Hey guys. Got a 455 in a 69 442. I completely rebuilt the motor 7 years ago and only got a couple hundred miles on the rebuild before I moved and had to store it. Now 7 years later I just got it up and running again but having some bad oil smoke coming out the exhaust now that it’s running again. My dad said he believes driving it and getting the motor broke in will fix it since it never was truly broken in. I had a friend said he believes the valve seals are dry rotted from sitting so long. What do you guys think? Try and drive it for a while or tear into the heads checking? Thanks!

 

Both could be right.
How bad is the smoke. A puff or a constant cloud?
Sure it's oil and not coolant?
If its definitely not coolant, drive it for a few hundred miles keeping a close eye on the oil level. See if it clears out.
Read the plugs.
​​​​​​​Report back.

 

It is oil smoke for sure. When you first crank it it seems to be worse than after it just sits and idles for a while. Today was the first day I had it where I could drive it, we went about 10 miles and it was a pretty constant smoke. It lessened some the more it drives but was still pretty bad.

 

Rule out simple things first.
Check timing and air/fuel setting. Ignition system fuel filter...air filter...simple stuff first
How do the plugs "read" after your 10-mile run?
What type of environment did the car "sit" in for 7 years?

 

Thanks. All new filters, the quadrajet was rebuilt by a local carb man that specializes in quadrajet and it runs great now. The car sat in a garage the 7 years. I will pull the plugs this week to take a look I just replaced them a few weeks ago when I started trying to crank it.

 

Is it an automatic? If yes and it still smokes disconnect the vacuum line from the transmission modulator at the intake manifold to see if there is any ATF in the line.

Good luck!!!

 

Here is a video of it going down the road on that drive the other day.

 

Got to check the modulator valve today before work and it is not the problem. Pulled the line from the transmission and the intake and both were completely dry.

 

Good to hear about the modulator. When modulators are bad the smoke is at a James Bond 007 smokescreen level.

 

It was pretty bad smoke screen but I was kind of hoping it was the modulator valve since that’s a pretty easy fix

 

Let it sit for a few days. Drive it. Notice the amount of smoke. Does the smoke then go away after you drove it till warmed up?

Let it sit a few hours. Fire it up. Notice the amount of smoke. Drive it again.

Let it sit overnight. Fire it up. Notice the amount of smoke, drive till warm and see if smoke goes away.

If it sits for a few days, then smokes while cold, then nothing when warmed up, and nothing later on that day, and maybe a titch the next AM, then nothing when warm, that is classic valve guide seals as oil in the head will drip past the valve to the cylinders. This doesn't hurt the engine at all in a small amount, though it should be fixed at some point. This can be done on the car, only getting into the valve covers, and maybe the spark plug holes.

 

X2 KODA- on the valve stem seals.

 

Hey guys think I may have it figured out finally. The carb that was on the car had to be rebuilt it was acting up and flooding out. After putting the new carb on it I checked the oil and it is full of gas from the old carb. Got it all changed out and getting ready to put some miles on it and hope that it stops after that. Thanks

 

That is good news. Continue to check the oil for gasoline contamination, if none great; but, if yes suspect the fuel pump.

 

I hope "Got it all changed out" means you changed the oil too.

 

Yeah I changed the oil and filter. The carb is freshly rebuilt. Does anyone know if it will take time to quit smoking if it was from the gas washing the cylinders down. I have never had this happen and cranked it today and idled for about 15 minutes but still smoking currently.

 

could be the rings are not seating, or are stuck from sitting

 

What color is the smoke? Blue is oil, black is fuel. It can take a day or two of driving it to clear out oil from the exhaust if it was heavily contaminated but...that begs the question of why was it heavily contaminated, old engine problem that was fixed in the rebuild? Keep a close eye on the oil and drive it to see if it clears up.

Good luck!!!

 

I hope it was all the carb causing the problem. The carb was a rebuilt from the parts store that ran great for a few months and then one day it just started flooding and couldn’t even really crank it it was so bad. When I played with the throttle it would keep running but was flooding the entire time. I took it to a mechanic and he said the carb was junk and gave it back to me and rebuilt another one that I had.

 

Thanks for all the insight guys. I have been driving the car the last few weeks about 70 miles at a time on my day off and now the smoke is almost completely gone it lets out a little puff when you get on it going down the road but cranks and idles smoke free! Have another question. I don’t have any taillights at all. It has been like this since starting the restore. The pigtails and bulbs are new and I wired the pigtails just like they came off. Using a test light I get power out of the yellow wire off the harness and off the brownish/ black wire also. The test light also lights up when I touch any of the bulb connection in the pig tail. I have no lights on either side for anything brakes, tail Iights etc. what should I check next. I know really nothing on wiring so just trying what I can think of

 

Joe will tell you to start a new thread on the new topic..