ct1979

Its kind of whitish gray coming out of the vent on the valve cover, any thoughts on this? Is it bad sign? Nothing to worry about? Its a '69 350 and i'm sure it would benifit from a rebuild but I need to make it last as long as I can due to finances.

Thanks

Warhead

How much is a lot of smoke???
White/ grayish??
Is there any milk-like sludge with it?
Does the thing have air bubbleing in the radiator?
Does it lose water?

Last as LONG as it can???
FINANCES?
Sounds like running it into the ground.- JMO
Have someone look at it locally, not on here, REALLY.

Oldsguy

White to gray smoke could be water vapor. Check your oil, does it look like a chocolate milkshake? If it does, you may have a coolant to oil leak someplace, perhaps a head gasket or crack in the head. If you can remove the valve cover and inspect it, look for a soft milky residue on the inside surfaces of the cover to confirm it. Good luck and hope it isn't it, a cracked head is bad news.

ct1979

No there hasn't been any water leaking and the oil is clean and the radiator doesnt bubble. I don't plan on running it into the ground, but I do need to drive it to work to make the money to rebuild it. The vacuum pressure is really smooth and even and its still pretty strong. When I do get to that point i'm going to have to do the transmission as well.

Oldsguy

If it isn't water vapor then it may simply be smoke from an old/tired engine. The engine may be burning some oil. When do you notice this smoke? How much is there? How long does it linger if after you turn the engine off? Are you using oil abnormally?