actually place a ballon on the dipstick and see how much it inflates.

This conjures up some comical images...

Oh the places I could go with that one! lol. Will have to try that one - least the balloon I can do when I get home from work - or should i be doing it on a cold engine? I dunno its still behaving...bloody possessed car lol

quick way to check for negative or postive pressure.
balloons are fun..

oh ya hot or cold won't matter.

Alright might try that tonight

She is back to her old tricks. Lads if it is a matter of blow by is there any hope for me other than engine rebuild? and would that make sense cause it was fine driving in yesterday but coming home i was almost to highway nine before it was not so possessed. Could it be fuel pump or line freezing or something stupid?

Did you try the balloon test to confirm you have blow-by? The cause of blow-by is not temperature dependent but the results could be, depending where the moisture may be getting and freezing.

It is something that is temperature dependent because it only does it when the temps drop below -20. That means fluid is getting too thick to allow something to move as designed or something has moisture in it that is freezing. Without listening to and feeling what the engine is actually doing, long distance diagnosis is nothing but a guess...

No i have been too crazed at work to run away to get balloons and i do not want to scar the children by using other things that can inflate. its just frustrating cause to my ears nothing is sounding wrong but you are right SOMETHING is freezing up. And yes, paul and his boys get to have their way on monday.

bring cookies,my dog loves cookies ..
get ready to meet the beast from!! HE**double toothpicks.
Paul..

what color of ballon do you prefer?
Oh and by the way i have a 740 for a loaner if required.

Worse comes to worse Paul I think Peach and I go live with a friend in town her dog and Peach get along well we both get tired dogs life is good. I will be going out later today armed with saran wrap and a hair elastic lol i will let you know the results

you know you don't really need a balloon. Theres going to be a pretty good puff of oily smoke coming out of the dipstick when you start it up

So i should be expecting god awful smoke no matter what?

Your anxiety would much much less severe if you quit going to extremes all the time.

Rebuild the engine...

God awful smoke...

Really...it's not that serious. If you pull the dipstick out and start the car there may be evidence of some crankcase pressure build-up by way of air coming out. This air may or may not be visible, hence the balloon trick. If your car had catastrophic levels of blow-by, the dipstick would get blown out of the tube. Not literally through the hood but you would find it popped up out of its seat...

Until someone who knows what to look for and why looks at it, don't assume anything...

I know dale i just have too many people giving me worst case scenario. started up the car took a bit cause i forgot to plug it in oops but when i went around took out the dip stick there was no visible smoke of doom. there was some air pressure against my hand but not enough to stir a piece of paper. engine was a bit noisy - fan i think cause it was cold. So am i right in thinking its not end of the world blow by possibly?

Waiting for a tow tried to start this morning ran for a few seconds VERY ROUGH then stalled could not get her up again did not want to burn out that shiny new starter. Paul i will come bearing cookies for man and beast lol and god bless ama towing seems to be a monthly thing with me lol I have THREE LEFT after today lol