White Smoke - Series III (1972) Petrol

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Water247

Water247

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Hello All!

This topic seems to have been covered extensively but I can't seem to apply a matching scenario to my specific situation so forgive me for asking a repeated question, but:

I get a big plume of white smoke out the exhaust at startup. Clears almost immediately and doesn't seem obvious whilst driving. Seems significant when starting from cold though still appears when engine is warm (but to a lesser degree). From other answers I was leaning towards a head gasket being done but I have not had to top the coolant up once in the 6 weeks I've had it (as in it hasn't dropped one bit!) so I now seem to be stumped. One thing my trusty Haynes manual suggests is it could be some kind of leak in the fuel lines, though not seen many people on here suggest that so wanted to really sound out your experience first before I started getting dirty(er than normal) hands :)

Thanks for any help and it's nice to be here on your forum :D
 
well i have a 1986 2.5 petrol,it chucks out a lil bit of white smoke on start up but nothing to serious,mine only does it from cold,after its warmed up its fine.wot oil are you running it on?
 
Hi, I had 10-40 in it but fear I may have just mixed that with 15-40 (I know advised not to mix but much of a problem?). I was going to give it a full oil change soon anyway so hoping it wouldn't matter too much for the short term. I will try to take some more notice of how much smoke (if at all) it chucks out when warm. I tend to think it cools quite quickly so perhaps when I think I'm starting it warm it's actually kind of cold again already. Will test tonight.
 
Check plugs see what they are doing. Then get a cheap compression tester if you are worried about it.

Is it more like steam...or blue/white smoke?
 
If oil settles in the the cylinders when stationary - from worn valve guides or worn, hardened stem seals - this can produce clouds of whitish smoke on startup. The longer it's left the worse it gets. My petrol does it a lot so it's probably due an overhaul.
 
RustyRhinos - I checked the plugs the other day. All clean but for a brown scale on the metal element. Cleaned them up a bit and reset the gaps in them and put them all back nice and snugly. I see compression testers needn't be that expensive so will add that to my long list of todo's :) thanks for the pointer.
 
Thanks again Oxides. Tell me please, when you say "an overhaul" do you mean servicing the very guts of the engine and replacing what you can? Is this a long job - as I am using mine as a daily runner at the moment. Though I'm sure mine needs it and I'm happy to take the job on and learn I just need to plan accordingly.

Thanks, Andy.
 
Water247 said:
Thanks again Oxides. Tell me please, when you say "an overhaul" do you mean servicing the very guts of the engine and replacing what you can? Is this a long job - as I am using mine as a daily runner at the moment. Though I'm sure mine needs it and I'm happy to take the job on and learn I just need to plan accordingly.

Thanks, Andy.
Click to expand...

Mine needs a bit more than just the valve seals replacing!
I think the head has to come off to replace the seals unless anyone knows of a way of taking the springs off without lifting the head (I'm sure there's a "special tool" for doing this on Ford OHC engines) Head off and on should be less than a day's work, as long as nothing breaks or strips - like the manifold to exhaust studs. Only needs a couple of spanners, a socket set, a screwdriver, valve spring compressor, torque wrench and a top end overhaul gasket set. It's all cast iron so you won't need to get the head skimmed like you would if it was alloy.
 
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