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Post by troy68 on Jun 22, 2014 20:40:57 GMT -5
So I just bought a '68' Chevelle with a rebuilt 396 that has 11,000 miles on it (101,077 original).
I drive it for the first time since driving it around the sellers neighborhood, and noticed a good bit of smoke coming out of exhaust while driving down the street. I checked the radiator fluid and noticed it looked very rusty and thick, almost milk-shake consistency. Also, there was a small 50-cent piece size oil leak on my garage floor after being parked for a week.
I'm nervous to drive it until I have a mechanic check it out as I don't want to damage the engine. Got the car off a 72 year old mechanic that took meticulous care of it.
My mechanical knowledge is limited at best. I got this car to put the family in to take to car shows. My wife won't let me put the kids in the car until I get it checked out for safety of the kids, I'm not arguing.
Any suggestions/in-sight are appreciated. Thanks!
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Post by steelhorse on Jun 22, 2014 21:45:10 GMT -5
Pics of radiator? Color of smoke. How is the oil in the engine?
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Post by cbj5259 on Jun 23, 2014 11:08:28 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum Troy! I'm sure someone around here can offer you some advice. I am in the same boat as you when it comes to technical know how.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2014 12:03:07 GMT -5
You are going to have to sort things out and provide a little more info. First, is the smoke black, light blue/black or white? You could have a piston ring problem, valve guide problem or a very rich mixture. Second, the milky mixture in the radiator can be an indication that oil is being introduced into the cooling system. Has the engine boiled over? Have the oil or cooling fluid level's dropped? This could indicate a bad head gasket or crack in the block, somewhere. Does the cooling fluid feel oily or smell like oil? Have you changed your oil? What does it look like? Does it smell like gas? Have you pulled your spark plugs? What do they look like? Black/wet spark plugs indicate a very rich mixture or bad valve guides. Third, where is the oil spot relative to the car? Is it below the front or back of the engine/trans or below the differential? Does the car have an automatic Transmission? The seals may be bad on the Engine/Trans/Diff or the Pans and Cover gaskets may be leaking. Plenty of pictures would be very helpful for everyone willing to help you. A compression check would also be very helpful for proper analysis. Good luck and welcome to the site.
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Post by my96gt on Jun 28, 2014 8:59:10 GMT -5
On small and big Chevy, unless there is a crack in an oil galley that leads into the cooling system, there really isn't pressure fed oil to the cylinder heads or other areas where it would be introduced past a gasket. If it is an automatic, like Vince stated, check trans fluid and see if it low, you could have a cracked trans cooler in the radiator that is forcing trans fluid into the cooling system, which would explain the rusty thick looking coolant in the radiator. One way to check for a cracked trans cooler is to remove both cooler lines from the radiator, pressurize the radiator and see if you get coolant coming out of one of the cooler lines, Same goes for the smoking, If an auto, it is probably a th400, which if I remember correctly, does have a vacuum modulator, if the diaphragm in the modulator is bad, it will introduce fluid thru the vacuum line causing the engine to smoke, how much smoke is dependent on how bad the leak is.
As far as the oil leak, it could be a gasket or rear seal starting to seep, 396 is a 2 piece rear seal and leaks are common as well as oil pan gasket leaks if the builder went cheap and used a 4 piece pan gasket. I would start with the larger problem first.
Sorry if I rambled and may have repeated some things here, but these are the first things that popped into my mind. It has been a while since I have done a Chevy that doesn't have a 2.5ltr in it or isn't Diesel powered. There are so many issues that can cause the smoking, and the diagnosis can be a bit involved and require special tooling. I would start by investigating who built the engine and see if there is any paperwork that came with it that has its build specs (measurements) before getting to far into the engine itself.
Keep us posted on what you find.
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