Had to change the gasket on the 91 Festiva with 211k. Looks worse than when I changed it last time. But the PCV was gummed up and stuck, the intake had about a 1/2 quart of oil in it. Doesn't have any blowby so I'm guessing that's why. I bought it back in 03 with 86k and drove alot of miles so used Mobil 1 at 10k intervals. Sold this to dad back in 06 so he's put at least 100k on it and only used ST 10w30 at 3-4k intervals.
Under the valve cover at 211k
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Very cool.
I'm more amazed there's still a 1991 Ford Festiva still around!
I'm more amazed there's still a 1991 Ford Festiva still around!
Has 13's from a Metro.. 175/70/13's.
Quite a few still around. Made by Kia. Most of the parts these days are coming from Iran. They were made or still being made over there not sure.
Looks good 
Pretty interesting how those rocker assemblies are cast with such a beautiful bronze patina.
wemay
Site Donor 2023
Looks just fine 200k+
I would be very disappointed if my engines looked like that.
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Those were sweet little cars. Yamaha engines?? I can't remember.
Edit. I just read your post where you said they were rebadged Kias. Those cars were indestructible and ran so smooth. Were Kia products better back then? I never heard of a Festiva ever breaking down.
Edit. I just read your post where you said they were rebadged Kias. Those cars were indestructible and ran so smooth. Were Kia products better back then? I never heard of a Festiva ever breaking down.
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Chalk this one up to why I don't do 10K intervals on any oil, and to why I don't use ST. Ever.
wemay
Site Donor 2023
There have been other posts where cars used ST synthetic exclusively for 200k mi. The valve-train looked as good as synthetic in those.
He also mentioned a poorly working PCV that could be the cause here. The ST was changed at a every conservative 3-4k mi so my guess is valve failure over oil type and definitely not brand.
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wemay
Site Donor 2023
You are correct tig1, I was commenting on this while outside, on my phone. The bright sun distorted the color. That's a lot of varnish.
Mazda B series engines. As far as better don't know just less complicated back then. We've had 8 and 3 Aspires and never had a breakdown.
The other 91 Festiva I drove for a while (rusted out) had the same treatment and it looked cleaner. The PCV was the sole cause in this case. In a year or so I might pull the cover again and check it.
I would assume that for a lot of vehicles this age it's mostly mail order.
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Yeah, I read that part too, but I'm not buying that a bad PCV valve caused ALL of that. Some? Yes. A large portion? I'll give the benefit of the doubt and still agree. But not 100% ALL of that gunk. Especially considering the inside of the valve cover itself...
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