? Oil smoke!

[JIPJOBXX]

Tonight I went to a car show and after the show they had a cruse. Well its been kind of warm out here but not to hot. I had to sit in line for just a few minutes and then start back up. I notice at that time a little breather smoke but not that bad. But by the time I drove it down town and was starting and stopping the old Dodge really started to smoke-out the breather pipe. So I decided to forget about the cruse and get on a straight street with no traffic and noticed that the old car was not smoking anymore. Got home and everything seemed to be normal again. Now my question what could cause this to happen? Could it be the valve guides? but why would it go away after just a short distance of just driving the car? Any answers? Jon

[JIPJOBXX]

By breather pipe I mean the one thats on the right side of the engine down by the exhaust pipes.

[greg g]

the vent tube depends on vehicle movement to set up an area of low air pressure at the slant cut of this tube. The low pressure acts as the opposite for ths lsight positive pressure in the crankcase caused by the rotating parts. This draws the vapors out of the breater tube. No movement or slow movement causes the vapors to exit by the means of least resistance and hot presurized air wants to go up. Thats why they smoke when they are shut down, if you have any compression blow by the condition will be increased.

[JIPJOBXX]

Will it make a difference if the oil intake tube is turn slightly oft the position it should be? I noticed that tonight when I was just checking the engine out after getting home. The down tube should be set at what angle? I might have moved that also at some time. All I can say I sure was a little bit shook up when I saw that smoke coming out the front end and to have it clear up in just a matter of minutes I just couldn't figure that out-thanks Jon

[JIPJOBXX]

Oh yes the car show was just great and I met a real nice couple who own a 39 Dodge that the husband father bought brand new!!!! It only has 60,000 miles on it and well what can I say but it is so cherry. The upholstery inside is perfect along with everything else. But the one thing that got me was an old 1948 news had been tucked inbetween spare tire and the hold down. That magazine you could see had not been moved in almost 45 years it was torn a little and showed wear but still it was in the same place it had been put so many years ago. Cool car and will take some photos soon. Jon

[Don Coatney]

If you are sitting in the drivers seat with the engine running how can you tell exactly where the smoke was coming from?

Did you check your dipstick? Does your engine have a history of oil consumption? With the oil fill cap removed and the engine running how much smoke can you see? Have you done a compression reading? How is your oil pressure?

[Plymouthy Adams]

let it smoke..its old enough..!

[JIPJOBXX]

Don last night as I looked to the driver side I could see a cloud of smoke comming up from the right side just behind the front tire. It was enough to think of an old Packard I had that I used reclaimed oil in back 40 years ago. I checked the dip stick when I got home and it was down a quart but I have not checked that oil for a few months and I have gone on some long adventures. I'm going to take my old Dodge out this morning and see if it happens again but first of all I will add a quart of oil and make sure that down comming pipe on the passenger side is in the right position. The oil pressure was 50 lbs last night when this happened and so that I know is ok. Maybe I should invest in a bottle of NoSmoke:D Jon

PS. Oh yes the engine water was up to the right level and it was not boiling over.

[JIPJOBXX]

One more question could the oil breather cap be causing this problem? Could the screen by being blocked do this? I'm going to clean that unit out this morning after my coffee break with some old farts that I have breakfast with. You know those types Don when you look in the mirror:D

[Plymouthy Adams]

Don, am confuse, do you normally have folks standing behind you when you look in the mirror??? or am I to assume some vision of a fog or mist...if the latters, nothing I want to share breakfast with..

[greg g]

A plugged breather will probably prevent proper ventilation through the system as it will ristrict incoming air. the other thing that makes it seem worse is a lot of short trips in humid air. As this introduces moisture into the crankcase, and if you only do short trips, the mositure will condense but not evape out until you run for a while as sustained proper operating temp.

[Don Coatney]

Don, am confuse, do you normally have folks standing behind you when you look in the mirror??? or am I to assume some vision of a fog or mist...if the latters, nothing I want to share breakfast with..

