The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Smoke from valve cover ...

Every so often a question comes up about smoke or vapors coming from the valve cover or oil/breather cap. I understand that it does not necessarily mean that there is a problem.

So for reference and to ease anxiety, I shot a video of smoke coming from the valve cover of my '54 after a 60-mile drive yesterday @ 40-45 mph. 160-deg thermostat. Temp gauge below mid-point. 65-degrees outside temp. 70% humidity. Truck ran like a dream!

My smoke here on the East coast looks exactly like the smoke that DADS50 posted a few months ago near the West coast.
> Smoke from my '54 valve cover
> Smoke from DADS50 valve cover

(EDIT: hmmmm - DADS50 video plays on my PC, but doesn't play on my iPad or iPhone. Guess Apple is still mad at Google and Adobe Flash)

- Lonnie

Probably just crankcase vapors rising out of the engine. Since the truck isn't moving there is no draw created at the crankcase vent tube on the engine. Normally running down the road the air passing across the crankcase vent tube creates a draw on the tube and pulls the vapors out that way.......
Normally air is drawn in thru the valve cover and thru the engine and out the crankcase ventilator.

John

I wouldn't worry about the vapors you are seeing after driving and the engine turned off. It doesn't look like much oil laying on the valve cover by the vent holes. I think that its pretty normal to see some vapors coming out of a up to temperature engine. As mentioned above the vapors are drawn out of the engine by the draft tube on the side of the engine when its running and going down the road.
Don

I'm not worried. I posted the video and link to Gus's video "for reference and to ease anxiety" of anyone who is concerned about vapors from their valve cover.

- Lonnie

Blowby.

Denny -

My good looks gives a lot of ladies the vapors! (in my dreams)

- Lonnie

My 216 had a whole lot more smoking through the valve cover vents when I 1st got it running. Blowby was so bad it smoked through all 3 slots when running as wll as when shutdown.
Now with about 1500 miles on it and a PCV valve mod theres very little noticable blowby when running.
I also upped the thermostat from 160 to 180 and this seems to have helped too.
It still steams after shutdown but nowhere near as much as before, pretty much like the posted vids above.
Dave

Its a good thing that the valve covers are vented or all those vapors would condense on the inside of the valve cover and drip down into the crankcase.

Humm....I always thought that the "vapor" from a warm engine was water vapor. So it is a good thing to let it out. When I did the first oil change after a 15 year slumber. And about 500 miles of good running. Imagine my surprise when I found about a 1/2 cup of clear water in the bottom of the filter canister. When I did the next oil change I found no water in the system any where. No water leaks and no changes to the truck in that time. Makes me glad I have that big old canister filter. Let it steam let it steam. Oh yeah, I use a 180 thermostat. Modern engines are closed up real tight. To prevent evil stuff from getting into the air. So, where do you think that stuff goes? Into the oil of course. No place else for it to go. That is why you have to change oil every 3000 miles or 3 months. Now that is some nasty oil.

Denny,

I love all things old. I hope that the world will celebrate the history of our old vehicles and let them continue to pollute.

California started cracking down on emissions in the '50's. I believe that my engine had part of a California State Approved crankcase ventilation system from the mid-sixties when I bought the truck.

I have since replaced the partial California system with the '54 valve cover and road draft tube that are shown in my video. I bought them from Stovebolter "thoroco."

Here is a re-post of my pics and question to the forum about the system and my response from "CrankyOldDude." The new forum software ate his original response.
> My California PCV

CrankyOldDude expanded on the California system in his response to another Stovebolter.
> More California retrofit info

I really enjoy tracking down the history of changes that have been made to our old trucks over their lives.

- Lonnie

Seems if I remember CA toyed with the idea of a pollution tax on cars. It would have been based on the cars age and size of engine in it.... Older car, bigger engine, more tax to pay....

John

You wont have any smoke or vapors once you ditch the road draft tube and install the PCV valve. No more oil drips from the road tube either. Like Denny says, its not a panacea, but its about as good as it gets. For less than 20 bucks, if you don't agree its really a great idea, toss the parts and put the draft tube back in.