[MetalDrgn]

Well I finished the engine rebuild a few weeks ago, but the engine was smoking real bad from one of the cylinders (maybe more I don't know) and I was trying to see if I needed to rebuild it again and I was trying to isolate it. Not to mention I bought a 98 Expedition and did a little work on that too along with so many other things. I was so close to calling the rebuild a failure, but I just couldn't give up so quick. I kept starting it and running it to see if I could figure out what cylinder was leaking and why. I even disconnected each cylinders coil to try and find out which one it was. That didn't seem to help. I had added about half a quart of heavy duty oil stabilizer to see if it would help, but it didn't really seem to. This last weekend I decided I would drive it longer because it may just help seal the rings better. There was only about 2 miles on the engine so I had to see if it would get better so I went out and drove it down the road for a few miles. I could see the smoke behind me, but it was a lot less than when I first ran it. Just after about 7 miles, it was hardly leaking!

Now it doesn't smoke at all!!!! It kept getting better and better until it doesn't smoke at all anymore! I'm so grateful it worked. If I would have had to rebuild it again it would have been over $1200 plus a lot of time and time I am in short supply of atm. It also proves it is possible to reuse rings and still have a good seal even after 136k miles. I imagine I'm going to get about 40k-50k miles before I need to rebuild it again, but that's a few years down the road. My timing chain guides are getting close to their wear tolerance, but shouldn't be due for another 35k-40k miles so I'm good for now. The transmission shift quick and very nice too so this one may last quite a while! There are a few other problems with it, but they are minor and will be fixed shortly.