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Subject:Big, Bad Smoke
From:Dave Kautz
Date:Sun, 19 Feb 95 23:04:21 PST

In response to Bill Layton's query about smoke:

 I've seen sudden onset of oil burning caused by  A. a holed piston  B. a
 broken ring land. If it's A, there would be 0 compression in the affected
 cylinder and the engine would be running rough. If B, the ring may still
 be providing some compression <not for long>, but oil moves freely 
 through the crack from the inside of the piston to the cylinder bore. While
 I would hope for your sake that Joel's diagnosis pans out, my experience
 is that oil smoke in the quantities you described has it's origins in the
 crankcase rather than the heads. BTW, had the engine been pinging or 
 knocking recently?

 Ric,

  I am saddened by your loss of "new bug". A lousy end for such a neat car.
  Lucky there was no-one in it when it was hit. A few minutes earlier and
  it would be a dark day indeed.....

 Someone was wondering about how to get up to the top bunk. In the '74,
 first you step on the stool, then onto one of the cabinets and into the 
 bunk - we call it "going upstairs".

 Digest <sigh> Dave