blowing white/blue smoke right side

[Keith B.]

I have been struggling to get my car to run right. It has always ran great but I have not driven the car but maybe 25 miles this year. The car is struggling to keep steady idle. New to the car is a heavy rich smoke that is coming out of the right side primarily. The left has a little but not anything like the right. I have gone through the carb and nothing resolved. I need suggestions big time.

[Joe L.]

Re: blowing white/blue smoke right side

I have been struggling to get my car to run right. It has always ran great but I have not driven the car but maybe 25 miles this year. The car is struggling to keep steady idle. New to the car is a heavy rich smoke that is coming out of the right side primarily. The left has a little but not anything like the right. I have gone through the carb and nothing resolved. I need suggestions big time.

Keith-----


The first thing I would do is to run a compression or cylinder leak-down test on the engine. The next step would be governed by the results of that test.

[Larry M.]

Re: blowing white/blue smoke right side

Keith:

White smoke indicates a water leak into the cylinder. Blue smoke is oil burning in the cylinder. Neither one is good.....and worse in combination.

As Joe suggests, I would do a compression and a leak down test(s). I would also ckeck my oil to see if it is milkly or contains water. Similarly, I would check the coolant for any signs of an oil film.

I would also pull and examine the spark plugs (do along with compression/leakdown testing). This should collectively give you a pretty good picture of what is happening.

Could be a blown head gasket, cracked cylinder wall, or perhaps something simplier such as an intake gasket problem.

Good luck on troubleshooting, and keep us informed of what you find.

Larry

[Keith B.]

Re: Good news or bad news?

I did a compression check. All cylinders had 205 lbs of pressure.... except # 5 cylinder that had 0. I pulled the the valve cover and discovered a broken valve spring. This is a 396 that hasn't been apart. I checked the archives and saw that these valve springs were prone to breaking. Being that it is Sunday and I need to pull together the right tools and find a new spring I will stop for the day. Everything is in its place with no fragments laying around. How can I tell if I dropped the valve? Is the valve not held with a retainer?

[Paul J.]

Re: Good news or bad news?

I did a compression check. All cylinders had 205 lbs of pressure.... except # 5 cylinder that had 0. I pulled the the valve cover and discovered a broken valve spring. This is a 396 that hasn't been apart. I checked the archives and saw that these valve springs were prone to breaking. Being that it is Sunday and I need to pull together the right tools and find a new spring I will stop for the day. Everything is in its place with no fragments laying around. How can I tell if I dropped the valve? Is the valve not held with a retainer?

The valve is held in, but you could have floated it. Try either dropping the pan or at least draining it and sticking your magnetic retriever tool in the hole (if it's a flexable one) and see if you find any pieces. Otherwise, the top of the top of the motor has to come off. Maybe somebody else has a better idea.

[Larry M.]

Re: blowing white/blue smoke right side

Keith:

Maybe I'm missing something, but you said the white and blue smoke was coming from the right side (pass side) tail pipe. Yet the broken spring you discovered on #5 cylinder is on the left side (driver side). A broken spring can cause a miss/rough condition, but should not of itself cause the blue/white smoke.

Do you have a heat riser? and is the white smoke only at startup, or when the engine is hot? The presence of a functioning heat riser will cause some white smoke or steaming during warmup, but should disappear when the engine is hot.

Was the valve an intake or exhaust? How about condition of oil and coolant?

Larry

[Keith B.]

Need part number for spring

The motor is a 1965 396/425 (all original). I believe it might be #3989354

[Kenny C.]

Re: blowing white/blue smoke right side

Although it is possible to pull the retainer and replace a valve spring with the head on the motor its likely better to pull the head and inspect what happened. At the very least you need to do a leak down test , this is not the same as a compression test. This will tell you if you tagged a valve or worse yet stuffed a piston. My guess is that if you didn't smack the piston you at least wiped out the valve guide. This would explain the smoke and the spring. I would be getting ready to pull the head and as long as your that deep both heads should come off and do a top end job. And frankly depending on the mileage and over all condition of the motor maybe a complete rebuild. The leak down test will help to determine the condition of the rings and therefore guide you in your decision to do a top end or a complete rebuild.

[Ken A.]

Re: blowing white/blue smoke right side

Save yourself a backache (those heads are heavy) and pull the motor & transmission. Get ready to spend a bunch of money because you've dropped a valve & have one or more of the following: hole in piston, cracked block, damaged or ruined head. So a rebuild/ sleeve is order & you might as well change the clutch & trasmission seals, too. The more you drive it, the more damage you're doing. I feel your pain!