1992 Xri bleed system upper bearing lubrication

[wakepics]

Motor 0D122896 was rebuilt 2 years ago. Bleed system hoses were replaced with tygon to monitor fuel flow. I'm not seeing any fuel making it's way from lower to upper bearing. Bottom check valve tested with syringe and is out only. Upper check valve just replaced with 21-42623 3 to see if that would resolve the issue, but it didn't.

Any thoughts on what could be the issue? Original reeds were reused for rebuild. They passed feeler gauge test. Upper and lower crank seals were replaced with new at rebuild.

[JOE54]

lower crank seal leaking ?????

[wakepics]

Perfect! From a little research, if this is the case, it sounds like one of my lower plugs will be pretty fouled and one should be pretty clean? Anything else that would be an indicator of this issue?

One symptom I've got now is excessive fuel consumption and I had to really idle up the air valve adjustment to get it to idle at 800 in N and 650 in gear (I've tried timing between 0 and 8atdc and it never seems to really smooth out). Would a leaky seal cause this condition also?

[JOE54]

not likely no