Rocker cover breather in a 4.3 V6

loco

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
154
Hi all,
Long story short, I had to re-fit my inlet manifold as I had a vacuum leak in between the inlet manifold and top of the engine block. I used new gaskets, sealed it, torqued up etc. by the book.

As part of it, I rebuilt the carb, using a lighter spring for the secondaries which are vacuum operated. All seems good now, with strong, stable vacuum.

Before this, I had one breather from the rocker cover going into the flame arrestor, and the other going into the vacuum nozzle in the 4bbl holley carb.

To maximize vacuum, I sealed the vacuum nozzle, and had both breathers going to the flame arrestor.

I'm now seeing a bit of milky oil turn up. I can see it milky in the rocker cover where you fill the oil, and a bit at the bottom of the dipstick. Engine runs amazingly and has loads of power. It's had maybe 6-7 hours of running, and the oil level is maybe a fraction high (like 2mm above upper level).

Thoughts:

- I've screwed up the inlet manifold refit, and there's cooling water going into the valley (engine is raw water cooled :( ). I've checked the torque on all the inlet manifold bolts and it's spot on, so I doubt this.

- I'll run a compression test to see if it might be a cylinder head gasket (pretty unlikely. Engine has maybe 250 hours on it and never overheated).

- Changing the breather setup has messed things up. I fish with the boat, which means quite a few stop-start short runs, so the engine will be sucking in moist air as it cools a lot (and runs cool anyway as it's raw water cooled). I'm thinking I should put a T-connector off the carb vacuum nozzle, then have both breathers go to it, with check valves in each. This would mean the engine is actively sucking out fumes and vapour from the engine, and the check valves should reduce the amount of moist air sucked back into the rocker covers.


Any other thoughts or ideas greatly appreciated!
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,526
there is no "vacuum nozzle" on a marine holley carb. post a pic of the carb you have.

both "breathers" should be going to the spark arrestor.

milky oil is from water. if you used the wrong gasket you would be pouring water in from the manifold. drain the system and pressure test.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,832
I have a Marine Holley 4160 sitting in my garage and there is no vacuum port on it, the only one I have seen on a Holley style carb is on the similar Quickfuel Marine carb....
I think Scott is right, if the gasket does not seal right at the 2 front water ports you will get water right in the cam valley. Every marine engine I've seen uses either 2 breathers to the flame arrestor, or a PVC valve with the vacuum source being the intake manifold, just like on our old cars.
 

loco

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
154
Thanks all.
It's a holley 4175 from memory. Pic below with vacuum connector, but I'll head to the boat and double check.

Scott - are you saying pull the engine and pressure test the block?!

I sourced the gaskets from the company who supplied my engine, so I'm quite sure they were correct. It's certainly not pouring in water - oil is relatively OK in colour checking the dipstick, but isn't great in the rocker covers.

I'll come back with some photos.
 

Attachments

  • photo316865.png
    photo316865.png
    1.6 MB · Views: 1

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,832
What's odd about that carb is that it does not have J tubes for the bowl vents, does it have mechanical fuel pump overflow tube (yellow tygon hose)? Looks like it might hard to tell in the pic. You are right about the vacuum port, it looks like the one on Holley's website has the same port....

I've used Fel Pro marine gaskets and they sealed fine on my old intake even though I had to resurface it due to the original gaskets being baked on like Kryptonite.


https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/carburetors/marine_carburetors/parts/0-80552
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,526
that is not a marine carb. the vacuum-pull-off and the lack of J-tubes as well as the power brake booster port indicate its an automotive carb. quit using it and get a proper marine carb.

oil in the dipstick tube never changes even with frothy cream in the sump.
 

loco

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
154
Sorry my bad, it is a marine unit. Looks like a 75007-2/3191.

Checked the rocker covers and it seems they have pcv valves built in, and they're both going to the flame arrestor.

Looks like it's going to be something on the inlet manifold or worse. What a treat!

What brand is the absolute best when it comes to inlet manifold gaskets, etc? It's a Vortec 4.3 V6.

Cheers
 

Attachments

  • photo316881.jpg
    photo316881.jpg
    953 KB · Views: 1
  • photo316882.jpg
    photo316882.jpg
    974.8 KB · Views: 0
  • photo316883.jpg
    photo316883.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 0

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,832
Normally if you have a PVC valve, there is only one and the hose is connected to manifold vacuum. The other breather in an automotive application would go to the air cleaner or in this case the flame arrestor. You would not have 2 pcv valves. If the PCV valve on the starboard valve cover is connected to the flame arrestor its not doing anything at all. It needs manifold vacuum to work. If that fitting in the front of the carb is below the throttle plate then it should work off of that. However, a PCV valve is really not needed in a marine application, normally you have a plastic fitting in each valve cover and a hose brings the blow by fumes up to the flame arrestor. Many people have used Fel/Pro marine gaskets with good results. You have a Vortec engine, keep in mind the torque spec is much lower on those intakes than on the older Pre-Vortec like I have...

Something is odd about that carb, has J tubes but no overflow hose nipple. You prob have an electric fuel pump so it does not matter but that would not be safe with a mechanical pump....
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,526
there should only be elbows running to the spark arrestor from the valve covers.

this would be the first marine carb i have ever come across with a vacuum port....ever....
fetch


my guess is someone frankensteined the carb by either adding an automotive base plate to a marine carb (thus losing the extra shaft sealing) to add a vacuum port, or by adding J-tubes to an automotive carb.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,832
Scott there was one on the 4175 on Holley's website and so do a few of the Quick Fuel carbs which are basically a better quality Holley design carb. Only ones I could find with the vacuum port...
 

Attachments

  • photo316886.jpg
    photo316886.jpg
    26.9 KB · Views: 0
  • photo316887.jpg
    photo316887.jpg
    24.8 KB · Views: 0
  • photo316888.jpg
    photo316888.jpg
    24.9 KB · Views: 0

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
Staff member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
47,526
Quick fuel carbs are frankensteined. The "generic" base plate doesnt have the extra o-rings on the shafts.
 

Lou C

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 10, 2002
Messages
11,832
They are selling them as marine carbs. Are they less "marine" than a plain old Holley Marine carb? The other difference I noticed is that they have the float adjustment set up like automotive carbs have, which the standard Holley Marine carbs do not have…...
 
Top