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I am new to this 38 Super 8 1603 and still trying to get a feel for the car. When driving the car around town and after it warms up upon down shifting to a stop or starting to take off there is a bit of white smoke coming out the tail pipe. A classic car mechanic says since the car has not been driven much recently I just need to but some miles on it and it should clear up but it still worries me.

Any thoughts??

Pierre Lemieux

Your mechanic is probably right so don't worry. Old cars do tend to smoke a bit and if the car hasn't been driven much it may need a few miles to sort itself out but a little smoke is normal.

yes, tie some cheesecloth at the tailpipe for a short while after the car has warmed up. Remove and sniff - does it smell like burnt oil (passing rings) or burnt antifreeze, possibly a leaking headgasket. This is definitely a very open ended question for a neophytpe step one clue. Having said that, I'm sure some Real Mechanics will chime in suggesting compression tests, carb adjustments, and full diagnostics. I just happened to come across your post with a half glass of good scotch still here.

Are you sure about the color of the smoke? If it is actually light blue or darker, it sounds like valve guides that are worn.

If you place the cloth over the tailpipe it will give you a good idea what the smoke is made up of.

If it truely is white smoke it's probably steam. A small amount of white smoke, especially on start-up, is common enough and just the result of water vapor in the air being taken into the combustion process and being expelled as steam. But if it's persistent and occurs even after warmup on dry days, leaking of coolant into the combustion chamber should be considered. This would also be accompanied by a need to periodically replace some coolant. It's hard on that model to look inside the radiator tank while the engine is running (looking for bubbling), but you could remove the spark plugs and check for wetness, and then check the compression. If you conclude there is a coolant leak into the compression area, you'll need to remove the head, check (and replace) the headgasket, and check carefully for cracks in the block, usually seen in the area of the exhaust valve seats.

If in fact the smoke is blue and not too profuse, I'd do as others have suggested and put some miles on it to see if it resolves itself.

White smoke means that a new Pope was chosen, while dark smoke signals that the ballot did not result in an election.



(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

G-R-O-A-NNNNNNNNN!

the above post...? What's with that "GROAN"..? The mechanic said he is a CLASSIC car mechanic. What's with you guys. Dont you know the rules ? You are SUPPOSED to call EVERYTHING a "classic", and once you do that, you are not ALLOWED to question the use of the word. Shame on you

I think you are being disruptive for even SUGGESTING that we make fun of a guy who tosses the word "classic" around. Get with the program !

Pete, sometimes I think you dont even read the entire conversation before responding. Perhaps if you did, you may have something constructive to add.

Big Kev - you are right - I apologize - it was me who figured out a way to sneak into Pierre's post and make up that sentence about what a "classic" car mechanic said.

Shame on me. While I am apologizing, I want to again apolgize for standing in front of all those Packard show-rooms after, oh, say, about May of 1955 and chasing off all those people who were in line to buy new Packards.

Did I tell you how sorry I am for sneaking into the Purchasing Depts. of GM., NASH, HUDSON, and forced them to give up their plans to buy Ultramatic transmissions, instead of using that crummy Hydramatic. Yeah, I know..I know..I also stopped Chrysler from dropping their Torqeflight trannys instead of using the Ultramatic, like they were planning to do.

I am SUCH a bad guy. Did you know I worked in Packard in the late 1940's, and tricked them into down-sizing the performance of the top-of-the-line Packards, by getting Packard to stop production on the famous "356' engines, dropping it for that "327"...made them take out the braces on the hood and roof panels..?

SHAME on me !