Smoke is worrying me

Just got the car shipped from florida to Sweden. It's been running 15 minutes at idle TOPS in the last year. It's a fresh build with less than 5000 miles on it according to the seller who's backed it with receipts and build sheets.

When car arrived it was pouring down outside so I backed into my garage and left it there with a battery charger since the *ss-hats had left the flashers on during the 8 week transportation.

Started the car to show a friend and it had a bit of smoke coming out of the engine around the headers which isn't anything unusual for a car that has been in storage for a while. No big deal. Started it up today and no smoke was seen until I shut it off - WTF? It's like a thin smoke coming out from the back side of the engine, drivers side and you can clearly hear a loud hissing sound for 2-4 seconds accompanied by the smoke.

Get worried as hell, asked a friend who thought it was a bit heavy smoke from the exhausts as well and got me worried about a blown gasket. So I need some advice here. I left it at idle to heat up a bit and there's no rapid pressure building up in the cooling system. Lower radiator hose is still soft and nice. Nu bubbling in the radiator - but coolant at a pretty low level. Noticed a small leak on the lower hose so I tightened that up and leak stopped. Still hissing noise and smoke when I turn it off.

It runs pretty good with good gas response when I idle it at around 2000 rpm. I was thinking the following

1) Drive the car around the neighborhood to burn off any residue left from storage and to let it breathe a bit
2) Check oil again - now it looks alright - no chocolate milkshake look.
3) Check coolant for bubbling or surging. Check coolant level after driving
4) Cylinder compression test

What gets me worried is that if I get coolant in the oil - things will go bad quickly during my test drive? Help please?

Get a new radiator cap/run a pressure test.

What color is this smoke? I doubt its a head gasket. More likely you've got a leaking exhaust bolt. Does it have headers or stock exhaust manifolds?

The radiator cap - what symptoms am I looking for by replacing it?

The color of the smoke is off white - not white like steam train but not blue (as of burning oil). Its just... thicker than what I'm used to from other cars I've had (note this is first old school car so I might just be worrying for nothing)

It got jet coated headers on.

Exhaust bolt you say - well that's pretty easy to check if I knew to what torque they're supposed to be tightened.

I'll try to talk to a local mechanic who's seen numerous 440 engines running to see what he says. If it wasn't for the hissing noise and the smoke in the engine bay I'd say I was fine but I'm a bit worried now.

Big block? If so, the front and rear exhaust bolts on each head go into the water jacket, my guess is they need sealing

Kernel Sanders said:

Big block? If so, the front and rear exhaust bolts on each head go into the water jacket, my guess is they need sealing

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Yes - 440 big block.

Alright so - what sealing? Any specific product you recommend? Do the entire header need to come off or can I seal the bolts and tighten them up? It would make sense that smoke came out that way after shutting down.

Are there any risks associated with driving it like this for a while? Question I ask is that it cost me about $1400 per month to insure it before it gets it's swedish registration - after which it's down to $20 if not driven and $80 if driven.... I need to drive it to inspections and back to the garage.

all of the exhaust bolts go into the water jacket if the heads are cast iron. unless they have studs

Cast iron heads yes. Haven't looked at the bolts/studs enough to tell which kind they are. Have to check that tomorrow. But one missing sealant would do this right?

If it not leaking anything on the floor, might just be the paint on the block curing from the heat or the coating on the exhaust your seeing burn off.

The hissing is the clue here. As was said, the front and rear header bolts go into the water jackets. Some of the other bolts MAY also if the heads have been highly ported. When cool, drain the coolant down below the level of the header bolts. Remove the bolts one at a time , clean with a wire brush and coat liberally with your favorite thread sealing compound. I like Permatex with Teflon, but everybody has their favorites. After you seal all the bolts, let the motor sit for 24 hours before refilling the coolant. Get the motor hot and then re-torque the bolts. A torque wrench would be nifty, but most headers won't allow you to use one on all the bolts, so just snug them up good and tight (roughly 25-30 ft. lbs). Bet the hiss and the steam disappear like magic!

Ok, this is not a hearsay rumor story, LOL... I rebuilt my 360 in the 87 Dodge truck, and had to heli-coil three corner studs as they had broken. I sealed them with non hardening permatex as usual, but they leaked, hissed, and smoked as you describe. After I broke the cam in, I would run it occasionally to try to get the antifreeze to stop the leak.

It refused to stop, and I tried to reseal the studs, with no luck. I purchased this product as I felt it couldn't hurt:

http://www.crcindustries.com/ei/product_detail.aspx?id=401210

I poured it in, and fired it up, expecting the worst. Holy Smokes Batman, I could actually see it stop leaking in under 3 minutes, and they haven't leaked since... The product made a believer out of me for sure. I have used it on customer cars too, with excellent results.

I like the K&W ceramic seal better
you clean cooling system then run sealer till leak stops then drain and air dry

Determine the source of the leak before you attempt a repair. My header bolts leaked all over when I put the headers on. So I removed each bolt, wrapped it with standard teflon tape, ( 9 turns of tape per bolt), and there have been no leaks for 2 years now! Many runs down the 1/4 mile and no probs. I like the teflon tape because its easy, no mess, and the bolts go in smoothly as the tape acts as a lubricant when screwing them in. It works great and many guys here have used this method. I admit, I was skeptical at first, but now I'm a believer!

Two cents worth...I've always prefered to use Indianhead shellac sealant, bolts or studs, on the exhaust fasteners. I simply dip the threads into it, before installing 'em. That sealant kinda waterproofs the threads, that always tends to rust from the water/heat combo.

Garys1969RR said:

Determine the source of the leak before you attempt a repair. My header bolts leaked all over when I put the headers on. So I removed each bolt, wrapped it with standard teflon tape, ( 9 turns of tape per bolt), and there have been no leaks for 2 years now! Many runs down the 1/4 mile and no probs. I like the teflon tape because its easy, no mess, and the bolts go in smoothly as the tape acts as a lubricant when screwing them in. It works great and many guys here have used this method. I admit, I was skeptical at first, but now I'm a believer!

Click to expand...

So drain coolant first, then work your way around the bolts. Did you clean the threads first?

Yes, you need to clean the bolt threads and it's a good idea to run a bottle brush or rifle bore brush through the threaded holes in the head. You can't use too much sealer. And, like I said before, let the motor sit overnight before refilling the coolant. No need if you use Teflon tape as Gary suggested.