[1969CATALINA]

my pontiac 400 seems to have something wrong lately-- all was fine & perfect before, but now i have big white clouds of smoke coming from the tail pipe & also it comes from the valve cover grommet too.. i also have a single plug that keeps fouling-- any ideas? i am thinking maybe rings in the cylinder where the fouled plug is--- never did rering-- i know it's a big job, but is it something i could do myself if i never done this before?

[Stuart]

White smoke could mean a head gasket blew and is letting water into the cylinder. You may want to do a compression check and see if that one cylinder is lower than the others. Also check to see if there's an oil film on top of the water in the radiator, and if there's any foamy gunk in the oil (look inside the breather cap.)

[1969CATALINA]

NO OIL IN THE RADIATOR OR WATER IN THE OIL-- I'LL SEE WHAT THE COMPRESSION TEST SHOWS-- GOTTA BUY A TESTER--THANKS

[soon2b2ltmp]

when you shut off the ignition, did the engine "diesel" or continue to turn over? what was your engine's temperature?

[Junqueboi]

My bets are on a head gasket. Exact same symptoms on my car & it's the head gasket. Sorry dude.

[Pontiacdaver]

Could also be cracked/broken rings or ring lands (area of piston between the individual rings), or a hole burnt through the top of the piston. Any of these can cause 'blowby', where compression is getting into the crankcase through one of the cylinders. Symptoms can include smoke, or oil, coming out of the breather, and fouled plug on the offending cylinder. In any case, you'd want to check it out throughly before you drive it much, so you don't risk further damage. Daver

[1969CATALINA]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by soon2b2ltmp:
when you shut off the ignition, did the engine "diesel" or continue to turn over? what was your engine's temperature? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

shuts off normal-- temp seems same as always-- HOT!! no overheating though


<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Pontiacdaver:
In any case, you'd want to check it out throughly before you drive it much, so you don't risk further damage. Daver </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

unfortunately, i have to drive to work everyday-- i have my 69 cat for a daily driver & 68 nova that's got a blown rod & bad cam


i got vacation time coming the 2nd week of august--hopefully the engine will last til then, & i can work on it all that week & have it done by the time i go back to work-- head gaskets i dont think will be too difficult other than unassembly, but i am concerned about rocker arm adjustment afterwards though-- i never get it right--- hope it's not a bad piston or needing rering-- never replaced rings before--seems like a big pain in the neck.. maybe it would be easier to find a good short block & just replace it that way??

[Junqueboi]

You know Daver had a good point. It would seem strange for the car to blow a head gasket without some kind of overheating going on.

But he's right -- you could have a burned piston/ring/etc. which would be caused by a lean condition. Your timing could have been off...could have a vacuum leak somewhere...or just a bad carb adjustment. All those would make your car run lean...thus causing the fuel/air mixture to be waaaay too hot.

Yuk, it doesn't sound like the engine will survive much longer.

[1969CATALINA]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Junqueboi:
Yuk, it doesn't sound like the engine will survive much longer. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


unfortunately, i think you're right--now i seem to have this crunchy noise under hard accelleration-- sounds like it might be cam bearings--that's just my inexperienced guess-- i guess it may be this because it sounds like it's coming from the center of the rear of the block-- it definately sounds like a bearing of sorts because it has this spinning crunch like sound--- i'm getting fed up with it--every car i ever own every time seems to have major malfunctions shortly after aquiring them--

[1969CATALINA]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Junqueboi:
Yuk, it doesn't sound like the engine will survive much longer. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


you were not kidding.... on my way home from work last night, all kinds of crunching & things breaking inside the block--did make it home though--thank god i only had a mile to go when the breaking apart started-- sounded awful---

[soon2b2ltmp]

now that the engine has crapped out....

now you have the choice or replacing/ rebuilding the engine (stock)

or putting a larger engine under the hood.