Smoking out driver side, even after new engine. HELP

[Vetteman61]

I finally got the oil leak sealed up coming from the manifold bolt.  A little Indian Head (or whatever they call it now) from the brown bottle seems to have fixed it after it sat overnight.   

Ok, so here's the situation from what I know so far, and what I've found out.   

   The car will smoke when it idles, and it will also smoke when you rev it up, however, if I drive it a long distance, it will stop smoking.  If I drive it about 30 miles around 50-60 miles per hour, when I come to a stop, there is no smoke.  When it does smoke, there is quite a large amount of it.  If it sits for a few minutes after that trip, it still won't smoke.  I can then rev it up and it will start smoking.  It seems to only smoke after start up, or after idling, but not during decent-sized trips.

  This leads me to believe I have a valve stem or valve guide problem.   There is no crossover pipe on the exhaust, it has true duals, so the smoke is only coming out the driver side.
  The head was supposed to have been looked at and anything wrong with it was supposed to have been fixed.  The engine had a complete over haul by the guy who built it.
  Is it possible that the valve guides had worn inside the head, and some type of oversized valve guide would now be required to keep oil from coming past.  If he replaced the valve guides and valve seals and it's still leaking as it was before I had it rebuilt, I feel simply replacing them again won't fix my problem.
  If I could narrow it down to exactly which cylinder is causing the problem, that would be easier, but none of the plugs show any sign of burning oil and thus far, it hasn't fouled any plugs at all.  In fact, the plugs look great... and super dry.

    Any ideas???
  Thanks,
     Brandon

[Otto Skorzeny]

If it is indeed valve related, I'd suspect the valve seals first rather than the valve guides.

Someone suggested switching the heads from side to side. If possible, that would be a quick way to determine whether the head and/or it's components is at fault.

If there is no change then the problem is specific to that side of the engine block.

[Dan LeBlanc]

Sounds to me like a problem with valve stem seals.  If they were changed, maybe they weren't installed properly or a bad one or two may have found their way into your engine.

[Dan LeBlanc]

Geez Forrest, you're too fast for me!

[Vetteman61]

I can't switch the heads.  They can only be used on specific sides because of the water pump mounting holes.

[Guidematic]

Worn valve guides will only smoke on deceleration. Smoking under power is generally a ring problem. This is basic engine diagnosis.

Mike

[Glen]

What causes white smoke on start up? 

Glen

[kelly]

Valve stem seals are always a good suspect>
Kelly

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Engine Oil burns Blue, Transmission Fluid burns White, as well as Antifreeze.

Plus, Water boils off as Steam, which appears to be White as well.

Bruce.

[Glen]

I like the valve stem seals.  It could be the easy fix.  It’s definitely not steam, it last too long.  I would not guarantee it is white smoke; it could be a little blue.  Not black like a rich mixture. 

It does not seem to be losing oil or coolant so it would be very small amounts if it is one of these. 

Thanks for the info. 

Glen

[Vetteman61]

 To my knowledge, it's not using any oil.  It could be using a little, and I intend to drive it some more to find out.  It has become increasingly apparent that driving about 20 miles or even less at 45-50 miles an hour temporarily "fixes" the problem, then let it sit and idle for 2 minutes at a stop, and it goes to smoking again, and will not stop until you drive it at highway speed again for several miles.

  The smoke appears white... there could be a little blue tint.... (honestly, it's somewhat hard for me to detect small color changes like this sometimes)...  but it definitely smells of oil when the smoke makes it's way up to me.

  The guy who built the engine (i put it back in the car) tells me he thinks it's oil in the exhaust, crystallized from a year ago when the engine went down and I parked it, but I definitely don't agree with this theory anymore.  He's a very experienced engine builder, but I don't really feel this is what is happening with my car.

This is very frustrating, because I just had a 6 cylinder rebuilt, I had this engine rebuilt, and I found a good deal on a 31 chevy.... however it has left me with absolutely no cash.... I expected this car to be finished now, but after spending quite a bit of money (for me) on the parts and labor of rebuilding it, it still has the same problem as when I took it apart.  Granted, it did have a cracked piston and bad ring then, but it's still not right, and that's frustrating.

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

Brandon, now we're getting somewhere. If it had exactly the SAME problem BEFORE you took it apart, you have another problem BESIDES the cracked piston & bad ring. Sometimes when we find a problem & fix it, we may be unaware of more problems in the same area. Maybe the cracked piston was not the cause after all, but your rebuilder assumed it was. Your motor has a problem in that cylinder. It's either the block or the head. I would take a REAL good look at the head. HTH, Bob

[Dan LeBlanc]

May be time to invest in getting some magnafluxing done.  In the long run, may be more cost effective than just throwing time and parts at potential problems.

[Guidematic]

Just off the cuff here, I'm not terribly familiar with the Hydra-Matic, but if it has a vacuum modulator there is a possibility of of it allowing transmission fluid to be sucked up into the intake manifold, that will create white smoke.

Mike

[Misfit]

Trans is mechanically operated with the TV rod. No vacuum is used here.

MisFit

[Guidematic]

That's what I thought, but it was a stab in the dark.

Mike