Have had an oil consumption issue for a year. I pulled the oil cap off last night in the cold, it's pushing smoke about 24" high out of valve cover. Also have a lot of blow by out the bottom. What should I do? Have a compression test pulled? Or pull the engine and rebuild?

 

Yes, you can have a compression test done so you know which hole is bad. It does sound like you have broken a ring or have a melted piston.

 

I have ZERO run issues though....that's what is weird. No hard start, no loss of power or mileage. Just dark black / garyish smoke on acceleration. Only symptom is oil consumption, which is around 9 qts every 3000 miles.

 

Definite symptoms of a broken ring and it is not too uncommon.

 

Well....dawggone. I guess I'll try to make it through the holidays and get ready to pull it down.

 

WOW!

 

its probably broken rings in #6 top and 2nd a compression test will confirm

 

I've been through the broken ring on #6 myself. Don't let it go too long, mine had parts of the ring end up on top of the piston, took chunks out of the cylinder to get there.

 

I've now run 1300 miles since I last added oil. Still covering the "safe" word on dipstick. What gives?? Could I have a stuck ring instead of broken ring? Would that be the reason it's intermittent?

 

they can brake a ring and not cause piston damage but if you run it to long it will cause more damage to the cylinder wall than you can hone out.

 

500 miles ago before I changed oil, I poured 1/2 gallon of diesel and 1 bottle of Seafoam in my oil and ran the truck until is was at running temp. I then drained and changed oil & filter on it. I was hoping maybe a ring was stuck causing my oil consumption. I checked my oil yesterday at the 500 mile mark, no joy. It was 2qts low. We filled and cranked it up, held the throttle to the wood and while it was on the governor, pulled the oil cap. It just about blew the cap out of my friend's hand. Dammit!! Guess I know now that the engine comes out for either a ring or a piston.

 

That sucks for sure but a set of rings and/or a piston is much cheaper than a full rebuild. If that's all it takes then I'd go ahead and pull the pan and roll a new set of mains into it as well.