Awe shi.... what is that....

That...is not good...

I run a 54 Ford Customline...The one without a hood and a clean straight 6... She's not my daily driver, but she's my evryday I can driver...Today is one ...well was one of those days.

Storms rolled through central and southeast Texas last night, providing for the perfect outdoor driving and riding weather. Opened up the garage this morning to skate out the door to the j-o-b...and my day has drastically taken a turn for the worse.

Tried to start the old girl this morning to no avail. Nothing seemed out of place at first, just the usually choke adjustment or not...She fired and began to run, then sputtered to a dead silence. Weird...

I tried to turn her over again and she won't have it. Then I noticed
the smoke billowing out of the not so usual places. Smoke from the exhaust flange and from the breather cap. I only tried to start her a couple more times, and I hope for limited damage, but my guess is I'm about to take on a not so gentle problem, just 2 months short of Round-up...

So here's the background for those who are wise enough to guide... Bullshitters, move on...

I pulled the dip stick to check the oil. She's a half quart low. I'm not super suprised, I've done some long mile treks over the last few weeks and she's left subtle marks of her excistance at each of my destinations. NOW, I did try to turn her a couple times after I added some oil....and when I pulled the stick again, I didn't have to wipe away any oil that had come down through the block.

...which leads to signs of a possible oil pump prob. If no oil is making it to the top of the valves, the smoke may be a result of the valve friction. This would also explain the smoke from the exhaust flange...

If I replace the oil pump, should this resolve this problem?

If it doesn't, I'll have to replace the valves and have a machine shop redo the head...

Anybody now a decent place to get a head job...?

I guess what I'm looking for from this post is some decent advise and trouble checking pointers.

Your help is always appreciated.

 

Sounds more like a timing problem, could be anything from timing chain/gear problem, distributor problem. Not familiar with that engine but if it's OHV and uses the same type of rocker arm shaft as the early overheads did, they were known to break on occasionally. Can't really see what relationship a bad oil pump would have to your problem

 

first, see if it has oil pressure. Does it have an oil pressure gage? or an idiot light? if so, does it work? if so, what does it do?

 

When you say that "she won't have it" do you mean it won't start or it won't turn over?

 

I guess I should point out that I mean the car, not your significant other!

 

Some times I gotta wait a week...

 

The car wasnt rained on was it? If it locked up and wont turn over I would pull all the plugs and see if it will spin over that way. You may have water in the cylinders.

 

It could be just a simple carb cleaning. If its flooding, it could be mixing with soot and oil and then making it look like an oil problem. If it fired up and then started sputtering, Id bet carb. Typically timing isnt the problem as there is no reason why the timing would have changed from the last time you drove it. Also check your wires and distributer as when you have alot of moisture in the air, it could create crossfire or just dead wires. I had a car that ran good and two weeks in rainy weather, I had 3 wires die? Dont know why but..... Dont get too worried yet, take the simple steps first.

 

the thought processes you use for troubleshooting are all twisted. your description of the problem is vague.

will the motor spin over but not start? or does it not even spin?

 

was the sputtering you refer to sporatic?? I had a distributer gear fail on me a few years back that resulted in almost the same thing spit and sputter then just the occasional bang....

 

you think?

 

Ok it looks like some trouble shooting is in order.

From what I read in your post I am assuming that the starter spins the engine over but it doesn't start and there are puffs of smoke coming out the pipes.

That sounds like it was flooded. I'd pull a couple of plugs and see if they looked wet with gas.

As has been said hundreds of times before on here and I pounded into my auto mechanics students every year. an engine needs a few things to run. Compression, fuel/air mixture, ignition spark.

Assuming that there is fuel in the tank, is it getting to the carb? If you look down the throat of the carb and work the throttle can you see a squirt of fuel?

Does it have spark to the plugs?
Have someone crank it over while you hold a plug wire a bit off the head/block or bracket to see if you are getting spark to the plugs.
Check the inside of the cap for moisture. I haven't heard of a car in a garage collecting condensation in the cap before but did you possibly wash the engine off on the way home last time you drove it? If it has moisture inside the cap, WD-40 and a dry rag or paper towels will take care of it.
Points-condensor in good shape? The points may be worn or pitted to where they won't work as well as they should.

You can run a compression test on the engine to see if the compression is decent and somewhat even. Simple act = pull all of the plugs, block the throttle plate wide open, screw in the compression gage, crank engine and let it hit about five times on the gage to get a good reading. Write down the reading and repeat on each cylinder.

It just may be time for a decent tune up as these engines usually like a tuneup about every 10 to 15 thousand miles.

On the oil situation, I'd pull the valve cover and see how much crud was under it. Those engines are famous for getting plugged up with crud and not letting the oil flow back down to the crankcase. Also the oil passages to the rocker arms tend to get plugged and not allow oil up to the rockers.

