The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Blown head gasket?

My 59 started smoking pretty bad this afternoon and I ran it again tonight....a good amount of smoke coming out the exhaust. I put a piece of cardboard about 1" from the exhaust and it came back a little wet and black. It's hard to tell what color the smoke is, it rises pretty quickly. I don't smell anything weird. I ran it about 10 minutes then checked the dipstick, it looked normal. The level in the radiator has not dropped off and it's green. It seems to be running a little rough though, not bad. I recently had the oil changed (3/12). My dad put new plugs in about 3 months ago but I found out today that he didn't gap them. It was running much smoother this last weekend and I haven't done anything to it except pull off the valve cover (not getting enough oil thru rocker arms, details in another post). Doesn't show any signs of overheating.

Just ran it for about 10 minutes with the radiator cap open, did not do a thing, no bubbles at all, no change in color. I've also noticed that it doesn't smoke hardly at all when I first start it, but it gets worse the longer I run it.

I checked the oil last Saturday and noticed that it showed about 4" past Full on the dipstick. I got the oil changed, they put in 5 qt like the manual says. When they checked the oil again, it showed about 3" over Full. I had them drain a quart and now it's sitting about 2" above full.

Starting to get a little worried.

Check your compression,mine did the same thing turned out to be
a broke piston, sheered off everything down to the wrist pin.
Yours probably isn't that drastic.

If the oil level keeps rising and your not loosing coolant check the fuel pump it may be leaking. I had this happen on my 235 .

Tommy,
If the fuel pump is leaking, wouldn't the truck stall and die due to starvation of gas to the engine? Just wondering...

not necessarily, the fuel is gravity feed from the tank to the pump. The pump could be pumping enough to the carb and the excess leakage is going inside the crankcase. If your oil looks like oil, not gray or foamy that is the most likely cause. Compare the oil in the truck to new oil, It will likely be much thinner and smell of gas.

The fuel pump can put a lot of gas into the oil and still supply enough to run the engine. Is the oil very thin, with a strong smell of gasoline? About the only thing that can make the crankcase level rise that fast without turning the oil a milky brown color (coolant) would be the fuel pump leaking gas.
Jerry

The oil doesn't look very thin....I have bad allergies so my sniffer stays broke so I can't give an answer to that.

Would fuel in the crankcase cause the smoke out the exhaust? Like I said earlier, it doesn't show up immediately after startup, but about 5 minutes of idling it starts to smoke.

If you are making oil and its not losing coolant or bubbling in the radiator, its got to be fuel. Could be the fuel pump, but that would not explain running rough. I would suspect the needle and seat isn't working and the fuel bowl is running over or have you had the air cleaner off. Is the choke possibly stuck open? Or do you have an oil bath air cleaner that filled up with water? Whatever it is, it sounds like a very rich mixture.

crenwelge,

I don't think the choke is stuck open....it idles faster with the choke out and it's not idling fast. I do have an oil bath air cleaner and I have not checked it during this troubleshooting.

I think I would look into the fuel pump leaking like mentioned above. The valve guides could be worn too that allows more oil to be burned when the engine is hot. Pull the spark plugs out and tell us what color they are.

ok heres the skinny on smoke and tail pipes, rings/valves the smoke will come out blue in color always and the evidence will be on the spark plugs as black carbon coated..., head gasket the smoke will come out white as it burns the ethyl glycol and it will have a "sweet smell" to it the plugs will look like they have been "washed" as they have been with the coolant. as far as water in the oil my experience has been that if it is very bad you will see it, if it is just starting to go then you will not. the tell tale sign is the level on the dip stick is higher because the water has displaced the oil which is lighter in viscosity and will show higher on the stick when you shut the motor down meaning that the bottom of the oil pan has water in it and has pushed the oil up the stick. gas from the pump will make the oil thin and it will smell like gas. it seems like your gasket is just starting to go bad... my advice is to drain the oil out of the filter, and put some in a glass jar overnight this gives the liquid time to seperate if coolant, no seperation with gas but odor present, no changes in appearance with valves/rings.......

Tried it again after work, no more smoke....checked spark plugs, some black buildup on them that brushed off real easily, checked gaps, put back in.

Hopefully I'm good now

Where is the oil level? If you have something getting in the oil you are definitely not "good now"

The oil level is where it has been for several days....a little above full. It's not going up or down.