villainous Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 I've been having a problem where on longer drives (more than 5 miles), my 1973 1400GL's engine idles a little rougher every time I stop at a traffic light, eventually requiring me to goose the throttle a little to keep it from stalling. In the process of investigating this problem, I saw that there's a fair amount of oil getting into the air box, and this seems like a pretty plausible cause for the problem. I clean out the oil, my car runs great for a few miles, then starts lagging a little as the oil builds up inside the air box. There are two breather hoses—one from either pair of cylinders—going from the cylinder head cover up to the air box, and one of those tubes is dry while the other one is slick on the inside with oil. On other cars I've worked on there's a valve to stop the oil from bubbling up the hose, but on this one not so much.... I will do a compression test tonight to see if it's maybe a bad piston ring somewhere causing excessive pressure in the cylinder head, but are there any other things I should check? I don't really have the garage space (or the patience of my partner, which is also a finite resource!) to do an engine rebuild at this time, so it'd be nice to avoid that if this could be some simple thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsunrides Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 Ok, so there is another RUNNING GL only an hour south of me? Small world. Sounds like you are on the right track with the ring diagnosis. Excessive crankcase pressure is really the only way oil can be pushed up to the air cleaner. You could remove the hose and install a breather filter, but then you would be blowing oil all over your engine compartment. OH, NEED PICS OF SAID GL! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subasaurus Posted October 8, 2015 Share Posted October 8, 2015 agree with Datsunrides, sorry about the issue but the only solution you really have would be to make the breather hoses longer and make a "catch canister" which would never catch anything because by making it longer the oil can't get there anymore.. a member here by the name- Loyale 2.7 Turbo (Jeszek) wrote a whole thread about it, althought it was on a third gen Leone, but the concept is the same. i begin to have issues with oil entering into the intake at around 110psi of compression on a third gen, first gen i have no idea where it would be at for it to introduce oil but im sure its close. another solution which is alittle extreme would be to move the air filter to the entrance of the intake (before the breather hoses) like third gens have them, this would solve the oil issue but will not solve your compression issue. btw nice to know theres another person with a first gen! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villainous Posted October 8, 2015 Author Share Posted October 8, 2015 More GLs! Glad to know there are more of y'all out there. The longer breather hose sounds doable as a temporary solution, but it sounds like the only way to permanently fix this would be to fix the piston rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsunrides Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 If you decide to rebuild the motor, and it's an original wet sleeve 1400, the copper crush gaskets at the base of the liners are an issue. There are/were some NOS liners and piston/ring sets on ebay for cheap and I *think* I have some surplus crush gaskets and ring sets for a 1400. Would need to verify if the rings are std or oversize and the crush gaskets are the correct ones. I guess they could be for anything from the 1100/1300 or 1400. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villainous Posted October 19, 2015 Author Share Posted October 19, 2015 For the time being I'm gonna try to avoid rebuilding simply because I don't really have time or garage space right now (only just recently moved back to Cali from Chicago so things are a little crazy). I just read your '73 coupe build thread the other day, so I think if I need help you'll be the person I ask! I think my first reaction to the thread (and pics) was "Wow I need to wash my Subaru". Thanks for the lead on the gaskets. If you happen to have a link or something I can search for that'd be really handy; I can just pick some up and stash them for a rebuild later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datsunrides Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Most (non subaru) peoples 1st reaction is why did you restore that! Engine gaskets are relatively easy to find. If you mean the crush gaskets, good luck there. I may be the only guy that has any readily available . Honestly, it would probably be better to rebuild an solid deck EA63 (not easy to find) or EA71 motor. I do have a EA62 motor (1300) in unknown condition that I think can be a 1400 with just a liner swap. I would sell you the motor for a fair price if you want to see about building a motor before pulling yours. I may even be able to build it for you, time permitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moosens Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I've got a small load of those copper rings in various sizes new in original packaging but of course buried in storage. I'll do my best as I need to get things I don't need gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villainous Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Hrm. How can I better diagnose what, exactly, is causing the extra pressure? I have a compression-tester and could check compression wet/dry, but will that give me enough information? I mostly just really don't have the space or time right this moment to rebuild (might in a couple of months though), and I don't wanna take parts away from anyone else who might need them more urgently than I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.