Blue Smoke in Exhaust

[Austin]

Since I have been putting some miles on my 3a, it is now blowing blue exhaust out the tail pipe. My initial thought is piston rings. A old timer I know told me to slowly pour a quart of transmission fluid down the carburator while it is running which will clean all the valves. I was also told I could try a 30 weight oil. Right now it has Vavoline 10w 30 conventional. Any thoughts?

[Oilleaker1]

Blue is oil. I've had a couple do this also. Some will tell you it could be stuck rings. It most likely is worn out rings or broken rings. A compression check will tell you much about the engine condition. Warning: don't screw a 3/4 inch reach adaptor into the spark plug hole, you can bend your valves. If the readings go up with a squirt of oil in the cylinder after a initial check, worn rings. If it doesn't, broken rings or valve problems. Under 90 psi, worn rings again. You most likely are due for a overhaul. You are entering the school of Jeep Disease.  John

[Austin]

Does anyone know where I can get a good overhaul kit? With gaskets, a rear main seal, and rings. Napa has a gasket kit that comes with a whole bunch of extra stuff I don't need and I have to buy the rings seperatly. Another thing, would this be a day long project? I have some mechanical knowledge and have pulled engines before. I just haven't overhauled a engine before. No better time to learn.

[athawk11]

Hi Austin,
I don't know of an all inclusive "overhaul kit".  You will probably have to do it piece meal.  Tell us how far you plan on going in and we'll help you with what you'll want to accumulate. 

Tim

[Austin]

Piston rings, gaskets, rear main seal, and bearings. That pretty much covers it, right?? NAPAs kit came with a Carburator rebuild kit and and a new fuel pump.

[Austin]

I could probably just get away with piston rings but I don't ever want to go into the engine again after this.

[athawk11]

You may have posted this, but I'm being lazy so...

How is your oil pressure? If good...and after inspection, I might skip the bearings also.

I'm a huge fan of the complete gasket set for the L-134, made by Felpro.  Especially the oil pan gasket.  Best price is online from Advance Auto Parts.  Most gaskets in the kit are Made in the USA.

I've purchased a couple ring sets from Ron Fitspatrick Jeep Parts.  Nice stuff.  I also got a set of bearings from him but I never saw them.  They were a gift for a friend and were shipped directly to him.  He said they were top notch.

You'll probably get some additional ideas from others here, but I thought I'd throw out my experiences.

Tim

[Oilleaker1]

If you are going to do it, have it checked out at a machine shop. Honing, re-ringing, lapping the valves, and not checking for too much taper in the cylinders, worn out valve guides, scored crankshaft etc. is really a waste of your labor if you want to never go back. A new copper type head gasket is the ticket. The rest, you can pick and choose, but I love the felpro gaskets and hate their head gasket. If your oil pump is in spec, put it back. Fuel pump kit, depends on if your diaphram is old and cracking. You can shop around and get what you want. Don't plan on this all getting done in one day. Superman couldn't do it either!  John

[Austin]

Is there somewhere where I can get some specs on the engine like what to torque everything back to?

[Carls_jeep]

All the specs can be found in the copies of the Factory Willys Shop Manual. You may end up buying 2 or 3 versions of the manuals as each one covers things the others don't.