I don't see any signs of exhaust coming out of the breached areas but definitely needs more investigating.

 

I'm more concerned about the outlet pipe being blocked, I'll have a bit of a look today.

 

The filter made no difference...

In the morning I'm off to a muffler shop. I reckon that will.

But I'm still mystified by the oil leak disappearing.

 

Make sure oil level is still good.

Be interesting to see what is IN the muffler. Wonder if the cat blew up, and it wound up in the muffler.....

 

Where did my post go?

The muffler change made no difference except to the noise. I pulled all the plugs today, they all show signs of firing but some definitely better than others. It's obvious that the plugs and leads are not very old.

The oil level remains constant, so it's definitely a matter of the oil leak having gone away. Something to do with the PCV valve, perhaps?

 

If it was hitting the ground before, not the PCV valve.... May have just got something caught in a seal somewhere..... Though they seldom fix themselves.

Still runs like crap?

 

Do the plugs tell us anything?

All in the order they were fitted in the engine:













]

 

Not all cylinders running the same(bad). #1 is real bad. What is the condition of the cap/rotor and wires? Might want to do a compression check on all cylinders.

 

Basically it's the centre cylinders which are burning clean, front and rear looking oily...

Cap looks new, leads okay, but the right bank plugs have a sleeve around them, (No 4) appeared to have been rubbing fairly well on the stainless steel pipe (exhaust related) that runs close to the leads up that side. The sleeves look like they're fibreglass inside foil and are about 6" long, presumably to protect the leads from manifold heat.

Could it be very poor mixture distribution?

 

Port fuel injection, so, if it's a distribution problem, it is gonna be due to dirty/failing injectors.....

Fair bit of oil on some of those plugs as well, valve seals??