E30 smoking - burning oil

[Scoot1]

Hi all,
Welcome advice before next step
Bought a reconditioned 327 engine (525E block and 320 head) engine off an E 30 zoner circa 4 years ago, engine stood in my garage for a year before being put into car (house build priority).
New, hoses, clutch, rad, etc, etc, then ran in (kept below 1000 revs) for 1500 miles and not done more than 200 miles in last 2 years (cabbie - weather).
When throttle opened up on road under load I am told blue/black smokes comes out of exhaust (pal followed me from Silverstone to Gloucestershire) oil consumption more than expected.
Yesterday removed plugs and used a Gunsons pressure tester cylinder readings as follows:

Ӣ 1 Cylinder 200 psi (front nearest radiator)
Ӣ 2 Cylinder 187 psi
Ӣ 3 Cylinder 185 psi
Ӣ 4 Cylinder 200 psi
Ӣ 5 Cylinder 190 psi
Ӣ 6 Cylinder 190 psi
According to pressure testing kit they are good as in top half of green area and bordering on red at 200psi.
So what do you think is causing oil being burnt? could it be valve stem seals, or something else??
Want to liminate all easy options before pulling engine apart (retained original engine which has head on it still so could recon that and fit).
If valve stem seals are the problem am not best pleased, as according to E30 Zoner they were done during build but can only take his word for that (honesty eh), given elapsed time no come back on him now other than shame on him - if it is that.
All advice welcomed, thanks

[broadie]

Check the breathers are clear and clean would be the first thing Id look at.

[toby]

If it were valve stem oil seals it would burn oil mainly on start-up as a result of the oil draining down the valve stems while the engine was off.

Running in an engine shouldn't be a nursing process. It should be thrashed from day one. This allows everything to bed in.

Change the oil and thrash it properly.

[Scoot1]

Thanks for replies, bit wary of thrashing it in case something goes bang??

Am I being over cautious?

[mrLEE30]

no running in lsowly applies to 1950's buitl engines, just dont drive it at any one RPM for too long, ie accelrate quite hard then back off, vary speed at motorway or vary the gear (4/5th). after about 100-200 miles drop the oil out, have a good look for big bits of metal ...assuing all good change filter, replace oil and drive it as you would normally.

there is also an arguement for using the chepaest oil possible for the first fill, then going to good oil.

[Curr946]

youre saying that if its the valve stem seals you wont be best pleased.. the engine has sat for a year in your garage before you fitted it.. seals would have dried out in this time no matter if they were changed or not.
I would buy some oil seal conditioner and put it in with fresh oil.

I would recommend forte seal conditioner ive used this in the past with good results

[Scoot1]

Thanks Curr946 seems reasonable as engine done circa 1300 miles since fitted (rebuild) in car. Very rarely thrashed it, it has had two oil changes in between and cylinder head tightened down.
When took plugs out they were black - could be running rich (or short journies) or burning oil.

Must say am impressed with Forte products as just used fuel additive in my Merc 320 diesel with good results.
I am thinking it is a positive first option to buy Forte seal conditioner first drive car hard varying load, revs, gears, then drop oil and see what happens.
Do you agree or should I consider more??

[mrLEE30]

upon a re-read and also how many miles the engine has covvered my money would be on poor running, or possibly a dodgy sensor, GENERALLY blue/black smoke tends to be poor running, white smoke is oil.

As yours is blue/black I would possibly just drive it for a few hundred miles, and get a few tanks of fresh feul through it, also note the ECU needs to "learn" the fule mapping tkaing into account what it gets from the sensors, espcially after a long period of inactivity..although that should only take a few mins.

I would personally not bother with conditioners in there unless you know there is a problem, just continue to run it and monitor the oil/water level, the smoke and the plugs, you will probably find once it gets a few miles under its belt it wil be fine, if not then start to look at the sesnsors...and to find issues with these its best to put it on a exhaust analyser. Using a little oil on a rebuilt engine is not unheard of ,say roughly about a litre per 1000 miles, but excessive use then start to look at seals/rings etc etc

[toby]

It would be god to establish if it is burning oil or not. Does the oil level go down?

Obviously get it running well too anyway.

[Scoot1]

Thanks guys
Oil level goes down, when running in, I used motorways and A, B roads to run in keeping revs to circa 1000 RPM.
Had oil changed, cylinder head tightened.
Since then have only covered circa 150-200 miles in 2 years.
Engine was rebuilt in 2008, stood for approx 18 months then put into car and ran in.
Will try a run for a couple of hundred miles to see oil consumption/miles. in next few weeks. It is not a major amount used.
Good compression, but could it be oil scraper rings? even though compression good/

[BenHar]

upon a re-read and also how many miles the engine has covvered my money would be on poor running, or possibly a dodgy sensor, GENERALLY blue/black smoke tends to be poor running, white smoke is oil.

Generally:

Blue > oil.
Black > rich
White > water

Thanks guys
Oil level goes down, when running in, I used motorways and A, B roads to run in keeping revs to circa 1000 RPM.

Ouch! 1000rpm?

That is putting a lot of strain on the engine. Just what you don't want to do when running in.

Try to keep it above 1500 and go through the full range above without using full throttle.

Ben

[Scoot1]

To late, thanks anyway Ben, thankfully most of it Motorway miles (compression good) but according to previous posts no need to run in-
Confused
Am where I am now, so have to weigh up my options prior to next step.
Acccording to your breakdown Ben my car running rich and burning some oil, no water, although it was a pig when bleeding cooling system and when ran with header cap off looked like a Geyser !!