Projects Bardahl No Smoke Made It Worse - HELP!

Hello to all in my favorite community. I've been restoring my 1955 Mercury with an original 292 and Holley 4000. I know I haven't driven it much since getting her back in running condition, but I don't like how much she smokes. It looks like what y'all call "blue" smoke. Blue...white...grey...such subtle differences. Still, blue is my take on it. So I had a friend suggest I put some No Smoke in the crank case and now it's quite a bit worse than before. It doesn't look like I overfilled the oil, as It reads right at the top of the range on her dipstick and I put a little less than the 16oz recommended for a V8 in there. Now I don't want to drive the car as I would be embarressed to lay down a heavy cloud as I motor down the road. Also, the carbon monoxide smell is pretty prevalent while idling. Anyone have any suggestions or knowledge you can share? I really want to go for a drive!


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The usual questions. Is it using engine oil, coolant, trans fluid?
Did the problem come on suddenly?
You can't smell carbon monoxide. Maybe unburned HCs hydrocarbons?

 

Take it for a run and see how it goes. It may clear up after you get to temp and run it. Or, it may not.

 

Carbon monoxide doesn't have a smell.

There's a product called "restore" and it works if its not too far gone already.
Also depends on why its smoking.

 

Sounds like things are too far gone. Rebuild may be in your future.

 

You might want to pull the valve covers and see if the motor is sludged up,if it is the mechanic in the can might have made more of a mess. If the heads are sludged up the return holes might have been partially clogged and now they are completely plugged.

 

If it doesn't start smoking right away it could be filling up the area & overloading the valve seals if it's a lot once it runs for a while. a small amount from the get go continiously is probably rings, but the additive shouldn't have made it worse if it was rings. If the valve seals are really trashed though it could be continious.

 

SMOG_GUY: I guess you meant "losing" and not "using" oil, coolant, or transmission fluid. I'm not losing any fluid really (transmission fluid has a tiny leak near where the ****** mounts up and I still need to investigate that). The smoking was already happening a little...coming out the filler tube from the push rod chamber and then more coming out the p***enger side tail pipe more than the driver's side. Right after I put the No Smoke in it all got worse. As for smelling carbon dioxide - thanks for the correction - I mean that the exhaust smell is sharp and noxious - like any old car would be.

31Vicky:
I think I'll try the Restore. And I do plan to short block the original 292 that came out of the car.

George:
I'll check to see if it smokes immediately after starting and let u know.


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+1 on pulling the valve covers and making sure ]use a wire[ the oil drain holes are clear.

 

So the worst smoke is p*** side? Is the left side smoke liveable?
I'd pull plugs on p*** side and look for deposits on a spark plug. You can use a bright flashlight on the piston top too if the plugs were just changed.
That might narrow down the worst offending cylinder.
Once you have that figured out you can see if something is wrong on that bad cylinder with the valve cover off.
I guess it's all heading to a rebuild but these checks aren't hard to do.

 

I heard that in the old days when rings got tired the owner would dump a bunch of comet cleanser down the carb and the abrasive would put a new cross hatch on the cylinder walls..does it work?
my lawnmower smokes like Cheech and Chong in 'da Love Machine..thought about giving it a try.

 

Sort of. They used to run Bon Ami (like Comet) down the carb to help seat in the old style chrome rings after a re-ring. I actually saw a guy seize up a rebuilt International 501 by dumping too much in. I, personally, would not put any abrasive in an engine regardless of the reason.

 

My friend use to be a mechanic at the House Of Corvettes. He said a trick they used when a car smoked was switching to synthetic oil. It still burned oil but you couldn't see it at the tail pipe. I never tried t myself though. Back in the '60's, another friend used to add two cans of STP to non-detergent 40 wt oil to keep his '47 Chevy from smoking. But Southern California, you can get away with 40 wt oil.

 

if its puffing bad out he fill pipe its re ring time get a leak down tester and see what percentage is going past the rings , also if it has a draft tube make sure a wasp nest( damn mud daubers ) hasn't built up in it as I have seen this with southern cars , as crank case pressure build up and has no where to go but out the breather or push past the rings .

 

Good possibility if the car has sat for a time and not run much you have some stuck rings try this before you add any "Restore" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyakvloi-68

 

I pulled the valve covers and there's quite a bit of built up sludge. The brand new oil is black now. And I've barely run it since the fresh oil went in. When I first fire it up, it doesn't smoke a lot. But in less than a minute, it's a smoke show. On the left side head, it's just dirty. On the side where more smoke comes out of the exhaust pipe, there was a decent puddle of oil.

