Eagle 258 with oil soaked air cleaner

Did the plugs and the test today. Here's the gritty on the old plugs.



All of the plugs look good on one side and stained on the other. They were all also horribly gapped.

As for cylinder compression CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING BEFORE YOU READ THE NUMBERS: It appears my 14mm fitting is not deep enough to securely seat in the plug hole. I can barely get two or so threads in with the O-ring removed but as a result all the readings will be lower than normal due to leaking around the fitting.



1 - 150psi (easy reach, could screw the tester in a bit more with pliers)
2 - 130psi
3 - 135psi
4 - 140psi
5 - 135psi
6 - Unable to get the tester in

So taking the above while aware the tool was not installed properly it looks pretty uniform between cylinders and reasonably good

this is too obvious and oyu sound alert, but it's not over-full of oil?

No that's a valid question to ask. When I bought the car six months ago the oil level was sitting above the FULL line (and over the "FULL" text on the dipstick). Today it's still above the FULL line but it's now down to about 1/4" above the line.

with the engine stopped, you can manually check for a sealed crankcase; put a hose on the PCV and blow into it like inflating a balloon. it should hold the pressure reasonably well with your finger on the end of the hose

I plugged the PCV ports and used a piece of radiator hose to blow air in via the oil cap. It's holding pressure pretty good, though it's clearly leaked oil since I wiped the manifold down yesterday.

There's supposed to be various  adapters on that compression gauge fitting with a O-ring on it , or tapered for the different spark plug types.

Edited by tyrodtom - Mar/19/2019 at 8:58am

While look for the baffle, if possible, look for blocked oil returns and oil accumulation on top of the head.

The oil return drain holes in my 258 were very plugged up with a combination of sludge and silicone sealer from dozens of valve cover gasket jobs. It was all down around the lifters. I literally had to dig it out with a spoon and then I had the entire block vatted.

They don't plug up with sludge like that if you use good oil and maintain the engine properly, but few 258's have had proper maintenance over their entire lives. Most of the Eagles still on the road today were used as $200 winter beaters at one point in their life, and one point is enough to do it.

Or the "it leaks so much oil that I just keep adding it and changing the filter" mentality. That will plug them up too.

We've all heard the Pennzoil and Quaker State sludge horror stories, but sludge comes from neglect, age, and wear.

All the engines I've dealt with that had serious sludge problems had a known past of poor maintenance and use. Short trips, infrequent changes, overheating, and valve cover leaks. Those will all gum up an engine.