383 smoking

[jwelshdesign]

Hey guys,

I bought the car less than a year ago and everything was good.It has a 383 with dart iron heads. After sitting for most of the winter the car now smokes while driving. It doesn't smoke bad on start up but does it more when it comes up to temp and smokes the whole time. Its a blueish smoke but doesn't really smell like gas. The car runs great and all vitals are good (oil press, temp). I changed the plugs and ran new 20w50 but nothing changed.

Could this be valve guides or is it more a sign of rings?

thanks, John

 

[malicad]

If the valve stem SEALS are bad, the smoking will go away a short time after startup, as any oil that seeped past the seals when it was not running will be burned off quickly. If it CONSTANTLY smokes, either the valve guides are bad, allowing oil to drain past the valve stems, into the combustion chamber, where it burns, then subsuquently smokes. Or, the piston ring/cylinder wall clearance is too loose, and you'll need either new rings, or machine work AND new rings. You could do a cylinder leakdown test and see what's up.

 

[Redline396]

I would assume it's an automatic,i would check the vac. modulator on the trans......engine vac. could suck trans fluid through the intake and cause smoke..........also check your pcv valve...................check the simple stuff first...........

 

[jwelshdesign]

thanks for the replies guys.

Redline396, I am running a 700r4 which i don't believe has a vacuum modulator. I replaced the pcv and grommet so it has a good seal. I will double check all the vacuum lines to make sure they are not corroded or unhooked.

I figured it wouldn't be the valve guide seals because it would smoke on start up and stop when it warms up. Its actually the opposite. Another thought would be that its sucking coolant into the intake from somewhere. I am running Evans NPG coolant so it would smell different than the typical sweet smell of coolant making it harder to detect.

Its strange because it just started after the winter and the motor is pretty fresh with about 20,000 miles, i believe.

 

[jwelshdesign]

forgot to mention that I swapped out valve covers which have different baffles. I put on a set of billet specialties tall covers with baffles. They have the chimney style baffles with angled slots in the bottom. Has anyone had problems with these?



The old covers had something like this:

 

[Redline396]

I would also check the intake gasket...........could be sucking oil in from lifter valley if the gasket is bad.........worth checking it out...........have seen that before..........