have (components that allow your motor to cool off fast) like aluminum heads, valve covers, intakes, big header tubes, etc as they cool off so fast. Plus if you live in a really humid environment like I do. Everytime I have dropped my oil pan I find a little of the white scum right at the very front of my pan - under the timing cover which is aluminum on mine.
 
stumper said:
A bit of condensation in the oil is not uncommon. I think it is made worse if you have (components that allow your motor to cool off fast) like aluminum heads, valve covers, intakes, big header tubes, etc as they cool off so fast. Plus if you live in a really humid environment like I do. Everytime I have dropped my oil pan I find a little of the white scum right at the very front of my pan - under the timing cover which is aluminum on mine.
Click to expand...

I agree
thats why yesterday before getting the car in the garage for winther
I made a nice ride with it so it can warm to is normal temp
for about 3/4 hours
 
my wife's 68 mustang did that for years, It always had a lot of condensation in the aluminum valve covers and nowhere else. I had the block magnafluxed last time I had it in the machine shop... they did not find anything till they were rolling it over to put the cam bearings in and noticed a small crack in a non-stressed place... (after boring it all etc...) they said they have never seen one crack there and it was probably there from the factory. (checking with my father in law, he said it had always had a little condensation in the valve covers... he bought it new in 68...)

As stated above, put a PCV valve on it and take a ride for an hour or two at varying RPM and get it good and warm.... that should help finish seating rings and getting moisture out of it.
 
moisture will boil out or get sucked when it gets warm. If your afraid to run a PCV due to mixture issues, run an evac tube from a header collector. Its just a pitot tube cut at an angle in the exhaust stream. Itll pull plenty of vacuum. some have a one way valve to prevent backfire pressures. Run a pressure test into your radiator, if it loses pressure over a few minutes, start looking..
 
i have pressure tested if with no los in pressure over a 1 hour period an d my coolant is as full as always the block is a new r3 race block and has been sonic tested and magnafluxed hopefully there is no cracks the engine was never overheated. does the rings have any chance of seating better with this much running on the engine 7 or 8 dyno pulls and about 1500 miles i sure hope so i do not want to pull this for a rering yet.the pistons are16-32 ross and the rings are cr7590-35 total seal
 
If you are not seeing a drop in coolant, or milky looking oil - or oil in the coolant, I bet it's just some condensation. Are you running an all aluminum top end?
 
yes elderbrock rpm heads air gap intake and aluminum valve covers
 
i just installed a pvc and call me crazy but the engine seems to run better and no polution comming out of the vents now i never had a chance to drive it do to weather but i ran it for about 20 min or so i would like to hear some comments on ring seal if they will seal better or will it stay the same and use some oil thanks for the usefull info all your comments are appreciated
 
Well I may not be the brightest bulb in the socket but exactly what will a pcv valve do if you have 2 open element breathers on your valve covers?
 
there is not 2 open element breathers on the valve covers anymore there is a pcv valve in one and a groment in the other thanks for your input
 
mod5v said:
Well I may not be the brightest bulb in the socket but exactly what will a pcv valve do if you have 2 open element breathers on your valve covers?
Click to expand...

The open element is at atmospheric pressure, the crank spinning increases said pressure that the one (or two) open elements can't keep up with. The pcv can and will suck more pressure out of the motor as the crank speed increases. A standard off the intake/carb works great and the one being used off exhaust works as well just know that it can produce too much suction and pull in seals (seen it happen on a built 440 using the header evacuation system, ended up with oil all of the place after it sucked in an intake seal).
 
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