I ran a wire into the oil p***age, and it seemed pretty sludged up. Perhaps some Seafoam would be a good idea followed by an oil change. Another thought: perhaps the Bardahl No Smoke actually smokes worse when burned than regular old motor oil does. Maybe.


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Be real leery of sea foam on a really sludged up engine.
It can cause you a lot of grief when it busts all that **** loose.
Ask me how I know.

 

Goodchance it's backing up & flooding the valve seals, see if you can get it to drain properly.

Bingo on that. Probably should drop the pan, pull the intake, plus the valve covers & start cleaning out the build up, & rod the drain holes.

 

alot of y-blocks the return holes in the heads would block up and had to be clean out they sold a kit to plumb return oil lines in the valve covers

 

From the pics I's say that was the cleanest original Y block I've ever seen... on most cars that ran on non-detergrnt oil you'd be lucky to see the valve springs!

 

Look under the car on the driver side of the engine towards the front and you should see a canister with a tube that points down, That is part of your crank case breather system.
Take it apart, change the filter and clean it so it will flow air properly. Also make certain that your oil fill cap is a breather type not sealed.
My experience has been valve seals causing smoke on these motors. The oil pump will send oil up into the valve covers and after a few minutes the smoke will start. On a hot restart the smoke is generally immediate.
Positive seals are (instead of umbrella seals) are pretty easy to install one cylinder at a time.

 

That is a Clean engine compared to the ones I used to work on back in the Day
buy any chance do you have a Problem with the Starting of the Car.?
if you are Leaking Gas down the Carb, Its Possible that your dumping
Gas in the OIL pan causing it to break Down & Smoke
I had that Problem with my Merc, Changed the Oil & it stopped ( rebuilt the Carb. )

Just my 3.5 cents

 

In the old days we would drain the oil and run 3 quarts of oil and 2 quarts of Kerosine with a new filter. Run the engine at a fast idle for about a half hour then drain it and repeat. It would really clean out a lot of residue from the non-detergent oil.

 

It's hard to know where to begin.

White smoke = water or steam. Normal on first starting up especially on a cold damp day. Too much can indicate a blown head gasket.

Black smoke = excess gas. Choke on too much, carb way out of adjustment

Blue smoke = oil. Usually valve guides (puff of smoke when you let off the gas) or piston rings (puff of smoke when you step on the gas).

Take off the oil fill cap when the engine is running. If air comes out the rings are worn. Small amount, slight wear. If it is really blowing, like you couldn't pour oil in without it blowing all over the place, rings are really shot.

I would like to be able to tell you there is nothing much wrong with your motor and you can fix it easy. I would like to tell you that but I would be a liar. On a car that old there is a good chance the motor is badly worn. No way to tell without a closer look, compression test, oil pressure test etc.

There is no rebuild in a can that will help if the engine is worn. If the car was out of commission for years there is a small possibility the rings are stuck in the pistons. They will come loose the more you run the engine or, sometimes they don't. Not much can be done either way.

 

Mid 50s Ford V8s often had a defective carburetor that poured excess gas in the engine. I think you said yours has been replaced by a later model carb?

Suggest you change the oil to Rotella 15W40 and start again. Or do a compression test and see if you have any rings left.

 

Actually, I wanted to keep it original so I rebuilt the original '55 Holley 4000 "teapot". It runs much better than it did now. I'm definitely going to clean the oil p***ages on the heads. I know that at least one p***age has a head bolt bisecting it internally. With the way the oil was puddled up near the rear oil p***age and it's lower in the rear...plus it was sludged up and did not drain slowly while the valve cover was off...I bet it has something to do with flooding of the valve seals and leakage. I'll do an oil change and may decide to clean it with diesel or kerosene on a low idle. Remember, I put some no smoke in, thickening the oil and most likely making the oil harder to drain through an already sluged up p***age.


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Blue smoke for sure. I'll check the air pressure coming out of the fill tube after work. Thanks!


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It starts pretty well. Turns slow, but then it is 6volt. Takes several pumps to get it to fire when cold. Starts right up though when warm.

Rebuilt the Holley teapot. Runs a lot better now and no longer leaks out the ****erfly shaft ends because I swapped out the throttle body.


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Thanks Pete.

I cleaned the road draft filter in my solvent tank and it seems to breathe fine. It lets out about as much blue smoke as the vented oil cap


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Actually it's supposed to goin IN the oil cap & out the draft tube. May be excessive blow by besides the drain problem. If it has sat for a long time it could be stuck rings or worn rings. If it sat quite a while you might change oil & use a qt of Risilone to see if the rings might unstick, could take a while if they're stuck.