Thread: 428 smokes ... #1 Cylinder only

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Thanks for the reply IC2. I can't honestly say it's NOT water, because I don't know what the fault is yet. However, the smoke doesn't smell like antifreeze, it hangs in the air a long time, unlike steam, when I pressurized the cylinder, or run the engine, no bubbles appear in the water in the expansion-tank, and I did a pressure test on the cooling system, and couldn't find anything. I have a pressure tester similiar to the one on e-bay, however it doesn't always seal well around the expansion tank, so holding pressure wasn't much of a test. However, it did pressurize and no coolant entered the cylinder.

I tried sort of a home-made leak-down test. I pressurized the cylinder to 40+ psi and measured the time for the pressure to drop from 40 to zero. It did seem quicker in #1, but I really wasn't getting consistency between any of the cylinders, even though I put each one at its TDC for the test. I may try to make a real leak-down tester. Just a couple of gauges, a 0.040" , 1/4" long restrictor and some plumbing bits and pieces.

Basically, I have to take things back apart. Since I used gasket sealer around all ports this time (not just the water passage), the gaskets should be stuck pretty good. If there's an area of the gasket that's not stuck, it indicates oil got by.

I think the problem is beyond internet help as even if I made a video, you couldn't smell the smoke.....LOL. It definately smells like exhaust and burns the eyes (and it's more gray than white, sometimes yellowish). SO.....if I don't find anything after stipping down the manifold (again...sigh), I'll take that cylinder head off and check the gasket. If I still can't find anything, I'll have to jack the car up, remove the oil pan, and remove #1 con-rod cap, pull the piston, and inspect the cylinder and rings.

Just so weird.....smoking gets worse as the engine heats up.......weird.....

Thanks again for the help. Not a lot on the FE on the internet anymore.

I feel for you with an FE tear down staring at you. There is nothing easy about them. There is another site that I frequent and will PM the info to you. There are a few more FE folks there and one in particular, but he has been absent lately - summer ya know!!

I had that same problem with a tripower manifold on a 390. Fought it for months and then decided to go back to a 4 barrel. Changed manifold and the smoke went away. I asked a big time Ford drag racer about it and he said look for a crack in the underside of the intake runner. Sure enough there it was, welded the crack, reinstalled, and smoke went away. I was told that many of the stock Ford aluminum intakes did that??? The crack was very hairline in nature really had to clean it well to see it.

John

Had a similar problem with a Ford Y-block last year. After much frustration I finally found that someone in the past had ported the head and got a bit carried away and ground the intake runner paper thin. Finally it cracked and was allowing oil to be sucked into the head, causing that cylinder to smoke and fouling the plug. It wasn't in a spot that could be welded, and the owner didn't want to pay for a new head, so some careful work with some epoxy sealed the crack. A year later it's still running strong.

Thanks guys. No porting done, so hopefully stock heads are thick enough, although a crack did occur to me. I did look at the underside of the manifold for cracks and didn't see any, but that certainly doesn't mean there isn't one. It did look a bit "wet" looking up the manifold intake runner.

I wonder how they check aluminum for cracks.....I doubt magnafluxing would work..... And it's not a Ford manifold....it's a 2x4 360Deg Offenhauser, so "readily available" is not likely. Bad port matching anyway......would try to find a different 2x4 manifold....mind you, then there's that epoxy idea.....

anyways, you guys are right....I need to do a close inspection for manifold cracks.......thank-you