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Wow. That was a lot of smoke.

colbystephens

colbystephens

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I'm moving to Oregon in February. But next week I'm taking my truck up there so that it's one less thing for me to bring when I move. I haven't had it registered since August because it won't pass smog. At 205K miles it needs a new engine...

Anyway, I got a trip permit for the move, and today I got it all filled up with fluids and checked and prepped and whatnot. So I drove it 100' down the road to the turn off to public land so I could drive it a bit to get it up to operating temp, check the trans fluid, etc.

HOLY COW! Talk about a cloud of blue smoke! :doah: It enveloped me. Worst I've ever seen. It was embarrassing. I wondered if I had a blown head gasket. I became worried that I wouldn't get to Oregon before it was impounded by NV or CA LEOs for crop dusting the western U.S. But I decided to stick with it till the engine warmed up, and it mostly cleared up. That was a big relief.

I really need to replace that engine... :yikes:
 
Yes, that would be a killer option. I've chatted with the guy briefly via email. He's not far from me. But I think I've opted to go with a stock crate engine replacement.
 
Sounds like valve guides or seals.

Buddy of mine bought an engine from me that smoked awful for the first 15 minutes it was running. I mean bad. I sold it to him for 20 bucks and a 12 pack of the sweet nectar that is orange Mt dew. He put new seals on the valves cause it was cheap and easy to do. Cleared it up. It was crazy. He bought the motor to put in his truck to drive to Texas. Made it fine.

Course that motor always felt strong it just smoked something fierce
 
Someone else suggested valve seals to me also. It's just not worth it to me to do any work on this motor. It's so old and tired and needs to be replaced. I guess if it comes down to it, after I move to Oregon and I have some time, I could give that a try and see if it passes smog. It might. But it'd still just be a bandaid.
 
colbystephens said:
Someone else suggested valve seals to me also. It's just not worth it to me to do any work on this motor. It's so old and tired and needs to be replaced. I guess if it comes down to it, after I move to Oregon and I have some time, I could give that a try and see if it passes smog. It might. But it'd still just be a bandaid.
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It will help offset your cost on the ls swap. A few seals then take a video before you pull it. Someone will easily pay a few hundred for a working 350.
 
Add a quart or two of Lucas...it'll smoke a lot less...

I remember my brother had a '67 Chevy stepside 2wd that had a "rebuilt" 250 straight six & a 3 speed--it evidently had the rings installed upside down or some other major mistake was make during the rebuild,because it smoked like crazy and drank a quart of oil every 50-100 miles..didn't foul the plugs though,as long as you didn't hook up the crankcase breather pipe to the air filter..

He sold it to a co-worker who was moving to AZ--he told him he doubted it'd make it there without blowing up--but the guy insisted he'd buy it regardless--he brought about a dozen 5 gallon pails of drain oil with him in the bed of the truck,and stopped every 50 miles or so to dump some in,and keep it full..
He not only made it to AZ,he drove it quite some time that way!..:eek1:

Another guy I knew who had a '70 Ford F-250 with a 360 decided to move to Florida ,and despite the engine having a disturbing knock,like excessive end play or a bad wrist pin,he drove it there anyway...made it there,but the noise did get a bit louder..

Then he decided to move back to MA after 6 months..a mechanic down south heard his engine knocking,and suggested he try using "Arco Graphite" motor oil..so he had him change it to that,and bought a case of it to bring along with him...by the time he got to MA,the engine was silent as could be!..:screwy:..they no longer sell that oil,I guess it was plugging up oil passages and causing more engines to seize than it helped?..
 
flynhawaiian said:
Are you moving back to the Portland area?
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Yes. To Oregon City.

4xcrazy said:
I thought you had a Diesel in the truck?
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That was my '83 that I ended up putting a '73 body on. I rebuilt that diesel completely. Loved it. But the truck turned into a pile of problems that would've been more work and money than it was worth to make it right. So I bought this '90 stock with the TBI 3 and a half years ago. It's a great truck, and I've built it up real nice, but the engine is OLD!

Fordum said:
So did everybody that saw it crank............:D
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LOL!
 
I still have a cheap 8.1L ;) I can meet you in Vegas with it at the end of Jan, only a 12hr round trip for you haha!
 
Colby, did this engine start smoking all of a sudden? I would suggest changing the PCV valve as they can get stuck and start sucking oil through and burning it causing the cloud of smoke.
 
I got mine all the way to 225k miles before a head gasket started leaking. Still ran good, smoked at start up and extended idles. Finally had it rebuilt and still having problems with it. :doah:
 
Russell said:
I still have a cheap 8.1L ;) I can meet you in Vegas with it at the end of Jan, only a 12hr round trip for you haha!
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That would be fun. I know I've been wavering a lot, and non-committal on engines, but I think I've decided that at this time I'm going to just go with a crate stock TBI replacement. It's inexpensive and easy. Someday, down the road, I'd like to do something more interesting with my drivetrain. But I know that even a stock replacement is going to be a nice "upgrade" because my engine is so tired. My 6.2 diesel with a terrible gear-to-tire relationship had more power than this 350. Maybe I should just buy that engine back from Issaam and put it in this truck... :haha:

4X4HIGH said:
Colby, did this engine start smoking all of a sudden? I would suggest changing the PCV valve as they can get stuck and start sucking oil through and burning it causing the cloud of smoke.
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Kind of. Not really. I'll pick up a PCV valve today and give it a shot tho! It's been smoking bad for over a year. But this freight train thing happened the other day, and I wonder if it had to do with the fact that the truck basically hasn't been driven since last spring - 3 times, maybe?
 
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