 

I once washed my engine with a hose and it did pretty much the same thing. I just let it dry out for a day and it was fine.

 

I'm afraid I would have to agree. Valve friction? Smoke from ex. flange and breather = oil pump?
Start with the basics: engine turns over -> fuel -> spark -> compression, etc, etc.

 

yeah...she won't have it either...the car won't start..she'll turn...

 

dummy light works...

 

Vague, my description may be, but I felt it was a decent start. I really hadn't meesed with the choke too much, so I didn't feel the need to pull the plugs. I understand the simplicity of the air,spark, & fuel game. Having recently replaced the carb, This would normally be a point to start from.

On the other hand, having put a couple hundred miles on her since then, I felt confident this may not be the issue. I could be wrong though.

 

does it indicate that you get oil pressure? If so, then don't worry about the oil pump, concentrate on why it's not running. No hood = wet ignition system.

 

Folks here are trying to help you out but we're getting the idea that maybe you don't have a firm grounding in auto diagnosis. Some of us are off on a hydrolock tangent theory because of the no hood and thunderstorms part of the narrative. Yet you say you had it in the garage so that's prolly a goose chase.
If it turns over and does so at sufficiently fast RPM's then start chasing down good spark then fuel delivery. After that check plugs for fouling. The oil pump is way way down on the list.

 

It sounds to me like the banana in the tailpipe trick. If you have smoke coming out at the exhaust flange and alot of blow by from the crankcase it could be a plugged up exhaust. I have heard of pack rats plugging up a tailpipe also.
Have some one crank it while you check the tailpipe.

 

If you just had a shitload of rainy weather and your car is hoodless (even in a closed garage) you might have moisture under the distributor cap. Wipe down the wires, give the inside of the cap, rotor, etc a blast with a water displacing spray and give it another go.

The smoke coming out of all pores is just the thing trying to light off, but it can't.

Bob

 

Mostiure(sp) in the dis. cap? With all of that talk about rain.

It drove in the garage w/no issues, right? Can't be too much of an issue.

 

LOL

Did the damned thing get rained on? It's not clear in your story.

"I run a 54 Ford Customline...The one without a hood and a clean straight 6"

"Storms rolled through central and southeast Texas last night ... Opened up the garage this morning to skate out the door to the j-o-b"

We can't tell if your car was inside or outside. Going to make a BIG difference in the answers you are given.

I'd say it's got rain water down in it. Pull the plugs and let the engine turn over - water will spray every where - then replace the plugs and change the oil, see where that gets you. Also spray a little WD-40 in the distributor cap, it acts as a water displacer.

 

Best guess you got a bunch of moisture in either the distributor cap or the coil and the engine's good n flooded. Everything was wet then cooled down and pulled a bunch of moisture in, happens a lot. If it's the coil it's probably shorted internally, if it's the distributor cap you can mist WD40 in there and wipe it out real well.

Oh yeah, if it's a waterlogged paper element take that off.

good luck

 

Will check the plugs as soon as I get back to the casa tonight. I appreciate all the help, from everyone. The hoods off, but I leave her in the garage. Condensation, would be a strange chase to me, only due to the mild temp changes since I drove her last, which was only a few days ago. But I'm taking in every drop of advise...In fact may trek the 25 miles home just to check the damn plugs...haven't eaten lunch yet.

 

awesome...Big storms rolled through last night...will check too...

 

It sounds like a wet cap to me as well. You do not have to submarine the engine to get enough water near the distributor for condensation to occur.

Driving through a puddle, or a little rain collecting on the manifold can be enough.

It seems like not a big deal, but the water in the cap will cause the spark to jump all over, lighting off cylinders that aren't supposed to go, screwing the spark sequence all up.
It can make it seem like the engine is really messed up.
If the cap is wet, or you think it was, pull the plugs and make sure they are not fuel fouled. If you find nothing there, while the plugs are out, spin it over to expel any water in the cylinders. It takes a second and will rule that one out.

Process of elimination of the simplest things first.

 

Pull the distributor cap and make sure the thing turns over properly. Could have broken a cotter pin.

 

That quick little storm had some power- I was working on wifey's bel air when it came through.

I have this 1/2 inch gap between the sliding windows on the shop truck. the nose was facing east. it only really "stromed" for about 10 minutes- and my DASHBOARD was drenched. the seat was SOAKED.

if there is any chance this booger got wet, start with this.

#1=dry out they distributor cap and points.
#2- pull the plugs and spin the motor over with the coil wire pulled- look for spark at the cil wire whilst doing so.
#3- clean the plugs anyway.
#4- change the oil. if the "smoke" You saw was actually steam, You cold be getting ready for a big problem due to water in the pan-because it sinks in the oil, and the pickup drinks that first. treat it like a flood car.

report back, Homie. You gotta drive it to the round up. otherwise I am gonna steal Your parking spot.

 

DUH!! I THINK i would maybe GET A HOOD!!!!!!