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Think it's time for a new engine....or replace the head gaskets

Whoa, stop, reload.....
If you have lots of white SMOKE, not steam, then its not a head gasket. White smoke is oil, not water. You said you smelled coolant, which I assumed made it a head gasket. If you are dumping lots of oil into the combustion chamber, you are probably looking at a cracked ring.
If so, and the cylinder wall is not gouged, they usually are, you can replace just the one ring set without doing a rebuild.
That is not a fix by any means, just a bandaid. That motor is going to have to be rebuilt or replaced fairly soon. But if its your daily driver, and really has to run right now, you might be able to get a few thousand miles more on it that way.

Anybody here who is more familiar with this engine than me, help us out. Is there any way you can think of that oil could get into one side of his exhaust other than a ring?
EGR valve or PCV setup?
I am trying to think of anything less disastrous than a cracked ring he could look for.

OK, I wrote that part above, one handed, while tearing down an 8N Ford's hydraulic system, so I was a little distracted. Now, I am a lot greasier but not as distracted.
Before you do any major work, check the valve stem seals. With that many miles on the engine, the stem bushings are going to be worn. If you had a stem seal let go, its going to dump a lot of oil down around the valve stem.
If you are lucky enough for that to be the problem, its a fairly easy fix that does not involve major surgery. Just a new seal, an air hold chuck, and a valve spring compressor.
Make sure he checks the stem seals before he pulls the head.

J.

J.
 
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Will do. Like I said I don't really know all that much about engines so next week when I take it up there I'll just have to see what he says. Truthfully I just want it to run fine until next year so I can put a 383 in it. My plan was to finish it and wheel it this summer and put a new engine in it next year. I'll let you know what he finds. If it's not something simple and if its gonna cost more than $800-$900 I'm just gonna put a new engine in it
 
Any word on the diagnosis, or is that next week?
 
Monday my buddy is gonna trailer me up there and hes gonna pop the heads off and check it out. If I fried it bad then it's probably 383 time, but if it's just a head gasket and I can get it back running, I'm gonna do that til next year. He quoted me $700-$1000 to basically rebuild the top end, so hopefully it's alright. I'll find out monday
 
Thanks. I was wondering. Heres hoping its something simple. I'm holding out for a bad valve stem seal.
 
big dan said:
Uh, I thought white smoke = water/antifreeze blue smoke=oil :confused:
Click to expand...
True in most cases. Probably in this one too. But when you read the whole thread you notice a couple of strange things.
One is, he says that it is smoke not steam. While antifreeze is kinda smoky, it still is mostly steam, and he seems fairly certain that it is smoke not steam.

Plus, he says that it smokes as soon as he cranks it up. Usually coolant takes a few minutes to really start making steam.
The exhaust system has to get hot. I have cranked engines with blown head gaskets, and had coolant run out the tail pipe for a while before it started blowing white.
The ultimate problem is, like all diagnoses on the forum, we are not there, and have to go by someone else's perceptions.

I am just making the best guess based on what he has said.
 
well, when I cranked it back up it was still hot so that's prob why it was already smoking. I may have to recant my statement about the smoke instead of steam :D. The more I think about it, the more I think it's steam. Just didn't really seem to dissipate when I looked in the rear view mirror. But, also checked my coolant level and the radiator is bout dry and the oil looks fine and is still good so I think it's gotta be a head gasket. But gonna drop off my k5 tomorrow at his shop so he can have it first thing monday morning. I'll let y'all know what he says
 
got word from the shop today. Engine looks great. They pulled the heads and he said there was a small indention on the head where the gasket blew so he sent them off to be planed and they'll be back tomorrow. he said the rest of the engine looked great. Did say that I need to change my radiator fluid more often. He said my cylinder walls were a little brown from rust where it had been sitting up when I was doing all the work to it. But, other than that engine is in perfect shape and should get it back thursday. It only had 130k on it so I figured it was still in good shape.

Note: When we went to load it up on the trailer the engine was hydro locked. So we pulled the plugs on the drivers side until the back plug POURED out fluid. We turned the engine over a few times to clear it, but it kept pouring out. So we just filled the radiator up, left the plug out and drove it on the trailer. Safe to say the neighbors were worried :D. But I figured it wouldn't hurt anything and it was only the way we could put it on the trailer
 
All Right! Maybe not the absolute best answer, the best would have been something under the valve cover that did not result in high cost. But a heck of a lot better than it could have been. Happy for you.
J.
 
Thanks man. Hopefully it'll run great until next year at least. That way next tax return I can put a good 383 in it. I'm glad it there's not much wrong that way I can finish it up to wheel it this summer. I'm tired of it basically being a mall crawler and I'm ready to wheel it:saweet:
 
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