Hayfever

I believe that I've confirmed that Hanky's oil allergy is a permanent condition, but only seems to manifest itself at highway speeds. Puttering around town, it seems fine. But when I get out on the road, sure as shooting, it's blowing oil. Not too much today, but it was a short drive to my mother's place. On the way back I decided to unhook the hose from the flame arrestor on the valve cover. Sure enough, there was oil all over the valve cover when I got home, in addition to all over and around the dipstick. Isn't that flame arrestor supposed to suck air from the air cleaner into the engine (to counter the PCV)? And wouldn't you think that having it unhooked would reduce the crankcase pressure enough that it wouldn't blow out the dipstick? Anyway, not sure what to do about it other than find a new engine to put in...

The funny thing is...

Brian T (Chewie's Dad) was over this afternoon, so of course we couldn't resist popping the hood on Hanky. Hadn't looked at it since I drove it this weekend, after doing the compression test. The thing purrs like a kitten. No sign of blowing oil from the last drive. No drips. Once it started to warm, there was definitely blow by, but enough to blow all the oil out? Doesn't seem like it. I'm stumped. Hanky is an enigma. A puzzle. A haunting personality that I just haven't quite figured out. OK, maybe it's just a finicky, leaky old Scout. Still, not sure what's up with this intermittent oil leaking business. But, with those compression numbers, it's hard not to argue that it's time for a transplant no matter how well it seems to run every other day. Add it to the list...