Test Results, Mike Romain, Chris, all

Bill,

Again, this is shooting from the hip because we are trying to diagnose a vehicle that we can't actually work on. I think I may have stated in a previous post that you may have had a stuck or carboned up piston ring. This is still a possibility based on your numbers. I'm thinking that you may have had a valve slightly open on the first test, but not sure. I also think that by the numbers you are getting on compression and leakdown test, that your engine is in good shape as far as sealing the cylinders goes. This doesn't mean that a valve guide may not be passing oil into the cylinder. If you have verified that the injectors are not leaking or sticking open for some reason, then I'm led to lean toward a possible sticky ring. There may be some carbon buildup in the oil ring groove or something like that, but like I said, this is a guess at best without actually seeing when and how much the engine smokes, and also not being able to try a few things in person. I think if it were my vehicle at this point, I would drive it for a while and see if it clears up. It may if it is a carboned up ring.

Chris

Thanks for the reply Chris.

An additional update. I took it today to JeepsRUs and paid Larie a fee to put it on the DRB II. He found no errors with regards to engine firing or injectors. All values were normal. In addition, he took out the 6 degree advance he previously put in when I was trying to get rid of what I thought was ping so now the MPI Kit is back to 14 degrees advance per stock MPI Kit specs. Now the engine runs even better but still have the oil problem.

After I left JeepsRUs I drove it to the swap meet driving highway and city miles. I had put a set of fresh plugs in the night before so they were pretty clean as of this morning. When I arrived at the swap meet I took a look at #2. It looked ok, not fouled and just a touch of black around the element so I put it back in and walked around the swap meet for an hour or so. When I got back to the parked jeep I again took a look at #2. This time I saw fresh oil around the threads of the plug the heaviest being at the top most thread and on the washer that comes on spark plugs. Now, how did this oil get there? I checked to make sure it wasn't coming down from the valve cover into the spark plug hole and no, there was no oil on the outside of the head in this area. It couldn't have come up from the block, could it? The only thing I can think of is it's coming down from the valve guide and as it drips down and flows past the plug opening the warm/hot oil gets drawn up into the plug thread. Does this make sense?

I wiped the plug clean and drove it back home and did the same test. Looked at when I got there and let it sit for an hour and looked at it again. This time I didn't see the oil but it could be per chance that I landed on TDC for that cylinder and the valves were closed.

Comments?

If it runs OK, and you don't have a cloud of blue smoke following you around, drive the GD thing and find something else to worry about.

I don't know. How about fouling a plug every 15 to 30 miles?

Oliveri"

I don't know. I guess it depends on who is interpreting it as a fouled plug. Seems to me that you spent over a month here complaining about a non existent ping before this latest fiasco.

Oil on the threads is not a fouled spark plug. IF you were getting enough oil on the plug to actually foul it in 15 to 30 miles, you would see smoke.

You said you just had it at JeepsRUs, but you didn't have him look at your spark plug? He only put a DRB on it because that's all you wanted, right? This is sounding more and more like the "ping" debacle.

The PCM monitors injector circuits electrically and will set a fault that can be read by the DRB if it detects a malfunctioning injector CIRCUIT. It has no idea at all if the injector is actually opening or closing.

The best you can hope for is a guess from anybody reading here. You had it to a professional, but didn't let him diagnose your problem, or determine if there actually is a problem.

One more thing. You do a compression test, leak down test, or whatever, and you're doing it at the rate of one cylinder per day. Then you come here and start a new thread every time you post something, you make it very difficult for anyone to go back and see what's been done so they don't end up telling you what you have already heard/ignored/missed/not understood.

Fiasco...

You know, I could have been less of a person and never told of the results when I took it to a couple of places to diagnosis the "ping" problem but I'm not that way. I post what I have learned and results I have found and I know others have learned from my posts either what to do or what not to do. It's all good in the end. You jump in the middle and cry at my methodologies but don't suggest or outline the "proper" way of doing it from the git go. You have not suggested one thing since I presented the problems of blue smoke. Not before changing the valve seals, not after. Not one. Then you come off as an angry little man with your responses. I think you need some anger management. Perhaps you should see a therapist.

My thanks to Bill, Mike, Chris and all the rest for their great help.

Bill

Oliveri"

You are the one that said you were running out of time trying to figure this out. You have a pro put a DRB on it, but don't have him address your "oiled plug" problem. I told you what a DRB will and won't do and that's not good enough. I make a suggestion about keeping your posts together so somebody can follow what has or hasn't happened, and you whine because you don't like my style. I guess some folks just love to struggle, so I'll step aside and allow you to continue.

Enjoy the struggle!