The oil consumption has gotten considerably worse, recently.
About a week after switching to the synthetic oil, (Rotella T6 5W-30) the oil consumption has increased to 1 quart every 150 miles. (Versus the initial consumption of 1 quart in the first 400 miles)
The engine power also seemed to decrease.
I did a 1 hour Kano Kreen piston soak the other day.
The engine felt more responsive so I did another 10 hour piston soak yesterday.
The engine power felt significantly better on the 2nd soak, but the oil consumption remained the same.
I am assuming that the oil control rings are the culprit and that the oil is then gumming-up the compression rings.
From what I gather, piston soaks generally only clear the top two rings and do not significantly help the oil ring, is this correct?
Is the oil consumption too high to consider valve seals as a potential culprit?
(The head has new seals, etc..and was checked for leaks prior to installation)
Also, I double-checked my ARP head studs.
They measured 110 ft-lbs (vs the specified 125 ft-lbs)
This may be caused because I did a 5 stage torque sequence vs the ARP directive of a 3 stage sequence, causing an inaccurate reading on my final torque.
Yesterday, I re-torqued the head studs back to 125 ft-lbs.
Any chance that this could have been affecting the consumption or damaged the MLS head gasket?
The oil leak from the valve cover stopped after I removed it and tightened the cover studs.
The car currently has 1,200 miles on the rebuilt engine.
Blow-by is not visible while running with the breather tube connected to the intake. When the breather tube is pinched-off, some blow-by is visible from the dipstick tube, but not from the valve cover oil cap. The cover cap is stationary and does not "dance" when loosened with the breather hose pinched-off.
No visible oil on the intake manifold as with my last engine, which had significant blow-by.
Below are my recent compression results. (on a warm engine)
Before 1st Piston Soak
Dry Test
Cyl 1: 410, Cyl 2: 425, Cyl 3: 410, Cyl 4: 400, Cyl 5: 400, Cyl 6: 400
Wet Test
Cyl 1: 480, Cyl 2: 460, Cyl 3: 480, Cyl 4: 480, Cyl 5: 460, Cyl 6: 460
Before 2nd Piston Soak
Dry Test
Cyl 1: 420, Cyl 2: 400, Cyl 3: 410, Cyl 4: 420, Cyl 5: 400, Cyl 6: 430
Wet Test
Cyl 1: 480, Cyl 2: 460, Cyl 3: 480, Cyl 4: 470, Cyl 5: 440, Cyl 6: 480
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