Craig wrote and I excerpted:
"..... I just got a call from him and he said that the car has major leaks
going out both the front and the back of the motor. Otherwise the car seems
to run fine. Although the engine was rebuilt a few years ago it has very few
miles on it.
.......are there any thoughts as to what typically can cause this and what
needs to be done to resolve it?"
Craig
Sounds like you suddenly have lots more blowby than before. This will force
oil out both front and back. Remove the oil filler cap and place your hand
above it then rev the motor. You should be able to tell if its blowing a
ton more than usual. Things that change suddenly to create a large increase
in blow-by include:
1. Broken ring(s)
2. Broken piston (top land of piston cracks down to first ring groove)or
holed piston. These aren't that likely unles you're running a turbocharger
or love flogging your motor with over-advanced timing
3. Cracked block
4. If you have one of them dang modern smoggy motors, could be a plugged
PCV or non-functional gulp valve).
5. Cracked head? Usually that puts water in the oil, oil in the water or
combustion gasses into the water. I suppose it could possibly crack in a
way that vented combustion gases into the oilways which would increase
crankcase presure and cause the front/back leakage, but I've never
experienced this.
If the leakage has slowly and steadily increased over a period of time, it
might just be badly worn rings, but your inquiry seemed to imply a very
recent change on a very young motor.
Time for a compression test and a quick check for bubbles being blown at the
radiator filler hole, steam from the oil filler cap, tan scum on the
underside of the filler cap, one different looking sparkplug. If it passes
all those checks, then carefully open your checkbook and do a volume test of
the balance.
Glen
PS If your're in N Cal, I'm going to do a teardown and rebuild of my
bugeye motor next month if you want to see it done.
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