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What the heck am I looking at?

miller

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After sitting for about a week, put a little gas down both four-barrels, and fired it up. This is a 440, with a crossram. Pulled the car to the front of the shop, to warm up a little.
First thing I noticed was water out the tail pipes, little puddle out of each. Ran the engine up, to clear the pipes, but then it started running rough.
More it ran, worst it got, until it quit.

Looked things over...nothing, so tried re-starting it. Would try, but then, nice puff of white smoke out the driver's side carb! Looked again, tried another start, another puff of smoke out the same carb.

Any thoughts?
 
Head gskt,cracked head? Check the oil ! Sorry about that.
 
Yep. Checked both oil and rad water. So far, anyway, both look good. Pulled distributor cap, all looked good.
A little leery about trying another start, in case of backfire. :cursin:

Guess I'm going to figure another compression test, see what's what.
 
Water drippin out the exhaust is normal! H2O is a natural byproduct of the combustion process.
 
Yeah, I know, 69a100. Especially one that sits a week. Only a little out each pipe. Enough for me to re-think some pipe weep holes. lol.
 
After sitting for about a week, put a little gas down both four-barrels, and fired it up. This is a 440, with a crossram. Pulled the car to the front of the shop, to warm up a little.
First thing I noticed was water out the tail pipes, little puddle out of each. Ran the engine up, to clear the pipes, but then it started running rough.
More it ran, worst it got, until it quit.

Looked things over...nothing, so tried re-starting it. Would try, but then, nice puff of white smoke out the driver's side carb! Looked again, tried another start, another puff of smoke out the same carb.

Any thoughts?
Hmm.... how old is the gas? Really old? Just filled up the tank (with potentially watered gas)? Otherwise, I'd maybe check if the distributor hold down is loose & the timing "walked" a little bit?
 
Thats why the original exhaust tips had weep hole......You could also run a dehumidifier in the garage to limit the moisture in the air......

What do you mean by puddle?

That aside the key thing here is the more it ran the worse it got and backfired........you pure fresh fuel and you had no problem until it started pulling old gas.......Backfires through the carb are timing related.......I would get some fresh gas in it and check the timing.....

Are you running points? Maybe the moisture effected them and need to be serviced.......
 
Did you dip a finger into the puddle and smell or taste it? The difference between water and coolant should be easy to distinguish.
 
how old is the gas?
Just filled the tank a week ago.

Otherwise, I'd maybe check if the distributor hold down is loose & the timing "walked" a little bit?
Good idea, though doubt it's loose. Always a first time. Been getting alot of those, on this one. Damn, I'm getting old!

What do you mean by puddle?
Maybe 6" wide, enough to wipe up. Went from soot, to water...HA!
Yes, on points. 800 miles on all new Mallory dual point.

Did you dip a finger into the puddle and smell or taste it?
Just looked like condensation, with a little soot tossed in, for seasoning.
After leaning the carbs a little, it had been clearing out dried soot.

Great ideas, guys, keep 'em coming, and keep your fingers crossed for me. First thing I thought of was bad condenser, though had 'em before, so don't think it is. Yeah, compression test. Beer time!
 
6” wide(?). Did you get it good&hot last week to burn everything off? Sounds like bigger than normal cold idle puddle.
 
This is from Bad *** racing website

Why does my engine spit or backfire?

First off, you need to determine whether it is backfiring out the exhaust or back up through the carb. We usually refer to an exhaust backfire as a "backfire", and backfiring through the carb as "spitting" or "coughing".

"Backfiring" is usually caused by a spark plug "sparking" when it isn't its turn and the exhaust valve is open. If your air/fuel mixture is too rich and you have unburned fuel in the exhaust system, cross firing from one spark plug wire to another can occur if they are touching each other and when this happens while the exhaust valve is open, it will ignite the rich / unburned mixture in the exhaust manifold and tail pipes and result in a big bang.

Having timing that is too late (retarded) can cause this same thing sometimes if your engine is running too rich. When the exhaust valve opens, the mixture isn't done burning so it ignites the unburned fuel in the exhaust system and causes a loud bang.

Back firing can also be cause by a cracked distributor cap, or one that has carbon tracking inside which causes cross firing between the terminals inside, which in turn, sends spark to a spark plug that isn't ready for it yet.

Backfiring through the carb (spitting or coughing) usually occurs in the morning when a carb's air/fuel mixture is a bit too lean. This usually goes away once the engine warms-up. It is also commonly caused by the accelerator pump inthe carb not squirting enough fuel before the main jets start working. If you spit the instant you blip the throttle it is probably the accelerator pump in the carb not working, plugged up or out of adjustment.

As with backfiring, coughing or spitting can also be caused by a bad ignition system, such as cross firing, which sends a spark to a cylinder that has the intake valve open. When that plug sparks out of turn, it lights the fuel in the cylinder and the pressure has to go somewhere... so if the intake valve is open, it goes right back up through the intake manifold and out the carb with a "spit" and sometimes even a flame.

When and how it backfires or spits will give you an indication for where to look
 
As with backfiring, coughing or spitting can also be caused by a bad ignition system, such as cross firing, which sends a spark to a cylinder that has the intake valve open. When that plug sparks out of turn, it lights the fuel in the cylinder and the pressure has to go somewhere... so if the intake valve is open, it goes right back up through the intake manifold and out the carb with a "spit" and sometimes even a flame.
Suppose it's more like coughing. Tries to fire off, no backfire, just the cloud of white smoke.
Along with a compression test, I'll re-check my ignition system, timing, so on. btw...distributor is tight.

Bad gas? That gas went in, from same station here I always buy from, right before I drove the car 15 miles to get tires. Ran fine then...
 
Up here they put 60% water into the fuel and sell it for more... :D
 
Thats why the original exhaust tips had weep hole......You could also run a dehumidifier in the garage to limit the moisture in the air......

What do you mean by puddle?

That aside the key thing here is the more it ran the worse it got and backfired........you pure fresh fuel and you had no problem until it started pulling old gas.......Backfires through the carb are timing related.......I would get some fresh gas in it and check the timing.....

Are you running points? Maybe the moisture effected them and need to be serviced.......
Agree. A little water on first startup, no big deal..but the running problem points to something else. If your low temps have gotten cool enough to cause condensation in the pipes, they could have caused some moisture to form in the fuel system as well
 
Plug wires cross-firing? Know it’s a stretch,but.
 
On humid days I'll get condensation out the pipes and a puddle on the floor.

Was it running rich before it stalled out? Might be flooding. Pull a couple of plugs and see if theyre wet. Think simple first. Everyone always thinks the worst :rolleyes:
 
but the running problem points to something else.
Agree, beanhead. Finding it will be the deal. Going to start with the basics, and go from there.

I've used 906 heads before, never any problems, but always the first time. Head gasket, or cracked head...so be it, sure it's possible. Going in with eye open, and find what I find.

No, on cross-firing, far as I know from last time it ran. Wasn't running over-rich. Seems 'something' gave up.
 
No update to talk about. Compression test gave 145-150 lbs, most at 150, so that clears blown head gasket, or cracked head. Since it came across like a off timing event, kill two birds with one stone. When I broke the cam in, with help from my clogged radiator, paint on my valve covers got cooked. So, off with them, to watch the valves, check all my timing, and re-paint the covers.
But, covers won't come off, with the intake in place, so pulled it, then the covers. Cam looks great! So far, nothing out of place. I'll check timing, valve openings, and such, today.

Still can't swallow the bad gas thing. Good one week, bad a week later? Completely check the distributor, and timing chain, for anything.
 
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