bluegoose

Hello all,

I have a 89 bird with a new 383, super ram, and Gen VII ECM. The 383 has only 8K miles on it. I just had it smoged and it passed with outstanding low numbers!! Drove it home, and then went to start car about 1 1/2 hours later, the car wont start, the starter was giving me lots of problems, the soliend (sp) is shot, therefore the engine flooded and I had raw fuel coming out of my header donuts.

Got new starter yesterday, car turns over easy and starts but now I have lots of white/blue smoke from tail pipes...
in fact I found some oil on driveway that dripped from the drivers side header donut.

What could causes this?? I am concerned about the 383 it was built by a local shop and he did a great job and cost some coin, I have not even took it to the track yet, I have not drove it hard!!

How can I figure out what’s going on with the motor with out tearing if all apart?

Could a head gasket cause this?? Could the massive flooding cause this??

Any information will be greatly appreciated, and I will answer any questions??

Wadebryant

Now that it's running again, did the smoking condition clean up? It could have possibly been related to the flooding condition, mass amounts of fuel washing the bores and fouling a plug or two? Introducing all that raw fuel into the exhaust could have also shown up on the ground in oily puddle form. As to the head gasket, have you checked the dip stick for any sign of coolant?

bluegoose

The smoke hasnt cleared that much, in fact I really didnt run it that much, guess I will install new plugs and see.. what happens...

Also forgot to tell ya, that I had the EGR Value hooked to vaccum all the time,. so I could pass smog.

I read somewhere that if the intake gasket for the EGR Passage is ruined then the oil couled be pulled into the heads?? does this have any truth??

How can I test for a intake gasket being bad??

Wadebryant

I believe that the EGR valve should be hooked to vacuum anyway. If the gasket has failed then I would think that the valve wouldnt function as it should. Is your motor computer controlled? Should throw a code if the EGR is malfunctioning.

An intake gasket failure much like a head gasket failure can and probably will introduce coolant into the engine's oil. Check the dip stick for milky looking oil or drops of coolant in the oil. Is the oil level above normal? Pressure testing the system will also help locate a head or intake gasket failure.

Blue oily smoke at start up from most of our high mile Gen 1 GM motors is common as the valve seals and guides wear. Your motor being fresh and in good condition shouldnt have that problem if the rings are seated and the heads were new or reconditioned.

Pull the plugs and find out if they're oily or wet.

Good luck

bluegoose

Wadebryant,

EGR--For the EGR my ECM (computer) does not controll the EGR therefore no error codes, the only way I can hook it up is straight to a vacuum port, Why do recommened EGR hooked up...

Blue Smoke--Well I changed the plugs and they were fouled and had raw fuel on them, replaced plugs and the car is running like a champ. I talked to the guru who bulit the motor and he said the same thing you said, with that much raw fuel it "washes" the walls and intake passages, therefore I could get some oil around the header donut if the donut has a small leak. So I am happy, now back to stater problems, seems like no mater what stater I buy and install ( all mini ) I cant seem to get them shimmed just right. I know its easy but its kicking my but!! The up side, I can remove the starter in about 90 sec.

Damon

If the EGR is not under computer control you're going to have a hard time running it from any commonly available vacuum source on an EFI intake system.

Before there were computers and EFI, EGR valves were run from a special EGR valve vacuum source (from the carb). That vacuum source supplied vacuum only above idle speeds- and even then vacuum didn't hit instantly, it ramped up fairly gradually from just above idle to about 15% throttle. Opening the EGR at idle will give you a real crappy idle, if it can hold one at all. Additionally, the factory used a thermal vacuum switch to prevent EGR opening until the engine was warmed up (vacuum switch usually screwed into the intake water jacket with nipples to hook the vacuum in/out lines to it). Opening the EGR valve on a cold engine, even with some throttle opening, results in poor part throttle drivability.

When they went to EFI and computer controls the computer was given control over the EGR system- when the valve was opened or closed. This resulted in much finer and mroe reliable control over the system BUT THE SAME BASIC OPERATING PARAMETERS WERE FOLLOWED IN THE ECM PROGRAMMING AS THE OLD MECHANICAL/VACUUM SYSTEMS DID THAT CAME BEFORE THEM. i.e. no EGR valve opening at idle or on a cold engine.

If you're running full manifold vacuum to your EGR valve (likely since there are no EGR vacuum ports on any EFI intake I'm aware of) it will be open fully at idle and even on a cold engine. The only reason I can think that would be working for you is if the heads, intake or valve is actually blocked off or non-functional. (For instance- some aftermarket heads do not have an exhaust crossover passage like, say, Dart Iron Eagles or GM ZZ4 aluminum heads).

Still, this could be a bad situation. If you're opening the EGR valve and the exhaust crossover ports in the heads are blocked off (or non-existant) you'll be drawing manifold vacuum in the EGR passages in the intake manifold. This WILL eventually draw oil from the lifter valley past the intake gaskets and into your engine. Maybe not a lot, but it'll draw it- and there's no place for it to bleed back into the engine except through your intake system, getting burned in the engine while it's running.

Just something to keep in mind if you find you're mysteriously burning oil and can't figure out why.

bluegoose

You are correct about the EGR Port, my heads and intake support egr and I must have egr for smog. Anyways I only hook it up on the way to the smog test, (straight to vacuum) and the numbers look good. the car passed smog...yea yea..another two years of no headaches...EGR has been disconneted from vacuum...

Damon,
thanks for the great explaination!!!