Oil fouling and a rattling

[Anonymous]

As I've been going along here I haven't actually had to get into my engine yet. Everything has been exterior engine related or not engine related at all.

I have a '66 Ford Falcon with a 200 inline 6.

Oil has been leaking into the spark plug areas for a while now. This makes it necessary for me to clean 2 or 3 of the plugs every 2 weeks or so.

I know very little about the inside of an engine and I don't know what causes this, or what anything would be called.

There's also a rattling sound coming from under the hood when I'm doing a hard acceleration. From the advice of a friend I switched to 92 octane fuel instead of the 89 octane. That got rid of the rattling for a while. (My friend told me it was probably preigniting?) But yesterday I noticed it was back and I'm still running 92.

Now, yes, my car was built to run on leaded gas in the first place. But over the last two and a half years, unleaded has been fine.

So what I'm wondering is what is causing these problems, how would I fix them (are they decent for DIY), and how much would the new parts cost do you think. I keep everything stock and never go with anything too fancy.

 

[Anonymous]

hmmm...oil could be rings or valve stem seals. I think you need to do a compression rest to find out...

seals...cheap
rings...expensive

I will let otehrs take over from here

 

[Anonymous]

If oil is leaking from the valve cover you need to replace the gasket, cheap and easy.

Sounds like you have carbon build up, blow it out on the interstate, free.

If you have points, consider DS2 upgrade, $100 at autoparts, see tech section.

Spend some time just looking at everything under the hood. Think about what goes where, oil, gas, electric. These engines are fun to work on!

 

[Anonymous]

Oil on the plugs may be due to bad valve stem seals and or valve guide wear. The seals are not difficult to replace.
My car also had a plug fouling problem. The MSD-6 ignition that I put on it sure cleaned up the plugs. Granted it is treating the sympton and not fixing the problem. But since the car is often misfiring with the fouled plugs, you can expect to feel more pep from the engine with the MSD box.

As far as the pinging, it sounds like you may need to check your point gap and adjust your timing. Assuming that your timing was not changed recently, a possible cause of the pinging may be caused by a fouled piston/cylinder from the buildup of carbon. Thick deposits increase compression ratio and create hot spots that promote detonation.

 

[Anonymous]

What's the worst case scenario in situations like this? With worn rings or valve guides and bad seals?

Because I'm moving next month and going 900 miles in my Falcon. It might sound stupid, but she can get me there, and it wouldn't be as much of an adventure in any other car.

 

[Anonymous]

I would try to fix the timing before taking the 900 mile trip. Detonation can tear up the engine. As far as the fouling plugs, I would not let that concern you as much. Bring another set of plugs, (or one of those battery powered spark plug blasters/cleaners) and some tools replace them if they foul out. My old Vette tended to foul out the plugs if I drove up into the mountains because of the rich carburetion. I fiddled with the carb to lean as best I could, but the plugs still fouled out. I later learned I would have needed to change the metering rods and springs to get it to idle without fouling the plugs at that altitude.