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white smoke cloud warm startup

R

R72K5

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TBI 350 engine, about half the time when you restart it when engine is warm it will cloud out white smoke directly upon/after startup, and then it will gradually dissipate and go away within around 10 or 15 seconds, sometimes it does it and sometimes it does, seems to be only when warmed up and after just been shut off a bit before the restart, sometimes a ton of smoke and other times not bad really.

also sometimes the engine will completely miss a cylinder on acceleration under load in gear, a big cough whole rig will lose power for a split second during the cough, every now and then, every about 5 or 6 restarts/drives, new wires and cap and plugs didnt fix it, but its a little better and #5 wire was about compeltely ripped apart jusdt before the plug boot end of the wire,.


radiatopr was just replaced not too long ago because the tranny cooler insid eof it ruptured and sent tranny fluid into the cooling system really bad, i know tranny fluid burning makes white smoke too usually, or pretty much white,. so hmm,.

what do you think ?

thanks
 
Valve Guides or Seals....

You can try getting some of the old Ferd 289 valve seals (umbrella type, pretty cheap) and install those and see if it helps.
My old 350 had that problem. No smoke when cold, only after sitting for about 30min or so after it was driven.
 
i figured it could be oil running down the valve stems too but its not blue at all, its pure white, oil just doesnt burn white like this, theres no way. i see high mileage engines with worn guides all the timme and they always just puff blue for a bit, but this one out here throws out white, sometimes huges cloud of it for a bit.

hgmm

thanks
 
Maybe you have a slight head gasket leak, that manifests itself once the engine gets hot. Maybe if you retorque the heads, otherwise get your radiator tested using one of those liguid test kits Snap-on sells for emissions vapors. That should tell you for sure if it is a waterjacket related problem. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif /forums/images/graemlins/thinking.gif
 
my dakota does this to, it also seems to steam out smoke from the cap or somewere around there when i turn the engine off..hmmmmm
 
exhaust pipe has alot of condensation coming out of it and exhaust leaves skin wet when you put hand in front of the pipe, 170k on the clock, all original stock down to the air cleaner, it is pure white, about every other restart warm and it will big cloud the stuff out the pipe for about 10 or 15 seconds then go away gradually down to nothing, usually not until you put it in gear and drive away then it goes away completely.


h,mm.'
 
That almost sounds like the startin of a leaking head gasket to me. I would have said oil too, but mine does at cold starts and if i idle for too long, it'll puff out some smoke when i hit the gas.
If i were you, i'd start pullin plugs and see what they can say.
 
or some reason it hasnt doen it at all today, no water in pipe no smoke no anything

will see about tomorrow though

thanks
 
ok its doing it, been doing it all day now, its a problem thats not going away, of course, i thought maybe it did, but nope im wrong, its there still, big white clouds of smoke at warm startup

thanks for anything else
 
Randy,
You are describing exactly what my '87 Burb does. TBI350
Randomly, it will look to me as though it has a bad head gasket- white smoke, condensation at the tail, etc....but on other days....nothing. I have completely clean oil and coolant. If it were a head gasket, IMO it would be blown and stay blown.

Layne (K5BLT4FUN) and others have mentioned that TBI intakes can crack, sending coolant into the cylinders...but they all said it was quick and violent.

This thing still occationally runs good for having 200,000+ on the odometer....but it does use coolant.
I'm beginning to wonder if the TBI intake could have a crack into the EGR passage, allowing coolant into the exhaust system.

Anyone else seen this?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Randy,
You are describing exactly what my '87 Burb does. TBI350
Randomly, it will look to me as though it has a bad head gasket- white smoke, condensation at the tail, etc....but on other days....nothing. I have completely clean oil and coolant. If it were a head gasket, IMO it would be blown and stay blown.

Layne (K5BLT4FUN) and others have mentioned that TBI intakes can crack, sending coolant into the cylinders...but they all said it was quick and violent.

This thing still occationally runs good for having 200,000+ on the odometer....but it does use coolant.
I'm beginning to wonder if the TBI intake could have a crack into the EGR passage, allowing coolant into the exhaust system.

Anyone else seen this?

[/ QUOTE ]

yep, is using coolant and the oil is fine no slime or foam or anything like that, and some days it doesnt seem to white cloud smoke or condensate out the pipe as often or even at all seemingly,
but then there are some days... like today... when it does cloud smoke out the pipe, so hmm.. this one always run good cept for the buck/pop/dead miss it does now and then on acceleration in gear under load, seems to be occuring more often now


i wonder about the TBI intake crack phenomenom, if it really exists or not, someone please elaborate if they know anything about this, thanks
 
Did you pull the plugs and look at them, anything on them?

Mine smokes at start-ups, and if i idle for a bit then hit the throttle, it will puff out alittle. I believe mine to be valve seals though.
I just recently changed the plugs for the first time in two years and i hav the number 6and 8 plug with carbon build up from oil, the rest looked of, i could have probably cleaned them, regapped them and kept goin, but i had already bought the new ones, just went ahead and changed them.

If you haven't checked the plugs, do that, it will tell you alot about whats going on in the cylinders. /forums/images/graemlins/thumb.gif
 
plugs arent very old, probably not evne old enough to be ablew to tell me much, but it looks like im gonna have to pull them anyways, gotta check cylidner pressure anyways, so..

today i replaced fuel pump, i drove it for a few minutes and it never bucked or cut out or anything, but still has the problem that is causing paper to suck up the pipe and still has the clouds of smoke and water out the pipe issue

thanks
 
mine did the same thing, I had a slight crack in the head. the coolent was leaking down on top of the piston. I was told that I could have bent a rod, but the mechanic hit me for 1k to do the job.
 
I also had a head crack while backing into my driveway /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif
No warning just poof-white smoke (very severe though , whole car dissapeared in cloud)
white smoke usually indicates antifreeze burning doesn't it??
 
Antifreeze will usually have a sweet smeel associated with it. Yes, it does smoke white but you can usually smell it.
Worn valve guides or leaky valve seals will allow warm, thinned oil to seep down the valve shaft into the cylinder also creating white smoke on warm startup. You can also smell the oil scent.

If it antifreeze, you should be slowly loosing antifreeze from your radiator or overflow tank.

I have had both problems, leaky head gaskets and bad valve seals. Both generate white smoke. Next time it does it, take a big sniff and see if you can tell whet it smells like.
 
It sure sounds like a cracked head(not to be confused with a crackhead!)--that opens only during the expansion and contraction when cooling down--probably near the valve seats,we see a lot of this at the automotive machine shop I worked at.Could be the head gasket too.I had a similar problem on my 72 Blazer years ago--it did it twice--first time a new transmission modulator fixed it(blown diagphram let ATF get sucked into the intake)--the second time I found out it was brake fluid leaking from the rear of the master cylinder and it was filling up the power brake booster,then being sucked into the intake and burning it--luckily I found this when my brake fluid was so low it caused my brakes to act up(idiot light came on)--I was just ready to pull the heads!.Good Luck!.
 
Make sure you check coolant in the radiator and not just the overflow tank. When I had my leaky head gasket, the radiator overflow tank was at a normal level but the radiator was very low on coolant. Because of the leak in the system, it wasn't sucking coolant back in from the overflow, instead it was sucking air from the leaky head gasket.

It drove me insane for months until I figured out the problem. Cranked the engine one day and BAM.. the cylinder had filled with coolant, and was on the compression stroke which doesn't work too well. /forums/images/graemlins/eek.gif Drove home puffing smoke the whole way, and tore it down to replace the head gaskets.
 
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