Vehicle info: 1986 Chevy Astro Van, 4.3 V-6, 700R4 transmission. Mile unknown, (odometer broke years ago). Vehicle is used as "Mule" to maintain parents property, (15 acres). Used as a general "goat" to haul brush and tools, pull small trees, etc. It has no windows, no doors - all interior is gone except steering wheel and drivers seat. Gas tank is a five gallon bucket behind the drivers seat, (tied to the floor with fuel lines running through a hole in the floor).
Sunday, Central Florida west of Orlando, (where my parents live) had tornados. 23 large trees came down on my parents property, blocking their driveway, (driveway is 1/3 mile long). I spent the entire day cutting trees up with chainsaw and hauling logs and limbs out of the way with the '86 chevy. The motor does burn oil and periodically the plugs will become soaked with oil and need to be changed, (they foul out). Sure enough, yeterday, in the midst of all this work, motor started running on only three cylinders. I did a quick plug change and since I was in a hurry did not reinstall the motor cover inside the cab of the van, (it has a cover under the dash you can remove to get to the back of the motor).
It no longer has a PCV valve but instead, a piece of copper pipe where the PCV valve used to be. Pipe is about six inches long. Smoke comes out of the pipe but I didn't realize how much until yesterday. Since I was running with the motor cover removed, every time I would chain up to a log and start to pull it out of the way, large amounts of smoke would pour through the pipe and into the cab of the van. The more I ran, the smokier it got. I finally grabbed a six foot piece of black plastic 3/4 inch hose I had laying next to my shop and jammed it on the copper pipe and laid it outside the passenger door, (remember, doors are gone, so I tied the hose to the door jam with a rag).
Once I had cleared the driveway, I started chaining up to all these logs and pulling them over to our burn pile on the backside of the property. I kept watching the end of that black plastic hose and smoke would come pouring out while I was pulling the log and then lightly puff while I was in netural and unchaining the log.
Obviously, the motor is worn out and I'm simply running it as long as it will run until something major happens to put it out to pasture, but I'm just wondering what makes the smoke come through the old PVC valve in such huge amounts. I understand it burning oil because of the worn piston rings, but how does the oil get into the valve covers and why does it blow out? If this PVC system was actually hooked it, I would be fouling and changing plugs every time I used it. What's going on inside that is making this motor do this? Not looking to fix it, just looking to understand why it's happening.
BTW - this is the same van from a previous post where I'm putting 40 weight motor oil in the transmission. The ole gal pulled well all afternoon
Also, no one was hurt during these storms and no building damage, just lots of trees down and big limbs on the ground.
Sunday, Central Florida west of Orlando, (where my parents live) had tornados. 23 large trees came down on my parents property, blocking their driveway, (driveway is 1/3 mile long). I spent the entire day cutting trees up with chainsaw and hauling logs and limbs out of the way with the '86 chevy. The motor does burn oil and periodically the plugs will become soaked with oil and need to be changed, (they foul out). Sure enough, yeterday, in the midst of all this work, motor started running on only three cylinders. I did a quick plug change and since I was in a hurry did not reinstall the motor cover inside the cab of the van, (it has a cover under the dash you can remove to get to the back of the motor).
It no longer has a PCV valve but instead, a piece of copper pipe where the PCV valve used to be. Pipe is about six inches long. Smoke comes out of the pipe but I didn't realize how much until yesterday. Since I was running with the motor cover removed, every time I would chain up to a log and start to pull it out of the way, large amounts of smoke would pour through the pipe and into the cab of the van. The more I ran, the smokier it got. I finally grabbed a six foot piece of black plastic 3/4 inch hose I had laying next to my shop and jammed it on the copper pipe and laid it outside the passenger door, (remember, doors are gone, so I tied the hose to the door jam with a rag).
Once I had cleared the driveway, I started chaining up to all these logs and pulling them over to our burn pile on the backside of the property. I kept watching the end of that black plastic hose and smoke would come pouring out while I was pulling the log and then lightly puff while I was in netural and unchaining the log.
Obviously, the motor is worn out and I'm simply running it as long as it will run until something major happens to put it out to pasture, but I'm just wondering what makes the smoke come through the old PVC valve in such huge amounts. I understand it burning oil because of the worn piston rings, but how does the oil get into the valve covers and why does it blow out? If this PVC system was actually hooked it, I would be fouling and changing plugs every time I used it. What's going on inside that is making this motor do this? Not looking to fix it, just looking to understand why it's happening.
BTW - this is the same van from a previous post where I'm putting 40 weight motor oil in the transmission. The ole gal pulled well all afternoon
Also, no one was hurt during these storms and no building damage, just lots of trees down and big limbs on the ground.
