lots of smoke on start up?

Tim Walsh · Tim Walsh's Garage

I'm getting lots of whiteish smoke (can't tell if it's blueish, too dark) but it's not only coming out of the exhaust pipe but also the engine compartment. Could this be extra oil/water that's been laying around this engine for the past two years, and if so how long will it take to burn off? I"m a little worried about it b/c it's so smokey I can't get to the dipstick to tell if it's burning oil or not or even to tell where it's coming from.

beepbeep · 03-29-2003, 02:14 AM

What happened to oil-pressure sender? Did you replace it? Was it electrical fault?

Do not run your engine until you're 100% sure that your oil-pressure is OK. Smoke from compartment is probably water boiling off ... didn't you took off the shroud anc cleaned all up by the way? High-pressure water hoses usually help a lot when it comes to cleaning engine and washing all oil remains ...

72 four door · 03-29-2003, 04:00 AM

Maybe theres alot of oil in the heat exchangers and its buning off Is the motor knocking ?how does it sound aside from the smoke?

Early_S_Man · 03-29-2003, 04:29 AM

Tim,

It may not be anything to worry about ... engines that sit up for several years normally have a bunch of oil seep into the heat exchangers and muffler, where it burns off. Do a compression test and examine the spark plugs after you have run the engine ... for more than an hour varying the speed from high idle to 3500 mrpm or so.

You need to get some time on the engine and gather more data before jumping tp conclusions!

Paul Thomas · 03-29-2003, 07:23 AM

Tim,
Warren is right, if you have good oil pressure and temp and it isn't making any weird noises, run it for a while and see what happens. When you changed the oil, you didn't put it all in at once did you? Don't take that the wrong way, it's just a possible cause for tons of smoke.

Paul

Tim Walsh · Tim Walsh's Garage

a little report.
I ran her for about 15-20 minutes today with a generic pressure guage. we only got about 10-12 PSI as 2K rpms. Not good. The guage did leak though so it could be low (about a cup or so I think) either way it's not good. What should I check before I resign to the enevitable teardown?

The smoke did go away except for some through the exhaust ( not alot but enough to know that it's burning oil.)

She also was missing today, not bad but it was definetly there, including a couple pops through the stacks.

I haven't done any tuning yet, just getting her warmed up to know how bad it is.

Halm · 03-29-2003, 08:41 AM

Tim, don't worry too much about the missing and popping at this point. That is probably the MFI that will need adjusting. Paul did a MASTERFUL job with mine last week and and I no longer feel the need for an immediate rebuild.

Figure out the oil pressure issues. I would not be too worried about the smoke through the exhaust yet either. It could take some time running through the rpm range for the engine to shake off years of improper storage.

Paul Thomas · 03-29-2003, 10:53 AM

Tim,
I wouldn't get all worked up yet. I DEFFINATELY wouldn't start using the word rebiuld. The situation you have described sounds pretty good to me considering what you have said about the car. Nothing you have mentioned sounds like i really big deal. I'm not getting what you said about the oil pressure gauge. BA says that 10lbs to 1 bar of pressure per 1000 RPM's is what you should look for. Considering the gauge you used, you aren't far from that. A miss and some stack popping is to be expected.

Popping throught the stacks just means that the throttle bodies are leaking a little or not adjusted right. That stuff can be ironed out in a few hours of fiddling and it will only cost you lunch at Bear Rock.

Try to find out which cylinder is missing and why. If you didn't replace the wires and/or wire ends i would start there. I am gonna catch hell for this, but the way we used to do it was pull one spark plug wire at a time a see which one doesn't make a difference.

Paul

Paul Thomas · 03-30-2003, 12:03 PM

Come on Tim, don't tell me a little snow got in your way! You're too close man, get out there! I'll be in the garage waxing my car.

Paul

Tim Walsh · Tim Walsh's Garage

Sorry to get back to you a little late but I went over to dave's house to help out with some welding but jamie didn't come and I didn't get the word

To me it still sounds really low to me 12psi at 2000-2500rpms sounds really low. I'm thinking that maybe it could be the oil pressure relief spring since every other spring in the engine that I've touched is very weak. I've got 2 extra from dave and I'm going to try those.

(ponders frozen water injection

)

edit: Would this help any ? cam oil line update

Paul Thomas · 03-30-2003, 07:01 PM

Tim,
Good luck getting the cap off to check the pressure relief spring. Last time i had my motor out i thought i might check them, couldn't budge the suckers.

Are you still using the faulty gauge? Are you sure that the sender and gauge go together? Alot of times my oil pressure does not go up in a linear fashion when compared to RPM's. What does the oil pressure do at 3000-3500?

Paul

Tim Walsh · Tim Walsh's Garage

I'm using a generic guage from my FLAPS (autozone) and it pegs at about 12 PSI

Paul Thomas · 03-30-2003, 07:22 PM

So 12 psi is all you get no matter what RPM you're at? I would want to plug that thing up to a VDO gauge to be sure. Stopping at 12 psi is odd. I would call Partsheaven and pick up a new gauge and get a matching sender while you're at it. How about the missing and popping?

Paul

Tim Walsh · Tim Walsh's Garage

the missing and poping are still there. I haven't played with it since sat afternoon.

Sorry I used the wrong word. It flucuated and looked like it could go higher.