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Dear pittroj,

Good p.m. and hope this finds you well. I hope I didn't offend with the stream of questions, covering mostly obvious things. Glad to learn that you and your other half are as diligent, as the rest of us try to be.

It could be that at some point, the car sat for a long time. The oil in the cylinders got hard, and blocked the oil scraper ring, so that oil gets trapped in the combustion area.

If you're not already running Synthetic oil (e.g., Mobil 1), you might try that. It tends to clean-up crud. There is a product called Auto Rx (available at a website of that or similar name) which is a more powerful solvent. I've never needed to use it.

A possible explanation for the "dieseling" is an exhaust manifold gasket leak. If the gasket is reddish orange, it is the original. Those tended to have a short working life. If the gasket is pale green, it is a newer version, and should be tight.

Hope this helps. Let us know what you find.

Yours faithfully

spook

p.s. I try not to be spooky, as that really upsets folks...