# White Smoke in Exhaust! Argh!



## noahtodras (May 13, 2011)

This is my first post, so, please bear with me.

I've got a 1966 Pontiac Tempest with a 326 - the 2bbl economy model, ST300 auto transmission, sitting in my backyard, in various states of restoration.

Last year, when I ran it, white smoke would billow forth from the left tailpipe - the exhaust isn't connected under the car - and I began to notice the dreaded milkshake in the oil on the dipstick. I tried some of that radiator additive that they market to seal headgaskets without a headjob... dumb idea, it didn't work. So I called cartalk, and Tom and Ray advised me to get my heads reserviced. And resurfaced. So I did, got a total valve job - the machine shop resurfaced the heads, checked for cracks, replaced the valves, etc.

I installed the heads, new headgaskets, new intake gaskets, followed procedure and torque sequence, etc. Changed oil, added water/coolant. I tried starting it, no spark - after kicking myself for hours, finally realized a coil to ignition switch wire had become unattached... Finally I got spark, and started it up...

It ran! It idled! Except then it started issuing white smoke from the same damn exhaust pipe! What's going wrong? Should I have used silicone sealant on the intake gaskets? It is only coming from the pipe connected to cylinders 1-3-5-7.

Other info - when I run it with the radiator cap off, the coolant level doesn't recede, and, to my horror, it seems like there's pressure - it almost overflows out of the open cap, then, when I cut the engine, settles back down. I don't see bubbles.

The way I see it, water is *still* getting into any of those cylinders on that side of the engine, either through the head - which has just come back from the machine shop, so I'm ruling that out - the intake, or the gaskets between head and intake, or head and block, which are both also new. 

Any ideas? Any observations? Please Help! Thank you for reading!

~Noah


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## 05GTO (Oct 6, 2004)

Welcome to the forum, could be several things including a cracked cylinder.


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## freethinker (Nov 14, 2009)

i would remove the rockers and do an air pressure test on each cylinder until you see bubbles in the radiator. then you will know where the problem is.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

05GTO said:


> Welcome to the forum, could be several things including a cracked cylinder.


:agree It could also be a bad timing cover. I've had it happen.......


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

Eric makes a reallyb good point. The timing cover on your car is aluminum, and if the car sits for extended periods, electrolysis can happen and you get water in your oil. Is it overheating? Is the upper hose/cooling system getting pressurized immediately? If so, you still have a problem. BUT, you could be ok and just be burning residual coolant out of the exhaust. It can take a while to blow it all out of there. If it's still overheating/pumping white smoke, pull the plugs and do a leakdown test and see which cylinder is the problem. Check for coolant on the plugs. IMO, Tom and Ray or Click and Clack give very generic, oftentimes misleading or outright incorrect information. Stop, evauate, and go step by step. We're here to help you, and you'll get it done.


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## freethinker (Nov 14, 2009)

i doubt its the timing cover. that will put water in the oil but it will not produce white smoke out the exhaust. it would also mean no radiator pressure.
to produce the white smoke he is talking about you need a direct path for water to enter the combustion cylinder.


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## Eric Animal (Oct 28, 2007)

Free, You got a point there....but it sure will put water into the oil. HOPEFULLY he has a bad cylinder head, and not a cracked block!.....Although that would be a good excuse to build up a 400..


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## geeteeohguy (Feb 2, 2008)

When I did the heads on my '67 a couple of years back I had white smoke for the first 15 minutes or more of engine running/driving before it dissipated. It's amazing how much smoke a small amount of coolant in an exhaust system can make. Perhaps it's "left over" coolant from before the repair. Yes, have to agree with freethinker...the TC won't fill the cylinders with coolant! DUH.......


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## 66tempestGT (Nov 28, 2009)

i would listen to the show just for the closing credits alone. Dewey, Chaetem, and How


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## noahtodras (May 13, 2011)

You guys raise some good points, one of my friends used to work at a Ford dealership, and said that whenever they did a head job the exhaust would smoke for a long time before it subsided... I guess I'm being a little over-cautious whenever I run it, the plume of smoke is just so embarrassing in my backyard, I fear it'll raise questions among neighbors.

I'll change the oil again (still some residual "milkshake" from the first blowout), and run the car tomorrow for more than the 45 seconds or so that I have been. Maybe it is just leftover coolant in the exhaust. More tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you guys, by the way, for your responses, and for your help.

By the way, someone is selling a 326 with ST300 attached from a '66 Lemans in my area on craigslist for $300 - I'm thinking about resorting to an engine swap, but that would just mean more unknowns with a new engine that I haven't *seen* run... If mine has a cracked block though, I'd need a new engine. Oh well.

~Noah


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## 68greengoat (Sep 15, 2005)

I blew a headgasket in a boat once. After pulling the heads, one of the cylinders had a "washed" look to it. It was obvious which hole was having the problem. Even after 3 oil changes it still had a little moisture in it. So, you may have to change the oil a few times. Just make sure you change the filter each time too.......


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