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And then there was smoke!


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I purchased Alice about 2 weeks ago and I love it! She’s a 1950 Dodge B2 stake bed. Alice and I took a drive earlier this week to see my mom a few towns over. I reckon it was the farthest she’s been in a long time. What a beautiful drive through the hills and valleys a of Wisconsin. Nothing too crazy, and no issues.
 

Today I hopped in and took Alice to town (about 3-5 miles) but she was different. As I climbed a good hill I noticed that I had a lot of smoke in my exhaust. A white/blue haze. I pulled over and parked, took a look at the engine bay and noticed the oil vent cap had more exhaust coming from it than normal but nothing causing an issue. I took her back home and let her rest. Oil pressure is good. Engine temp is good. This seems to only happen under a load or at higher rev. The smoke isn’t coming during idle and no misfires or issues that I can hear (untrained to this age of engine).

 

Im going to change the oil for fresh stuff. I will also replace the radiator fluid. I’ll change spark plugs and while I’m at it do a dry and wet test. My mechanic said to use a zinc additive to the oil. Anything else I should look for or consider? 

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Sea foam, will help with sticking valves and rings.

seems blowby is the issue here, may be sticking rings.  
 

prior to oil change, 1/4 can of sea foam in the oil. Run it for a while and dump oil. 
 

Too much oil in crankcase will do this as well. 

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@Tooljunkie - thanks for your help. I need to run a. Couple miles today to take the recycling out. I’ll add it before I go to let it warm and get into the engine. Then oil change, plugs, and compression tests to follow. The an engine bay bath. ALICE IS GOING TO GET PAMPERED!

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  • 2 weeks later...

UPDATE: 

 

I ran about 4oz of seafoam in the oil and then replaced the oil, oil filter, plugs, added a zinc additive. Plugs seemed relatively decent shape - limited if any fouling.  I'm assuming it will take some time for any of these simple maintenance approaches to show relief of the smoke? I just took it out for a drive - seemed like it ran a bit quieter but then again, but I'm still a noob at this so what do I know, right?

 

I did a compression test  on the engine -  the test gauge did not show cylinder KEEP the needle at a certain spot. (no my finger was not on the pressure release button of the guage). I assume this is a gauge issue, not the engine. When the needle moved, pressure was relatively consistent across the board on a dry test. I'll redo it here in a couple hours - dry and wet and post back numbers after a better break in. My oil pressure gauge increased running oil pressure to about 60psi or so at 40mph.

 

The smoke that I'm noticing most prominent is coming from a pipe that shoots straight down from the engine along side or behind the exhaust pipe on the passenger side near the firewall and only points straight down. I looked at the service diagram but I must be missing where that pipe is labeled. Finding this label may help figure out where a problem could be. Any thoughts? Most notably, the smoke is prominent climbing hills or where the engine has to work a bit harder.

Edited by Matfirstattempt
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The smoke that I'm noticing most prominent is coming from a pipe that shoots straight down from the engine along side or behind the exhaust pipe on the passenger side near the firewall and only points straight down.

 

 

that is the "draft tube"  in the days before PCV valves crank case vapors were released in to the atmosphere. driving the vehicle would create a vacuum across the opening of the tube pulling vapors out. in higher mileage engines you might see oil dripping from the tube as the oil vapors would condense.

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1 hour ago, Matfirstattempt said:

The smoke that I'm noticing most prominent is coming from a pipe that shoots straight down from the engine along side or behind the exhaust pipe on the passenger side near the firewall and only points straight down. I looked at the service diagram but I must be missing where that pipe is labeled. Finding this label may help figure out where a problem could be. Any thoughts? Most notably, the smoke is prominent climbing hills or where the engine has to work a bit

That is the down draft tube . Also known as the crankcase ventilator . It vents your area above the oil sump . One more such vent is the oil fill tube . 

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Usually a sign of worn rings letting compression leak ( blow by ) which causes the cranked to be under pressure than neutral or under vacuum whencruising.  60 psi oil pressure suggest a stuck pressure relief valve.  The service manual states 25 to 50 is proper operating range.  This is usually a free and clean procedure, but it can indicate a broken spring in the assembly.  Constant 60 will push oil where it ain't supposed to be.  The valve is located on the left front of the engine under the generator just above the block and oilpan seam.

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Here’s a photo of the compression test today. *cue music* one of these things is not like the other....*
 

 Is it safe to assume rings are out on 3 if there’s lots of blow by and no compression?  Maybe stuck valve since no good compression at all - wet or dry - in 3? There isn’t knocking or anything I would assume to be from a sever damage like a hole in the piston. Then again - noob at this, so it’s possible I’m missing something.
 

thoughts?

 

 

435C8C09-3007-481B-A13B-9E684A7CFAA6.jpeg

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I think you have a valve stuck open. That is a pretty common thing with these engines if they have been sitting. Should be pretty easy to check with the inspection cover off. Might even be able to get it to loosen up without taking the head off........?

Jeff

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  • 1 year later...

I know this thread is dated, but I had the same problem of a valve stuck in the open position.  The engine had been sitting for 15 years, so I'm lucky that was the only major problem.  :)  After opening the valve covers (which is super simple), I didn't notice the problem at first until i took a series of picture as I rotated the engine (by turning the fan blade).  Then I noticed one of the valves was stuck and not closing.  The attached picture shows it all.  I was able to put a screwdriver in between the spring and hit it with a hammer to free it up.  Now it runs so much smoother.

P15_stuck_valve.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

@clarkede yup, that’s a stuck valve! We had a baby last year and I’ve had a lot of woodworking projects that took over. I’ll be getting back into this project soon. Did you hit the spring back down?…did hit it perpendicularly to the valve stem? (Wouldn’t that cause damage?) 

 

did you take the fender off? Part of me wants to just rip into the truck but part of me wants to get running asap too. :)

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I would take a flat blade screwdriver and place in the compressed spring and give it a twist. If that does not do it have someone give the spring a light tap with a wooden dowel and hammer while you are twisting the screwdriver. If that does not work spray with a penatrating oil let sit and try again quite often they will let go with a bang.

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