New Engine, Now Smoking! Help!

[JamesVW73]

hey all, i hope i can get any help i possibly can, im about ready to junk this damn truck. I recently rebuilt my engine (read 2 days, about 20 miles) all new internals, bearings, lifters, etc. well, after running it for about 20 minutes, it started smoking, somewhat white smoke, didnt smell like burning oil or anything, but pulled the plugs anyway. cyls 5 and 6, oily. the rest were still brand new. did a compression check, 200+psi on all cylinders. started searching on here, maybe its my felpro lower intake causing it? pulled the intake, runners for 5 and 6 had a film of oil in them. went to ford, bought the aluminum lower intake gasket, installed today. truck ran absolutely beautiful for about an hour. pulled in my driveway tonight, was smoking again! still doesnt smell like oil, but smokes almost exactly like it was before. havent pulled plugs yet, but suspecting oily #s 5 and 6. If ANYONE has an idea to throw at me, please do. Keep in mind it doesnt start smoking until engine is up to temp, and it def is coming out of the exhaust, not off of the motor or anything else. I'm hoping i dont have to pull this thing out again

 

[Tbars4]

white smoke is from water such as a head gasket, grey smoke is from oil...you said white so i'm thinking since it is when it gets to temp, it's after the t-stat opens...i hope this will help...

 

[JamesVW73]

but if i remember correctly, if it was burning coolant, wouldnt the plugs be really clean, like steam cleaned? i mean, when i pulled the plugs the first time, they were definitely covered in oil. gah this is too frustrating! lol

 

[Tbars4]

burnt coolant shouldn't steam clean your plugs....

 

[JamesVW73]

usually burning coolant will steam clean your cylinder. but when i pulled the plugs the first time, they were definitely covered in oil, and black soot. you could smell the burnt oil on em, and they were literally brand new motorcraft platinum plugs about 2 hours before. i think i'm going to try and pressure test my cooling system tomorrow, and recheck the torque on the heads. i mean a brand new head gasket shouldn't blow like that. on initial startup, i made damn sure the truck didn't overheat, just for this purpose of potentially blowing a head gasket lol.

 

[Tbars4]

lmao, i know how it goes...but white smoke is water and usually a head gasket...as for the oil i would hate to suggest anything when you have a new motor...you might see if something on the rockers is not seating right or over tightened since you are looking into it on those 2 cylinders...i'm wondering if you are getting both, water and oil, but you should be getting more of a blue/grey smoke if it was oil...let us know tomorrow what you find...good luck

 

[JamesVW73]

hmm rockers overtightened?????? havent heard that before, please explain further?

 

[Tbars4]

sorry tired, i meant in that general area of the heads...unless you have a crack, sorry, i would think something was not sitting right to let oil get by...

 

[JamesVW73]

hmm something not sitting right? i mean oil is getting to the rockers and valve springs. this is all too wierd for me. i built the engine myself, and the two heads are brand new. i had them assembled at a local machine shop, who magnafluxed them just in case, no cracks.

 

[Tbars4]

i was using the crack as an example of...nevermind...let's start again...white smoke water, right...grey smoke oil...i'm thinking you have 2 different issues here...let's see what the pressure test tells ya first and also what your plugs say now that they are fresh since the first time when you had oil on them...lets see if they have oil or water on them first...

 

[JamesVW73]

haha alrighty, new post tomorrow, prob around this time. ill try to post pics too

 

[Tbars4]

talk to you tomorrow...i hoping it's something simple for ya...

 

[JamesVW73]

ah hell i hope so. spending tons of money on this rig sucks. just to think, my lift, and tires are already sitting in the garage waiting on this thing, and the tranny has 5k on it

 

[Tbars4]

just checking on ya...i'm hoping you found some good news???

 

[JamesVW73]

haha not yet, pulling the head off to take BACK to the machine shop. compression test, coolant pressure test and cylinder leakdown test showed nothing. the way this thing was pressurizing the rad, my best guess is that my head or intake is cracked between the water jacket and the cylinder. just more money to spend haha. and just to think, i had him magnaflux the heads to make sure there were no issues

 

[Tbars4]

....thats why i didn't continue in my previous post about a "crack"....it's the one thing you are sure is not there since a machine shop did it, but once you go thru checking everything out and nothing else is a problem....well, your not the first with this problem....i hope they remedy it for you and for free....keep us posted....

 

[JamesVW73]

well the heads were rebuilt by them. not brand new, brand new. new valves, springs, but the castings are original to that engine. i had taken one set from my other spare motor, one of them was cracked, so i took another. im wondering if they might have accidently put together the cracked head. but it was cracked in between the valves, but a coolant passage and the combustion chamber. i mean this thing is producing hella pressure in the radiator very quickly. i mean in 30 seconds its already bubbling when i release the lever on my rad cap. my best guess is either my block is cracked in between a coolant passage and the cyl wall, or my head gasket is blown, or the head is shot, wither way, i have already contacted the machine shop, and they are footing the bill for whatever it takes to fix it. be it another head, another head gasket, and everything else related

 

[JamesVW73]

one other thing, i have heard a few horror stories from this machine shop. but they build race engines on a daily basis, so they cannot be all TOO bad. when i first got the block back from them, they had installed the front cam bearing in crooked, scarring up the bearing, and scarring the cam. they have already paid me once for their mistakes by buying another comp 410 cam (read $250.00) and another set of cam bearings. looks like they might be owing me another engine, or head at least.

 

[Tbars4]

good going... i agree with everything you said and trust me, i really hate using the cracked word....nothing ever is good when you use it, lol...i hope you get her done for the weekend

 

[JamesVW73]

hah yeah i hope so too. being 21, going to school full time, and selling tires for sears 6 days a week makes it kinda hard to work quickly on anything. either way, the head is going to be in his hand in the next 30 minutes, and i shall see tomorrow what he says