Old fart? Trust me you do not want to be standing behind, on the sides, in front, or no closer than 50 feet downwind:eek:

[BobT-47P15]

Jon, my car started recently smoking from the oil fill tube, not the

road draft tube. I haven't had a chance to work with it-- what with

all the stuff that's been going on after the tornado, etc.

I was going to change the oil, clean the cap on the oil fill and then

remove and check the draft tube. It had never smoked like that til

a few months ago. The motor was rebuilt probably 20 to 25 years ago,

and has worked well ever since I've had it.

It first smoked after a 30 mile trip at speeds of 50 to 60 mph. But after

that, it would start smoking after just idling while sitting in the garage.

So ... another mechanical mystery, at least to me.

[JIPJOBXX]

I be cleaning my breather cap today after my two mile walk with the little wife! We do this twice a day now and it sure saves on gas and no blow by!!!!

[Joe Flanagan]

Don, you hear what he said? Goes for a walk twice a day and no blow-by.

[Don Coatney]

Don, you hear what he said? Goes for a walk twice a day and no blow-by.

So I am to understand that the smoke problem is a faulty internal or external sphincter orfice control device? Hum, now I wonder if there was any liquid or solid smoke that passed this faulty device? I have had that problen a few times myself but with time it started working correctly and cleared up on its own.

[Joe Flanagan]

Don, could be a faulty device coupled with excess gas production, linked with flatulence-prone dietary practices. Do you have wallpaper in your house? Is it staying on the walls?

[Don Coatney]

Don, could be a faulty device coupled with excess gas production, linked with flatulence-prone dietary practices. Do you have wallpaper in your house? Is it staying on the walls?

You may be too young Joe but do you remember houses that were covered with shi* siding?

[John Reddie]

Jon,

By all means make sure that your oil cap is clean and if not, you may want to replace it. Be sure that the road draft tube is clear as well. Keep that old engine breathing:). Good luck to you.

John R

[Rusty O'Toole]

A little smoke is normal, too much indicates blowby from bad rings. Try a compression test.

[JIPJOBXX]

Cleaned out the oil breather cap and noticed the bolt that holds the outlet tube was a little loose and tighten it. And then while the engine was running and showing ZERO blow by I put my hand down back behind that pipe and noticed that a lot of air movement back there and of course that was the clutch housing access hole. This in turn created a good amount of wind and just maybe as I see it that if some oil got out of the breather tube than it would travel by this area and then be blow over onto the exhaust pipe. Could this be what happen? But where would have that oil come from and the only place I could see was the down draft tube. It did have a drip of oil coming out of it and maybe after cleaning up that breather cap this oil might not be formed on the inside of the breather tube??? Interesting as that is the only thing that I can see that had any oil on it. So to recap this matter maybe some oil came out the breather pipe and there was just enough engine speed to cause the internal parts of the clutch to cause this oil to settle on the exhaust pipe and burn. How is that for investigating a problem?????? :cool:

[JIPJOBXX]

Oh I forgot to mention I place a napkin over the breather tube outlet and it showed no oil residue. I know that the engine only has about 2,000 miles on it or so since I had it completely rebuilt so I kind of figured it was not rings or something internal causing this mystery smoke issue.

[james49ply]

are you losing oil? what about coolant leak? check the manifold bolts, try re-toqueing them, same for the head bolts.

also could be that the engine isn't run enough to clear out moisture, this might be just water evaperation?there was a fix to the downtube letting oil blowby in that area, creats a block for liquid but allows air to pass. If you lost oil, check the plugs, see if one cylinder is wet with oil. is any oil leaking to the ground? just a thought or two.

Edited September 8, 2011 by james49ply

[JIPJOBXX]

Well today I will give the old Dodge a real test and drive somewhere in this hot weather and then the story should be told about the smoke problem. It seems to have gone away but we will see.

[Niel Hoback]

My p-15 has a mesh filter in the top of the outlet breather pipe. See if yours does and that its not plugged with dried up oil crud.