Yup...that would be rings.

Z

Blake Thornton <blake@MATH.WUSTL.EDU> wrote:
I am afraid that my 84 might need some serious engine work. Here are the
symptoms:

- When I start up the van, it blows a lot of grey smoke initially. Quite
a lot and it keeps getting worse. After the van is warmed up, the van
runs alright.

- I just changed my spark plugs. 3 of the 4 were pretty oily. I had an
exhaust leak and took off the forward most exhaust pipe. The pipe was
pretty oily and black.

- Lately, my vans wants to stall out when cold, which leads me to needing
to keeping my foot on the pedal when I am driving. This seems to go away
when the van gets warmed up.

I am thinking that my rings are probably shot. My engine has 160,000
miles on it (with probably around 20K on new head gaskets). What are my
options? I am thinking that I can probably just run this engine for a
while longer (assuming I pass emmissions) and see about finding a used
engine or something soon.

Thanks for any input you can offer!!
Blake
84 Westy
St Louis

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