White smoke

[Huicho417]

I recently replaced all gaskets, timing chain and water pump on my coronets 318. I also cleaned out the water jacket and replaced all expansion plugs. Prior to doing the work the engine ran/idled great. Now that I put it all together and installed the new ceramic coated hooker headers, the engine is exhausting white smoke from the headers. I have only run the engine for about 5 minute increments for a total of about 6 times. Is this a common occurrence when doing this much work on an engine and should go away after a while?

 

[khryslerkid]

Is it still cold there? Could be condensation.

 

[#41]

Very light white smoke can be condensation. That should clear up pretty fast when you idle. If it looks heavier than this than you probably have a leak at the intake or head gasket. Pull the spark plugs and look at them to get a clue which cylinder(s) it might be.

 

[Jerry Hall]

When I revived my 56 Desoto that had sat since 1974, I removed all 8 spark plugs and squirted a small amount of Marvel Mystery oil in each cylinder, rotated the engine many times by hand and then with the starter. Upon getting everything else serviceable we pushed it outside and cranked it up. It smoked white smoke for better than a hour and still smoked a little white smoke on the first few drives.

 

[Budnicks]

valve seals
OE-style old rubber umbrella seals are prone to get hard/crack
could be a cause too
oil rings, rings period
faulty PCV can sometimes too
sucking oil from under valve-cover thru the intake etc.

along with a few of the good suggestions above
pull plugs & see if they are wet with oil

do a vacuum & compression

or leak down check too
you can hear if it's going by the rings into the pan
or by the valves into the exhaust (bad valve, usually bluish smoke)

any could rule something out

 

[Richard Cranium]

In today's world, white smoke indicates that you are racist. Next time you fire it up, you better have black smoke coming from the tailpipe.

 

[69Bee]

The first thing that jumps out at me is the fact that you sprayed the head gaskets with copper coat which is incorrect; they should go on dry with no added coatings or sealers. You might be leaking water because the new head gaskets can't seal properly. Also, the head pic shows only one exhaust stud. The two end holes go to water, and if the one side was repaired with a heli-coil, it likely is not sealing well and leaking water into the exhaust. Replace a new stud, and try to seal it well, although that can be hard. I will say that a better repait is a Time-Sert in those applications so that water cannot leak past the outside of the repaired hole.

 

[toolmanmike]

What head gaskets did you use. I hope that was just spray copper coat.

 

[Huicho417]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I used FelPro Perma Torque head gaskets and did spray them with the Permatex copper coating. I actually removed the studs from the heads because I used the split lock bolts from Summit, since the Hooker headers offer very little space when tightening the bolts around the pipe bends. This is how I found out the the first and last bolt on each head actually go into the water jacket. When I first started the engine I had coolant leaking from the rear header bolt on the passenger side. It turned out I had forgotten to tighten the center pin on the summit split lock bolts, which actually prevents them from coming loose and is where the coolant was leaking from. Once this happened I did remove both first and last bolts on each head to add some thread sealer and made sure to torque them down properly.

Now as I am writing this I wonder if any of the coolant that was leaking from that bolt spilled into the passenger side header. I think I will run the engine today and see if the white smoke it unique to that header only.

 

[dadsbee]

White "smoke" is just normal up here...

 

[69Bee]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I used FelPro Perma Torque head gaskets and did spray them with the Permatex copper coating. I actually removed the studs from the heads because I used the split lock bolts from Summit, since the Hooker headers offer very little space when tightening the bolts around the pipe bends. This is how I found out the the first and last bolt on each head actually go into the water jacket. When I first started the engine I had coolant leaking from the rear header bolt on the passenger side. It turned out I had forgotten to tighten the center pin on the summit split lock bolts, which actually prevents them from coming loose and is where the coolant was leaking from. Once this happened I did remove both first and last bolts on each head to add some thread sealer and made sure to torque them down properly.

Now as I am writing this I wonder if any of the coolant that was leaking from that bolt spilled into the passenger side header. I think I will run the engine today and see if the white smoke it unique to that header only.

View attachment 1073744 View attachment 1073745

The Fel-Pro head gaskets (Permatorque), already has a teflon coating to allow for proper adhesion and sealing, thus eliminating any head bolt re-torqueing. By applying an additional sealer (copper coat), the head gasket cannot properly seal, and will eventually fail due to gasket movement. The gasket instruction that accompany all Fel-Pro products state to install dry.

 

[joe smith]

White "smoke" is just normal up here...
View attachment 1073749

From what I can see, beautiful cars......

 

[Huicho417]

Well.... it looks like I may have to do some backtracking to replace the head gaskets and install them with no sealers. Bummer...

 

[Daves69]

I helps to know what you had so you can compare it to what you have. Did you by chance check compression or leak down be fore disassembly?

 

[Huicho417]

I did not, when I purchased the car a year ago I ran the engine quite a bit to make sure all was well. No smoke at all then. When I took the engine apart I was very surprised how clean the engine was and knew I would be doing extensive work to it. I will be doing a leak down test this weekend to start the troubleshooting process.

 

[64fury74charger]

White "smoke" is just normal up here...
View attachment 1073749

Love those birds

 

[Huicho417]

Well, my mind was set yesterday afternoon on the fact that I may have to take the heads off to replace the gasket. My first step was to do the leak down test, but was very surprised when I removed the spark plugs. The driver side bank were fouled up badly and the passenger side were all wet with fuel, meaning I may have flooded the engine. There was a heavy fuel smell under the hood so i decided to pull the dipstick. Surprise, surprise... the oil had a very heavy fuel smell and was very runny. Took a flashlight to look into the spark plug hole and they were all lined with fuel.

I am using the original Bendix Stromberg WW two barrel carb that I rebuilt about six months ago with a kit. When I removed the air horn, the needle and float seemed to be working but the gasket on the base of the air horn looked like it was soaked with fuel. I also noticed when I briefly ran the engine my timing was off, which did not notice from the loudness of the open headers before. Would bad timing also cause fuel in the oil pan? I know I set it up correctly on TDC because if turns on right away, but never really timed it properly.

I would like to replace the carburetor to fully eliminate this ongoing issue. Any recommendations on a replacement or has anyone purchased a remanned from Summit?

Thanks again!

 

[64fury74charger]

This is just my experience working with that little 2bbl carburetor and the needle and seat have always given me grief on these carburetors. Flooding was always prevalent no matter what I did with the carburetor. It works great when it wants and then craps. If you’re going to keep the motor step up to a decent 4bbl intake and carburetor or go efi. Just my opinion and experience and that’s all.

 

[Moms68]

Should washing the cylinder walls be a concern?

 

[Huicho417]

This is just my experience working with that little 2bbl carburetor and the needle and seat have always given me grief on these carburetors. Flooding was always prevalent no matter what I did with the carburetor. It works great when it wants and then craps. If you’re going to keep the motor step up to a decent 4bbl intake and carburetor or go efi. Just my opinion and experience and that’s all.

I see this comment all over the web. Seems like everything I do to the carb is just costing me money with no guarantee that is will be fixed. When it ran rich for you did you also have the smoke out the exhaust? What 4 bbl / intake combination do you recommend?

thank you