Thanks for all the advice and help from you all. However, no one answered my question, Could a couple of you check if there is movement when the head is set on the block?

 

I will measure the heads tonight, sorry, something came up last night.
I'm calling machine shop today too.
Whenever I get my block back, I'll set the heads on it, if no one has by then.

 

I was discussing your problem with a veteran mechanic, and he suggested to forget about the oil in the intake for the moment, and think about what is causing your oil consumption. Were the rings installed correctly? Is there a broken ring somewhere? He's seen rebuilds where synthetic oil was used from the start; and the rings never seated/broke-in, bc break-in oil was not used. Hence oil consumption. Is there a flaw in the block causing something weird? Is oil being forced out of your disconnected breather? If not, how did oil get to the upper intake? Oil doesn't go against air flow. Is the timing chain off a tooth? Weird problems like this require outside the box thinking, that's why I'm trying to throwing some ideas out there. Good luck.

 

This^
I agree on the full synthetic from new, rings don't seat as well with it.
The one tooth off on the timing chain would be a definate miss though.

I still haven't measured my cylinder heads.
My appollogies, I am usually very reliable.
Things have been very busy for me last several days.
I will try to get it done again tonight.

 

A dealer broke in my factory replacement block with Castrol synthetic, which is what they used at the time (2007) on the new Range Rovers, it was their house barrel of oil.

The rings never seated and it burned a quart of oil every thousand miles for 160k miles and they said it was within the "normal" range and would never do anything about it.

So this does happen, and most people with the issue would have no idea why as it happened under a previous owner... usually.

 

One unique mod that I was not aware of was the previous owner put in 0.080 oversize flanged sleeves or 3.780” bore instead of 3.70”. So pistons and rings are aftermarket. The pistons were thoroughly cleaned and inspected before reassembly. Compression test was good.

I’m ready to stick a bomb in this thing

 

 

The heads are still on, would that be ok? And what would it help me determine?

Based on what I’ve eliminated it’s either coming from the valve stem area but unlikely because of new guides and seals (although Chevy small block teflon stem seals - see my other post) or from the combustion chamber/rings. Is it even possible to come from below the heads?

 

I'd pull the valve spring on the suspect cylinder and check that the spring on the valve stem seal hadn't popped off, or check the seal itself got fitted properly. It should be a tight fit around the valve stem and down on the guide. I had to use a small socket to push mine down on the guide.


To do this, run the piston up near TDC and the push a piece of vacuum line into the cylinder thru the spark plug hole. Then run the piston the rest of the way up. Rent or borrow a valve spring compressor and pull the spring. check for fit and even check the part number. there's one on it somewhere. Use a magnifying glass.


you can also "guesstimate" valve stem to valve guide clearance once the spring is removed. There may even be some specs in the RAVE.