Burning Oil

[broncoiisvoswap]

Finished an engine swap on my 1984 Ford Bronco II about a week ago. I bought an early 1985 2.3 turbo motor that sat on a tire in a warehouse for about 3 years from a buddy for a couple hundred bucks, tore the entire motor apart (Except for crank/pistons) and replaced all of the gaskets, everything checked out, it was an extremely clean and well taken care of motor that probably only had around 100k miles on it (no proof, just guessing based on condition/previous experience).


The issue is the engine burns oil, not terribly, but it blows enough smoke out of the exhaust to be concerning. It smokes when cold, and gets worse as the engine warms up. If I turn the motor off then back on, the smoke goes away then comes back, if I go into boost it gets worse. Also I can hear the oil draining from the turbo back into the oil pan once the motor is off, no idea if this is a concern.

Engine starts up instantly whether the engine is cold or hot, no hesitation, idles smoothly, no backfiring.

So I did a compression test.
Cylinder#:
#1: 140 psi
#2: 140 psi
#3 135 psi
#4 135 psi
These numbers are not 100% exact, but all 4 were above 135psi.
I did all of these with the spark plugs removed and the throttlebody open, dry test, no oil, and while the engine was slightly warm to the touch.

All 4 spark plugs have a small but equal amount of oil fouling on them, there is black oil seeping out between the engine HEAD and the exhaust manifold.
There is also a bit of water vapor coming out of the oil fill cap, but very little blowby, and before anyone asks, yes, the PCV Was replaced with a genuine MotorCraft PCV Valve designed for this engine, this did not make things better.

I also want to state that I have not taken the vehicle out and actually "Driven" it. I am trying to be cautious, because if this is from a stuck oil/piston ring, I would rather not cause more damage, if it's not, I don't want to tear the motor back apart, because if I tear it apart I'm rebuilding it.

I have no idea what is considered good compression on these motors.

Another thing, it has an aftermarket intercooler and larger exhaust/intake for the turbo, but uses the stock Inline style intake manifold for the engine, the engine head looks to be recently rebuilt and has a warranty stamp on the back (might be valve seals?). No idea if any of this matters but I'm throwing it out there.


Any suggestions are welcome. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to cover all bases.

[Stinger]

That's expected compression for these engines so the rings aren't stuck.

Oil being on the plugs eliminates the turbo and drain line.

If it's valve seals, you'll likely see it by pulling the valve cover (ripped seals or seals that popped off the head surface). Otherwise, if you pull the exhaust manifold, you'll likely see oil on the back of the valve(s).

[broncoiisvoswap]

Thank you!

I'll check it out after work tomorrow.

I would like to say that, on the other hand, if it isn't the valve seals, what else could it possibly be?

I also want to ask, do any of the exhaust manifold bolts need sealant on them? More than likely the valve seals are causing the area between the head/manifold gasket to seep oil, but I'm gonna ask this anyways just to be sure.

[Stinger]

If it's on all of the plugs then it's not likely to be the headgasket. So the only other possibility I can think of would be something like the PCV blowing oil into the intake. That's typically only a thing that happens in boost though, not at idle/low RPM.