1950 Mercury Flathead Smoking White WHY??

SO far I replaced the leaking fuel lines and a stock metal vacum line that was leaking. Also The air filter is a new paper element type... I did away with the oilbath. Has new plugs and new wiring. Rad is running new lowtemp thermostats and full with waterand rad cleaner. The oil is pretty old and the gas is pretty old too. Its all original and the carb is original as well. I recently cleaned the carb and installed new seals.. The car didn't smoke a few months ago but then again I hadn't driven it much.. the Smoke is white and Burns the eyes smells Super rich! Would could be causing the engine to smoke like this.. there is still condensation at the tailpipe as originally. This smoking issue is making me worry any suggestions???

Thanks in Advance!

 

Is it smoke or steam?

 

Does it have a brake booster? If so a torn diaphram will allow brake fluid to be sucked into the intake manifold , burns white and with an acrid smell. Some trans fluid does too, but brake fluid is my guess.

 

Not steam fellas, and no booster either... Could it be water? or maybe someone put something in my gas tank? What is the easiest way to find out if I am burning water? There is also a pretty nasty leak at the oilpan and there is water or oil getting into the exhaust manifold... just worried its a headgasket or something expensive..

 

Sounds like a head gasket or a cracked block. If it was mine, I'd pull all the plugs and crank the engine over and see if you see any water coming out. If you are leaking water into the cylinder, you don't want to risk running it - as it can hydraulic the cylinder and bend a rod or cause other damage.

When you pull the plugs - check them out. If there is water in a cylinder, the carbon will usually be washed away and/or the plug will look different than the others.

Typically the next thing you'll need to do is pull the heads, check the gaskets and hopefully that is all it is. If the block is cracked . . . then the world will get a whole lot uglier.

Let us know what you find.

Dale

 

Are you running an automatic transmission? If you are the modulator valve diaphram my be ruptured and allowing transmission fluid to be sucked into the intake manifold and it will also smoke white and burn your eyes.

 

Could be that the old gas doesn't have any good stuff left in it. Try with some fresh gas.

 

My guess is a blown head gasket also. I had one a couple of years ago that did about the same thing. Flatheaded

 

How rich? Could be washing the cylinder walls clean, Which may have caused pre-mature ring wear.

 

Well I'll start by changing gas and pulling the plugs and turnin the engine over and lookin inside each cylinder for evidence of water. Any other way of checking for a leaking headgasket besides pulling the heads and checking for evidence of leaks? Thanks!

 

Leaking Head Gaskets: The symptoms can manifest themselves a few ways. Somtimes you'll get water in the oil - and your oil will turn "milky". Another check is to take the radiator cap off ( when cold! ), start the engine and see if you see any bubbles in the water . . . when it's really bad, sometimes the water will be forced out the top.

There are professional testers that can test radiator fluid to see if combustion gases are in it --- never tried this approach, as when I've blown flathead head gaskets, it was usually pretty obvious what the problem was.

My guess is that when you pull the plugs and look at them, that you'll see some signs. If you don't see signs of water when it's cold, then put them back him, get the thing hot, wait tell you see the white smoke, then shut it down and do the plug test check again . . . might be that the engine needs to be hot before they leak. Check the radiator again - while it is running and hot.

Let us know.

Dale

 

this thing smokes immediately at start up... not sure if it gets worst or not during driving as I'm not driving it now due to concern... What will my plugs look like if its burning water since I don't have any antifreeze, just water and rad cleaner mix.

 

Quick headgasket check - take off your waterpump belt(s) & remove your upper radiator hoses - fill to the necks. Start the engine & rev it up good - if you've got any head gasket issues, you'll probably see bubbles in the water necks. (Helpful to remove thermostats too!)

 

I bet it is a head gasket too. The '37 truck was doing that too-- white smoke at start up. Bit the bullet, changed the gasket. No more smoke.

 

hey another trick is to pull a plug n start it if it is leaking water oil or anything it will come out at idle takes a few minutes but it works
Ken

 

Have someone run a test to detect the presence of combustion gasses in your coolant. That will tell if you have coolant leaking into your combustion chambers. My guess is a bad head gasket. Small cracks are common on flatheads and shouldn't offer problems with a stock engine. Your results may vary.

 

If it's leaking in THAT cylinder...

 

It's likely a head gasket but if it overheated pretty bad, you could have warped a head...

If you have to pull a head anyway, and you know the overheating was severe, have the head checked while it's off and resurfaced if necessary. Also check for cracks when you pull the head. Crack to bolt? Clear sailing... Crack to cylendar, or valve? Sailor take warning...

 

Old saying I go by is Blue smoke=oil,Black smoke= rich fuel mixture,white smoke=coolant or water in combustion. Ter409

 

thanks everyone for your input, I'm gonna just bite the bullet and get some new head gaskets, can i reuse the same head bolts? and what do I use as thread sealant?

 

Yes you can reuse the headbolts.

Use Permatex #2 (non-hardening) or Aviation Permatex as thread sealant.

 

Well look at this pic I took i was about to pull the heads today and still puzzled that the smoke only started after I changed my plugs and installed the watertemp gauges.. I noticed the rust trail which was settled all around the circled plug... Can it be that the water was leaking into that cylinder due to a loose plug?? Or through one of the headbolts under the alumin. water necks??

 

All nice suggestions, but first things first. Don't run your engine anymore with that old gas and oil. Use a fuel filter also. ( good paper one, ect). Don't let that old stuff pump through your engine.

 

Oil is changed and the gas tank has been drained...