The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 1954 235 engine compression

Mine did the same thing, so much that I called it "Old Smokey". Mine stopped smoking after running it for a while. I ran it at idle with one quart of oil replaced by something like kerosene or diesel. Just up on blocks in gear for an hour or two (total). This was while I was flushing the rust out of the block, and had changed the gear and diff oil. No need to race it. Then changed the oil in everything, and adjusted the carb and tappets, blah, blah, blah.

My rings loosened up, and its not "Old Smokey" anymore.

Worth a shot...

What great news, congratulations! 35 years has to be some kind of record! If you do have to tear it down, you can have a good listen before hand for knocks, etc.

Outstanding!!! Just shows that being persistent pays off!!!

If it were me, I believe I would try running it 30 minutes or so, dump the oil and replace it with fresh, maybe with one quart replaced with Marvel Mystery Oil or some such, and run it another 30 minutes and see how it does. Probably lots of crud in the rings and lands, I think the rings will come around eventually. We've heard of stranger things happening on this board. Don't walk away from it though - 3o minutes of idling will thin the oil and lower the pressure.

Of course, there's quite possibly a broken ring or two throughout, but you can diagnose that when the rest come loose.

Report back often - this is a great saga!

-Michael

Dont get in a hurry to tear it down the more you work it the better it will get. It took 30 years for it to get this messed up and it wont cure itself instantly.

I would avoid putting a load on the engine until the compression is over 100 psi on all cylinders. If a load is put on it, hot gasses will be forced past the rings, cutting them like a cutting torch.

We are going out to play with the truck again today.Though its very chilly 29 degrees.We still need our fix.Im going to listen to the advise and put fresh oil and marvel mystery oil.Dave i will avoid putting her under load.Great advise.Maybe we will get her up to 100 psi.today.I mention (We) alot in my posts because its a family project.Dad 65,myself 40,wife 39,and three kids 13,9 and 8 years old.Fill you folks in later.See what surprises we find today.

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X2 with the mystery oil. I had the same situation an "old smokey" with a studabaker 289 only my saga spanned weeks and months as I was working on other things as well. I found that each time I'd come back to it the smoke seemed less that before untill last time I fired it up I realized I wouldn't be embarassed to drive it anymore. I think the warm it up,then let it soak cycles were the trick and it has made me a believer in the Marvel oil as well

Ok,Folks for todays update.We let the truck run up on blocks today,for about an hour.It is still smoking alot.There is alot of oil coming out the exhaust.It used about a quart of oil in that hour of idleing.We then checked the compression again.It was up again from yesterday.#1 92psi,#2 99psi,#3 99psi,#4 90psi,#5 99psi,#6 99psi.Today the truck started on its own.Without tow starting it.Things seem to be improving a bit.WE will try to let her run again tomorrow if we have time.On a better note we got the headliner in today.WE will keep you posted.

What a great family project!

Might be worth pulling the valve cover and make sure you are getting upper end lube. On the flip side, maybe you valve guides are shot and this is where the oil is getting into the cylinder.

Kurt

Kurt,We had the valve cover off.There is plenty of oil getting up there.We also replaced the valve guide seals.Thank you for your suggestions.Hope a little more running tomorrow might bring the psi up a little higher.As always im keeping my fingers crossed.

Yesterday we had the truck running once again for an hour.The smoke is still pouring out very heavy.Oil is still coming out the exhaust.We then did another compression test all of the cylinders are up to 100 psi or slightly over, 104psi being the highest.We also re-adjusted the valves once again to make sure they were all correct.Since we first started the truck i would say we had it idling for about 5 hours.Though the compression is increasing the smoke is not letting up at all.We are losing hope.Any other suggestions would be appreciated.We did install new valve guide seals.We also did another leak down test and there is still air coming from the dipstick and breather.What do you folks think,should we try letting her run some more and hope the rings loosen up a little more.Or do you see a ring job in our near future.As always thank you for all of your help.We will be off shortly for another fun day of working on the truck. john

Go run the crap out of that thing. Really try to load it up hard. Cylinder pressure is what seats the rings to the cylinder walls. At idle, you have very little cylinder pressure. Under load, you have lots. Think about it this way. Under load, the burning fuel/expanding gases have to push very hard on the piston to make it go down since there is a lot of load on the engine. These gases get behind the piston rings and force them outward against the cylinder wall. So, the heavier the load on the engine, the harder the rings push on the wall. The rings are probably stuck, and no amount of idling is going to help them reseat. Get it out on the road and do a whole bunch of WOT pulls on it, uphill if possible. If that doesn't improve things, it's time for a rebuild.

He is not trying to seat the rings, they are stuck in the ring lands. Heating and cooling cycles and low loads are the best chance of loosening then up.
Putting a load on it is a sure way to burn through the rings.

Ditto. Dose up the crankcase with a healthy shot of Kroil, or possibly a pint or more of Diesel fuel added to a fill-up with cheap 30 weight motor oil. Run the vehicle a few miles under light load, but don't lug it down or do any high-RPM running. If the oil consumption and/or smoke doesn't diminish pretty soon, it's time for a teardown and probably a ring job or a more extensive rework like a rebore and new pistons if the cylinders are deeply rust-pitted.
Jerry

X2
Time to do a ring clean as well. Several ways to soak cylinder / rings but general instruction is to pour liquid cleaner into plug hole & soak for instructed time then expel from cylinders (can make mess if not thinking!). The old G.M. Top Engnie Cleaner was great (in metal can), new (plastic jug) stuff is weak. Even diesel fuel will do some good. Engine at operating temp is best, some of this cleaner is going into the oil so drain & refill. It will smoke like a pig, nice if you not in town. With some time it love it might come around! If compression doesn't improve might try to find someone with a borescope to have a look inside the cylinder.
P.S. Dave & retired wrench must have been raised rual too, teach 'em to lead!

Wait until you folks hear this one.The day before christmas we decided to play with the truck a bit more.We started out by changing the oil to sae 30.We then started up the truck and let it run for a 1/2 hour.It was still smoking alot, but not as much as with the thinner oil.We then decided to give the neighbors a break,so we shut the engine down.Then we decided to try to get the heat working.We drained the cooling system(which was water).Then we pulled the heater core.The motor was rusted and would not turn.So we took the motor apart and freed it up.We put it all back together and filled the system with anti freeze.We waited for the radiator level to go down then added some water to top it off.Then we took the truck for a little ride,about a 1/4 mile.When i noticed the temp guage was almost at the "h" mark.So we got her home as fast as possible.Just as we pulled back up to our home steam started coming out the radiator cap and i shut it down immediately.Then we let her cool down and added water to top it off.When we restarted the truck after 2 minutes of idleing,the truck was no longer smoking at all(it was a xmas miracle).We checked the compression again and all the cylinders were around 100psi.I will keep you folks updated.Once again thank you all for you help and support.

Getting it hot might have been just what it needed to free the rings!
Good report.

It sounds like you had some air trapped behind the thermostat and the heat ran up a bit. That is good news about then smoke!

Drain the oil and fill the pan with kerosen run it long enough to build up oil pressur (no longer then 60 sec.) drain and put back in clean oil then add sea foam to your oil as a cleaner. Stop smoking after engine got good and hot, check head gaskets mtcw