Thread: 283 sbc blowing oil from filler tube

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I have just aquired a 1964 Impala with the stock 283 and only 39,000 original miles. I noticed a lot of oil build up that I thought would have come from seals leaking. I tuned up the motor and took it for drive (about 25 miles rnd trip). It seemed fine outside of blowing black smoke out the tail pipe when I accerated (figured it was carbon being blown out). When I parked it I noticed light smoke from the motor. When I investigated I found that the breather cap was push up at an angle and oil was all over the engine bay. Does anyone have any ideas as to the cause. I plan on doing a compression check, should I do something else?

sounds like broke ring, conpression check will rule out

check the breather tube on the back of the intake, some people plug them on the old chebbies....then don't bother to install a pvc valve.

The oil breather tube may be plugged,,,take it off and clean it out,,,also,,,the intake manifolds on those old 283's gather a lot of carbon and oil deposits in the intake manifold,,,take it off and clean and scrape those deposits out of the intake runners.
If your bowing alot of carbon out of the tail pipe,,it might be an idea to look at your mixture settings,,,or choke valve setting,,,couple of good runs should take care of most of the carbon build up,,,but you gotta think,,,,,the carbon had to come from somewhere right??
Lastly,,,,if that 283 has a lot of miles on it,,,then do an oil change,,and use straight 40wt oil in her,,,,,if the mileage is really high,,and you dont want to re-build yet,,,do not use engine flush,,,because your motor would have a lot of build up which is taking up the wear.
Engine flushing an old motor ( very high miles)will only loosen her up,,,and then you'll have blue smoke and knocks everywhere.

Originally posted by Thunderbucket
The oil breather tube may be plugged,,,take it off and clean it out,,,also,,,the intake manifolds on those old 283's gather a lot of carbon and oil deposits in the intake manifold,,,take it off and clean and scrape those deposits out of the intake runners.
If your bowing alot of carbon out of the tail pipe,,it might be an idea to look at your mixture settings,,,or choke valve setting,,,couple of good runs should take care of most of the carbon build up,,,but you gotta think,,,,,the carbon had to come from somewhere right??
Lastly,,,,if that 283 has a lot of miles on it,,,then do an oil change,,and use straight 40wt oil in her,,,,,if the mileage is really high,,and you dont want to re-build yet,,,do not use engine flush,,,because your motor would have a lot of build up which is taking up the wear.
Engine flushing an old motor ( very high miles)will only loosen her up,,,and then you'll have blue smoke and knocks everywhere.

Thanks for the information, is the oil breather tube and "foil filler tube" one in the same? The engine is low miles so I was going to try the flush also...

The oil breather cap on the oil filler tube should be for air intake. The metal cap on the back of the block, next to the distributor, should be connected to the carb via a pcv valve, and draws air out. As stated, if this is missing or plugged it will cause pressure build-up as you described.

Chevy used two systems: Open and Closed. You have the Open type.

also i ran into a problem on a ford a while back it was overfull on oil

Originally posted by MI2600
The oil breather cap on the oil filler tube should be for air intake. The metal cap on the back of the block, next to the distributor, should be connected to the carb via a pcv valve, and draws air out. As stated, if this is missing or plugged it will cause pressure build-up as you described.

Chevy used two systems: Open and Closed. You have the Open type.

THANKS TO EVERYONE THAT REPLIED! With the information you provided I found how to test it in my shop manual. I will let you know for sure if this fixes the issue after this weekend...

UPDATE TO MY ORIGINAL POST:

I had some time today so I checked the pcv valve and it appears to be working properly. I forgot to mention that there is a tapping noise which sounds to me like a "lifter tap" sorry I forgot to mention this earlier. I'm thinking it's a valve/head issue...any suggestions are welcome...

39,000 original miles on a 64 is a car that hasn't spent much time on the road. Was this a vehicle that was stored for a long period of time or was it driven on a weekly or monthly basis? I'd make a compression check the first order of business. A lot can happen internally to an engine that has been sitting for years.

"1964 Impala with the stock 283 and only 39,000 original miles"

A 1964 with only that few miles,,are you sure of the mileage??
The heavy oil build up would suggest higher mileage,,but could be from being driven real slowly all it's life and getting realy hot.
If that is the case,,then i'd suspect the engine of having major carbon buildup in the intake and the rest of the block oil gallerys may be realy plugged.
I would take the oil pan off,,and the valve covers, along with the intake manifold, and get a good look at the motor.
And also a compression check as previously suggested.

The car was from an old lady that passed away. My understanding and with all the records that came with the car the 39,000 is the correct milage. I don't think she ever left a 5-10 mile radius of here home. When she died the car sat for about a year until I bought it (don't know how often, if ever, it was ran during this time). It fires up without touching the gas and idols smooth.

The tapping sound could be a lifter that collapsed from being compressed for several years.
Also, I have initially mistaken "pcv rattle" for a lifter in the past.