Pretty much everything matches the typical symptoms of a bad oil control ring(smoke at startup which lasts only momentarily), with the exception of it happening at random! It either happens or it doesn't.

I was also browsing the rebuild kit's offered on many sites and holy crap are they expensive! Are there any good/decent (yet budget friendly) rebuild kits that have what I need?

 

sometimes the o ring splits, and when it does that sometimes the split is in a place where it leaks, and sometimes its not.

the least expensive way to rebuild these is to pull it apart and measure everything, and just replace what is needed. the upside is that you are buying the minimum parts while ending up with a tight engine. the downside is that it takes forever to clean and measure everything

 

Depends what needs to be replaced

 

to add to this, rotor position determines whether the faulty area of the oil seal is exposed to gravity. oil is pulled down in the engine of course so if there is a crack in the seal in only one spot and the rotor is positioned in a way that the crack is exposed when the rotor is draining oil on shut down it will run down inside the engine into the combustion chamber.

 

That makes sense, especially about the gravity part seeing as to how it smoked like crazy when I parked in front of the garage, which is at the bottom of a hill.

Finally is there any chance of damage if I keep driving it as is for around another month? Oil will be monitored of course and added when needed, but I'm in the process of re-assembling my winter car (don't ask).

 

not really, extra lubrication usually keeps the carbon on the rotor from drying out but it will eventually line the exhaust with a thick layer of carbon and kill the cat quite quickly if it still has one.

 

Robert,

Try replacing a quart of oil with Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer. I nursed my last 12a along for over 20k that way. Fixed 95% of the issue. Before the Lucas, I was leaving a smoke trail that Hellen Keller could've followed (literally shut down a section of the freeway on the way home).



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