steaming pipes

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mr.318

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i"ve never had problems with my motors i always build my own after machine work is done read my post new motor blues anyway now my motor has 138 miles on it i noticed lastnite the tailpipes are steaming smoke out i"m talking alot the longer it runs the more it steams theres no water in the oil rad.full i was thinking headgasket but loseing no water but noticed temp is bout 10 degrees hotter than normal 195 instead of 185 not running hot the old rad. cap wasn't holding pressure so i put a new cap on last week that couldn't have caused it or could it if i put my hand over the pipes i get a little moister on it not much wish i hadn't sold my old engine i built it just wanted more power anybody know anything i can check before i pull heads i'm tired of takeing this motor apart
 
Sounds like a possiable cracked head, as it gets worse as it gets hotter. But when does this happen? Is it within 5 min. of crank up or after the engine has warmed up? If it's within the 5 min. it normal condensation, but if it's after the engine is warmed up then it's more than likely a cracked head. But then you would think that the radiator would show signs of useage unless it's very small.
 
Sounds like you may be getting combustion into the radiator. With your water temp running hotter and the cap not holding.Is the new cap holding pressure?
Get hold of a leak detector kit and see if it changes color.
It doesn't take much coolant to make a lot of steam.
Please give us a break down on your engine, maybe that will help the group with ideas.
Good luck OG
 
I assume the smoke is white.

Being the smoking is getting worse as the motor gets warmer and you are not loosing water/coolant is sound like you have some diesel in your fuel. Either someone is playing a joke on you and put some diesel in your car while you were getting your motor built. Or you bought gas recently and the tanker guy put diesel in the ground and now you have it in your car.

Diesel in gas in a gas motor smokes white and as a motor gets warm it smokes more because diesel is an oil and when it hits the hot exhaust system it really smokes.

Take a gas can and hook it to your fuel pump and run your motor awhile and see if it clears up. Your fuel can still smell normal and have diesel in it.

Just about all new motors run a little warm because of the added friction/tightness.


Chuck
 
okay my motor is a 318 bored 40 over k.b. 167 pistons zero decked balanced has aero heads that were suppoes to be 318 castings with 202 valves but i think there 360 heads because the ports are big not like 318's they ground the casting #"s off so i can't check i ordered the 318 heads don't think that's what i got i just checked the water again it's full i mean to the top oil looks good no water in it when i crank it up no smoke runs a couple mins. starts steaming alittle then the longer it runs the more it smokes both pipes if you rev it up quits then starts again it idle only not white or blue smoke looks like steam or condensation smoke but it's 70 degrees here today the new cap is holding pressure the seal was blowed on the old one
 
okay drove it down the road to local shop told em what was going on they pressure-checked cooling said was ok i watched em they just put one of them pressure deals on the rad. will that check headgaskets to? they said yes they said since i've only drove it 600 miles in 5 years + keep it in a open carport that i might wanna drill a hole in the flowmasters to see if water is in them they also said that the condensation coming out the pipes was clear and the rad. full of coolant so thats noy the source is this correct? the flowmasters were on it when i bought it i've never heard mufflers holding water?
 
You have to get the exhaust hot enough to evaporate all the condensate from the exhaust. Dont start it unless you can drive it for ten miles. I would second drilling small (like 1/16" holes in the bottom rear of your mufflers. They will rot from the inside out if you dont get the water out. The cooling system pressure test tests all gaskets, hoses, and castings in the system. If they pump it to 15+psi and it holds, you are fine. go drive your car...lol.
 
What does the exhaust smell like? Coolant when it burns has a very sweet very different smell. Oil smoke has its own, easy to identify. You have condensation in the system. It is a byproduct of the combustion. Your exhaust system is not evaporating it, so it comes out the tailpipe. Leave it alone.
 
I get condensation in the exhaust of my wifes Mustang GT to the point it freezes in the winter and you can't start the car cause it plugs the exhaust. When I have the chance to run it in the winter I run it for quite a while to try and get them dry, but as they cool they condensate all over again.
 
Every gallon of gas you burn you get a half gallon of water through the exhaust. Sometimes if you have a to big of an exhaust pipe and a small motor the exhaust doesn't heat up enough to burn off the water vapor. I had the same problem on my 273 with a 340 dual system. It spit water at idle, especially when the outside air was cool and damp .Not so bad in the summer.
My fix was to drill a 1\8 inch hole in the back of the muffler. Bob
 
that would require a 2.5 pipe be filled with water, not possible.


GTGrinly said:
I get condensation in the exhaust of my wifes Mustang GT to the point it freezes in the winter and you can't start the car cause it plugs the exhaust. When I have the chance to run it in the winter I run it for quite a while to try and get them dry, but as they cool they condensate all over again.
Click to expand...
 
ted_sweet said:
that would require a 2.5 pipe be filled with water, not possible.
Click to expand...


Not if there was a low spot in the exhaust that would collect water like a "P" trap in a sink drain, it wouldn't take much water at all in this senario.

Chuck
 
ted_sweet said:
that would require a 2.5 pipe be filled with water, not possible.
Click to expand...

I would have probably bet it would never happen...until it did! Stock GT exhaust in '86 was 2'', don't know where it froze. When I did get it running, in the spring, it ran like it had plugged converters, whistling out the pipes, and as the engine and exhaust warmed the ice chunks started coming out and thats how I knew it was frozen.
 
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