Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Hi was just wanting to know what could be the most likely cause for a very smoky engine.
It blows a large amount of WHITE smoke all the time.
Was thinking it may not actually be a ring problem.
This is for a friend who has recently purchased the 1938 120 sedan and he was un able to obtain any history from the previous owner, car has been restored at some stage, so more than likely the engine has had a rebuild.

Does your friend find that he is having to add coolant regularly? Though a healthy engine may emit some "white" smoke at times, especially in cold weather with low humidity, white smoke = condensing steam and can be the result of a leaking head gasket or a cracked cylinder head or engine block. You might try to do a cooling system leak-down test.

If the engine was rebuilt recently as you suggest and the cylinder head was not retorqued at least once thereafter, I would first suspect a cylinder head gasket failure. You might try retorqueing the cylinder head though often at this point the gasket has actually failed and will require replacement.