Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Good Morning All,

Well it seems that my son has done more damage than I thought. A couple of weeks ago my radiator let go and dumped all of the coolant while my son was using my 53' Patrician with a 327. I had the radiator repaired and I re-installed it only to find that once the car warmed up it started to smoke really bad from the exhaust pipe. It runs smoothly but gives off tons of white smoke. Any suggestions on how to start tearing down the motor for repair?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ramon

Running an engine with no coolant causes SEVERE damage. I had this happen once back in the late 1960s with a 1965 GTO that I let a "friend" drive. A rad hose blew and he did not stop until the engine seized. The heads were OK, as were the crank and rods, but the block and pistons were cracked and pure junk.

Unfortunately, this is probably where you are on yours.

Craig

Do a compression test and look for a couple of adjacent low cylinders. I'm guessing you've just popped a head gasket unless the car was WAY overheated. Any bubbles coming up in the neck of the radiator?

The motor never seized up, in fact it runs quite smoothly still, I'm hoping it's just a head gasket. Can I pressurize each cylinder and see if I get bubbles in the radiator? Is that a fair test to see if its just the gasket?
Ramon

If the head gasket is blown between the water jacket and the cylinders, you should see bubbles at the radiator neck with the car running at idle.

White smoke could also be a ring issue.

Sounds like the over- heat blew a little hole in your head gasket and your blowing coolant into a cylinder ,white smoke is steam ,the head gasket is made to give out before something more critical doeas.The head can warp though particularly teword the back of that long engine so before that new head gasket goes in have the head machined to make sure its still flat .Modern hard gaskets if theyre metal on only one side require a sealer too
I have a 52 also , has the straight 8 and ultramatic ;It got hot so I replaced the hoses ,the thermostat and had the radiator recored ,It had a recent ring job to replace two broken oil rings so the head gasket should be alright
Now its not overheating but runs on the hot side of the scale now the notch before all the way hot ,I wonder if the water pump is bad, or mabey the new modern cores run hotter?
Im having a wierd problem also with the electrical system
the batt light comes on at idle normaly and goes off when at slow speed ,up to 50-55 mph ,then at 60 it comes back on!
I have a new voltage regulator and the generator is a fresh rebuild ,Hmm this is mystery ,is the belt slipping generator pully at speed?Voltage regulator need adjustment ??

Thanks for the comment Steve. Welcome to this awesome, and I do mean AWESOME!, site. Have a good one!
Ramon

Cast iron engines will take a lot of abuse before they are wrecked. It is possible the only damage is a blown head gasket.

Take out the spark plugs and examine them. If they are all dirty except one or 2 are perfectly clean you have found the problem. Coolant or steam in the cylinder steam cleans the deposits out and the plugs look like new.

2 clean plugs means the gasket is blow between those cylinders.