81_vette!

1977 manual, stock SB (for the most part)

I have one spark plug that fouls up every three months or so.

It has oil on it, and is crusted. I do not have any visual oil leaks - but need to top-off the oil with 1/2 quart every month.

I can just replace the plug and am good to go for another three months or so.

So... what am I in for?

A big PITA job? (I don't guess I can get a scantily clad underwear model to fix it while I drink a beer?)

C3 4ME

If it puts out a puff or a little more of smoke on start up, that's pretty much a tell tale sign of vavle seals.

Easy Mike

What's the mileage? Could be getting near the tme for a rebuild.

LB66383

I had a similar problem, with some plugs looking dirty and one plug fouling badly on a regular basis. I put on a set of aftermarket heads and the problem went away. Got the original heads rebuilt and put them on another engine, and they're now working fine.

Having said all that, do compression and leak-down tests. That will tell you much more about your problem.

dgood

My 79 would smoke at start up and changed the seals and it fixed the problem. It would use oil also and I always had 2 or 3 plugs that were fouled. If you have to change the valve seals, they are pretty easy. I am not an engine guy and using the shop manual, and the spring compressor (20 bucks) from advance auto, I did all my seals in a few hours. The old ones were in pieces all over my heads. take your time to clean the pieces out, and change your oil afterwards. Not hard at all. As far as piston rings and heads, I have never been that far into the engine.

bashcraft

If it doesn't smoke, it could be a burnt exhaust valve. You could check the compression to find out.

81_vette!

It has 80k on the original engine.

It occasionally smokes a wee bit on start up.

So - sounds like valve seals may be in order?

terry82

i would not replace the spark plug that has oil on it .clean it up and put it in a differant spark plug hole.