What does coolant in the cylinder burn like?

I took the truck out with my buddy this past weekend after rebuilding the*******. Noise that we thought was the******* is still there so oh well. On the return home, started seeing white smoke coming from the passenger lake pipe. Got faster with the engine speed but could be seen lightly at idle. Took the intake off and there was coolant coming down one of the valves. Took the head off and seems I had a head gasket leaking coolant into the cylinder and down the valve (flathead). Motor still ran strong and idle was good. Thought it was oil at first but everyone now is telling me it was a leaky head gasket. Does coolant burn white?? I don't see any cracks and it ran just fine this past fall.

 

yes, white. oil is blue, fuel is black

 

Yep..I would say that you were burning coolant..

oil has a light blue/ hue to it..coolant is like steam..white

dam skunx yer fast with those fingers

 

Yes you were burning coolant. I would check the head really good before re-assembly just to be safe.

 

auto trans fluid burns white. Head gasket leak would tend to over heat engine.

 

ah, thats rite, trans fluid does burn white too. dont think flatheads have a way for trans fluid to get into the motor. and the coolant on the valves is a clue

 

Only way I see for trans fluid to get in the motor is the same way the coolant did, after getting*****ed out of a******* cooler in the radiator tank. Not too likely on a flatty powered car.

 

Yep a blown head gasket .
Blue is oil & white is coolant . Clean the head real good and check to see if it needs to be shaved . Lay a framing square or a very straight piece of metal that won't bend and lay across the head and see if you can get a feeler gauge in-between the head and framing square . Use the feelers at .003 . If you can get that under there go get it shaved .
Let us know how you make out .

 

No, it's a 39 toploader, sorry should mention that. Heads are the old Weiand aluminum cheater heads so that would be bad news. The head bolts were not that tight on some bolts. I put them on over a year ago and don't know if I re-torqued them after I started it. The gaskets were fel pro with copper rings. Just bought a set of Graphtite's from Speedway. H&H puts them on all their flatties. I had the heads at 45 lbs.

 

First of all, coolant does not burn... if it is in the combustion chamber, then it will vaporize as it exits through the exhaust. If I were you, I would pull both heads, clean up both surfaces, and put new gaskets on. After you run it about 100 miles, re-torque the head bolts, and double check the intake bolts too. My 7 cents....

 

yup its white and when your burning coolant and when you put your hand over the exhaust it will feel really humid

 

Antifreeze also has a distinctive smell - like holding a copper penny in your mouth.

 

It burns like V.D. out the old pee-hole........not very good

 

Had to have been coolant because my body and I thought it smelled funny, not like oil.

 

I know this post is about a car with a manual transmission, but FYI, if you do have a flatty (or any motor, for that matter) with an automatic behind it, and that automatic has a vacuum modulator, then there is definitely a clear path for transmission fluid to get into the motor. If the diaphragm in the modulator leaks, you will***** trans fluid directly into the intake manifold.

 

I'd say do the usual things that would be done with any engine that is loosing coolant through the combusion chamber.

Check to see if you can find where it leaked. Either gasket or crack or warped head or head that wasn't torqued properly.

As Retro Jim mentioned, check the head (s) with a good straight edge and a feeler gage.

I check with the straight edge diagonaly from each pair of corners and straight down the middle and I check all along the straight edge.
If they appear warped, it's off to the machine shop.

When I torque cylinder heads I tend to take a few extra steps.
I run the torque pattern in smaller increments with a lot more passes than the normal three that most folks suggest.
Here is a link to the proper Ford flathead torque patterns and suggested torque specs for each engine and head design. http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_cylinderhead_torque-specs.htm

 

yup, thats why i didnt figure it was trans fluid

 

You might want to change the oil and filter, to make sure that none of the coolant has gotten into the oil. Antifreeze and bearing surfaces is not a good thing.

On the plus side, all that steam should have cleaned any carbon deposits off the pistons.

 

For late flatheads:


My Motor's Manual calls for 65-70# torque on the heads.

If cast iron heads, run the engine to normal temp, re-torque.

Aluminum heads, run engine to normal temp, let cool overnight, re-torque.

 

If it was pure water then yeah i would know but this is also antifreeze, which is propylene glycol, methanol, and ethylene glycol . Does this also burn white or should I say boil?

 

Make sure to change your oil, and filter. Coolant will take out your crank, and rod bearings. Incindetally coolant does burn. in fact it has a flash point above 1000 degrees, and will catch fire. Not that it will happen in your flatty, just a point of interest.

 

Man I forgot about how we used to pour water down the carb to "clean the carbon out"!

 

Yeah, an oil change is in order, some got down in the pan.

 

I agree with Rodder 29 I have seen it happen Made a believer out of me

 

I used to be in the HVAC industry, and I can tell you for a fact, that glycol has to reach wll over 1500 degrees before it is hot enough to ignite. Plain and simple, he has coolant leaving the water galley and entering the combustion chamber and the pushed out the exhaust valves into the tailpipe. Pull the heads and check them for true-ness. The do what needs to be done to the heads to fix the problem. Re-install and hope for the best. If it is still a problem after that, you'll need to look at the valve guides and also pressure check the water galley.

 

Coolant, to me, smells like celery when its exits the wrong way. Its smells different than if you open the radiator. I'd bet something in there is burning.******* fluid smells similar but with more of a burnt smell. Just thought I'd add this.

 

YUP! antifreeze in the****bustion chamber smells like someone nearby pee'd their pants the night before and slept in them but i'd never put them in my mouth to see if they taste like a penny.

if you pull a head on an engine thats been running with a coolant leak the cylinders affected will usually have the cylinder polished to a mirror finish (if lucky) or will be wore out on that cylinder from the lack of lubrication. coolants more like cutting fluid than oil.

My brother (HAHA) was putting a smallblock in a chevy truck. i gave him a couple old 305's one had a couple rods knocking, one had a burnt piston and there were enough parts to put a good runner together. He found a low mileage 350 in the junkyard and decided to clean it up and put in new gaskets while it was out. they re-ringed it and rolled in new bearings just in case while it was apart.
It ran great for about a week then started knocking and smoking... I gave him a 350 4bolt main with steel crank that he had built and when we were putting that in, I was loading up the 305 parts to take back to my place. I saw an extra set of gaskets hanging on the wall and asked what they were for....
"well, those were the gaskets I was going to use in the 305 before i found the fresh 350"
I was standing there looking at this slopped out 350 block that had gone from virgin to un-bore-able in a couple weeks and held one of the used gaskets that were on it over the bore and you could see the fire ring was inside the cylinder... Tim...these are 305 gaskets on your 350, I'll bet the 350's are hanging there on the wall!!!!"
The look on his face was priceless. if ever there was a stickler for doing something "the right way" it's him and he just accidently grabbed the wrong ones and they never caught it.

 

One of the Powerhouses that I service has 4 skids with 2 CAT G3516 engines on each skid driving a generator. They run on methane fuel from the local landfill. One day a coolant coupling burst and that had been under pressure with about 400 gallons of coolant. That***** sprayed everywhere, and I was lucky not to get scalded. The exhaust had coolant (50/50 mix) sprayed on it and she was burning like gasoline, so yes believe me coolant burns. Of course the exhaust temperatures are between 1200-1400 degrees. It was quite an experience, smoke and steam everywhere too.

 

The one I had was on a Little Ranger PU on the EX manifold But found later after the repairs the converter was also plugged up causing excess heat & Yes it will burn & make flames