White Smoke...

[OrngK5]

Hey Gurus, have another question for you all. Over the summer, my 78 K5 would have white smoke coming from the engine area but I was never able to locate it, it wasn't billowing out or anything, but it was fairly noticeable. I looked through the search section but none of those entries seemed to match my situation, most were diesel related, mine is 400ci V8 related.

Today I started it up and it turned over just fine, ran fine, no strange sounds at all. I let it warm up for about 10 minutes and I smelled the same burning smell. I popped to hood to see white smoke coming out from what appears to be right where the engine connects to the exhaust manifold, passenger side, around the middle of the manifold itself. This part of the manifold also has the "S" shaped tube connecting the air intake to the manifold, if that gives you a better mental picture of where the smoke is originating. It doesn't smell like oil burning, but it is a constant pressurized white smoke discharge from around that part of the exhaust manifold. Any ideas?

Few other symptoms:
Over the summer the engine temperature gauge would almost red line, but radiator fluid levels were fine, although very murky in color

Engine oil levels are fine, not milky, discolored, nor does it smell burnt

Transmission fluid levels are good, no discoloration, nor burnt smell

 

[imiceman44]

Hey Gurus, have another question for you all. Over the summer, my 78 K5 would have white smoke coming from the engine area but I was never able to locate it, it wasn't billowing out or anything, but it was fairly noticeable. I looked through the search section but none of those entries seemed to match my situation, most were diesel related, mine is 400ci V8 related.

Today I started it up and it turned over just fine, ran fine, no strange sounds at all. I let it warm up for about 10 minutes and I smelled the same burning smell. I popped to hood to see white smoke coming out from what appears to be right where the engine connects to the exhaust manifold, passenger side, around the middle of the manifold itself. This part of the manifold also has the "S" shaped tube connecting the air intake to the manifold, if that gives you a better mental picture of where the smoke is originating. It doesn't smell like oil burning, but it is a constant pressurized white smoke discharge from around that part of the exhaust manifold. Any ideas?

Few other symptoms:
Over the summer the engine temperature gauge would almost red line, but radiator fluid levels were fine, although very murky in color

Engine oil levels are fine, not milky, discolored, nor does it smell burnt

Transmission fluid levels are good, no discoloration, nor burnt smell

You might have the beginning signs of a 400 block falling apart.
The 400 is a very thin block because of the big bore and they eliminated some water jackets to make it survive, but it tends to overheat, what you are seing could be one of 2 things:
Either it's the typical oil leak from the valve cover onto the exhaust manifold and when the engine warms up it burns it but you will not see any loss in the oil level because it's not that much oil leaking.
Or it could be steam from a crack or damaged head gasket.
Try and figure out if it's oil coming from the valve cover, if it's not then you have a problem in that head to block area.

 

[Jessie James]

Valve cover gaskets - hopefully - are the issue. They are usually pretty easy to replace, depending on how many things are in the way. And cheap. Try that first.

Does your radiator stay full? Does it overheat? Does your coolant gauge even work? Is the coolant green/orange/whatever color your coolant is supposed to be? If it's empty or oily, you probably have a blown head gasket, cracked head or block, or the likes.

 

[bigred81]

I would say you are headed for a head gasket especaily if the motor is starting to overheat that is the beginning signs of a head gasket getting ready to go. The passenger side in between cylinders 4 and 6 is where they normally fail due to the passenger side head running hotter than the driver side and normally when a head gasket fails the passenger side goes first. If the motor has never had head gaskets it should be a steel shim gasket and since you said the coolant likes dark I would say the coolant is burnt from a leaking head gasket.

 

[buffblazer]

dont trust the fact gauge. could be misleading, buddy had one that would redline then go normal then redline all the time. did a dig temp check and it was within specs.

go with the valve cover gasket change mentioned

 

[OrngK5]

Thank you everyone for your replies! I'll start with the valve covers but it's really starting to look like this will turn into a major project