Question : motor is smoking ?

[Iyyob]

1995 3.4l Camaro 148k miles.New MSD Coil Packs MDS wires and IGK pulgs.!Cat.Flowmaster. Throttle Body Coolant bypass. 160*thermo. Water Pump 1 year old. New Gator belt (last one started to shread)

I can drive it to work/mall/bar/movies or anyplace thats under 15mins drive if i stay there for an hour or two to let it cool down.

** 2 weeks i had to replace the Upper radiator hose and the heater core hose

**After a mabe 15 mins running @ idle/street it slowly overheats

** Fan is working

** 10w30 Penzoil Plat Fully Synthetic.No Water in Oil

** Coolant seems to remain full

**Looks very little smoke is coming from driver side of motor, i cant pinpoint it but mabe around the spark plugs ( New with Overheating)

**For a long while now everytime i start up HUGE Smoke Cloud bursts out of my exhaust thought it had somthing to do w/ no cat.

**No loss of power.

[RedZMonte]

pull the plugs on the side that smokes.. look for corrosion on the plug. do a compression test. only a couple things that it could be.

[Iyyob]

The plugs are under a month old.. I don't think im loseing compression, im not sure but wouldn't that also make me loose HP ?

[Khipset]

What color smoke? White or blue?

[60dgrzbelow0]

There are only three ways that oil can enter and be burned along with the gasoline vapors.

(1) Badly Worn Valve Guide Seals
(2) Badly Worn or Cracked Piston Rings
(3) Oil Ingestion from Oil Invading or Leaking into the Intake Manifold

You can diagnose the problems by observing the color of the exhaust smoke as suggested by Khipset. If the smoke has a bright blue tint to it and only lasts briefly after the engine idles and disappears when the engine runs at higher RPMS, then the problem involves Leaking Valve Guide Seals. If the the smoke is more of a gray color and is persistent... the problem involves Badly Worn or Cracked Piston Rings. You can diagnose the Bad Rings also by smelling the oil on a dipstick sample for the presence of the odor of gasoline. This occurs because unburned gasoline and exhaust vapors are passing the rings and filling the lower crank case with the fumes which eventually condense and tend to "water down" the lubricity and protective quality of the motor oil...making matters go from bad to worse over time. You can diagnose a problem of Bad or Leaking Valves by taking a strip of paper approximately the width of your inner exhaust pipe and about 3" long. By holding the paper loosely near the exhaust pipe (with the engine at idle and the Emergency Brake set) ...you should see the paper flutter back and forth...But if the paper strip suddenly gets sucked back inside the pipe...its a sure sign that a some of the valves are leaking bad enough to allow the exhaust to get reverse vacuumed back inside the cylinders because of poor seals on the exhaust valves. As for the overheating problem...since you did replace a few of the hoses, seek the location of the air bleeder valve(s) and bleed out any trapped air in the cooling jackets. If this does not help...either your radiator is clogged with debris, your water pump impeller has failed...or you have a cracked cylinder or head.

Hope this helps...

[3400-95-Modified]

**For a long while now everytime i start up HUGE Smoke Cloud bursts out of my exhaust thought it had somthing to do w/ no cat.

Blown headgasket.

Or at least a small leak that when under pressure coolant is entering in the chamber and on fire its burning off. This is also allowing the system to not stay under proper pressure and then boil the water and overheat.

Do a pressure check on your cooling system?

[Iyyob]

Wow thanks for all the input. The smoke it black/grey and my exhaust usually reeks of gas when I start it, however after start up the smoke goes away and dosnt do it if the motor is still warm/hot its only with cold starts and the paper does not get sucked back in that I can tell. Mabe my pipes are 2 big I have the duel CME tips. Like I said coolant is full but my low oil sensor came on so I added 1 quart and it just went back off. So its prob time for me 2 put that 3500 top end that's been sittin in a box to good use. And thinking about it its prob oil in my exhaust caus the oil smoke sticks around longer and thicker than gasoline smoke right ?

[60dgrzbelow0]

Blown headgasket.

Or at least a small leak that when under pressure coolant is entering in the chamber and on fire its burning off. This is also allowing the system to not stay under proper pressure and then boil the water and overheat.

Do a pressure check on your cooling system?

Mr. Pink must have the best answer here... and since you've decided to do the top-end replacement, you'll get an uncommon opportunity to examine the old gasket for what they call "jetting". This is where either the compressed fuel/air burns on the compression strokes and literally burns like a blow torch through the gasket material, compromising the gasket's ability to seal...or in the case of super-heated steam from an adjacent over-heated water jacket, hot steam will squirt through a weak point in the gasket on the intake/vacuum down stroke and allow the super heated coolant to "steam" a pathway between the adjacent water jacket and cause all the "Stanley Steamer"-like action when the coolant vapor is expelled on the exhaust stroke like Mr. Pink mentioned, with billows of the stuff coming out the exhaust for short periods.

In any case, since the 60* engines employ stretch bolts for bolting the engine heads to the block, don't be tempted to re-use the bolts you have on there now. A complete new set is not that expensive to find. It would also be wise to have the block decked for being perfectly flat, square and level, since the aluminum heads are so much more prone to warping than the cast iron flavored ones. If you get into the habit of replacing the aluminum ones should you need to find the right combination of heads and gaskets to work within the proper compression ratio ranges, make sure you use a reverse torque pattern to the one used for installing them and this will reduce your chances of warping the aluminum ones.

Seek out posts by John-(Forced Firebird), as he is the pre-eminent "Aluminum Solution" Wizard on this subject for 60* engine conversions. Between the "sticky" on this matter and his advice and the cool components he sells, he may be able to save you a great deal of time, trouble (and some of that 'Elusive Spondulex' called Money) by using his information and guidance on how to best install your new top end.

[Iyyob]

Yea I have contacted hime before and read most of his posts, I was just wantin to drive this top end till it croked it seems it may have just done that