chevy 350 issues

hey fellas, if youve been readin mt th350 thread then you kno im hsvin troubles of my own. but if not, then here are the detatails. about three months ago, i got the brilliant idea to back my 78 chevy in the river. its got a 350, sm465 four speed, and np 205 t case. in the last couple of weeks ive been tryin to bring it back to life by changing fluids and all. wen i pulled it out of the shed to bring it to the garage, it was barely running. spitin, poppin and sputterin every time i would try to move it. thru a combination of high revs and clutch slipping i managed to get it on the garage. my dad and i fiddled with the choke, crakned it up, and it was running better. not perfect, but better. wednesday night, i replaced a deteriorated vaccum line cap and started it up, only to have the same spit and sputter while idlin problem. so i shut it off and gave up for the night. yesterday before i left for work, i had some time so i cranked it. it cut off once at first, but i started it back and got the choke to engage, it ran perfest for 10 mins while i did other things. i came back, and reved it so the choke would deactivate, and it settled into a happy and healthy idle. for a few minutes. but wen i put it in gear and let out on the clutch, it did the same spittin and poppin and almost shutting off thing it had been doin. it was also blowing white smoke from the exhaust. i told my dad about it and hes leaning towards a blown head gasket. i did see some coolant drops on the bottom of the oil pan wen i was under there, but the motor oil is not milky. i hope yall can lead me in the right direction here. thanks in advance

The presence of white smoke can only mean 2 things... I think... Either burning oil from from the blow by on the piston rings or burning coolant... No a head gasket could be the culprit. Does the truck knock or ping or anything or does it just sputter? Now something I was just thinking about... Is your avatar the photo of this joyous occastion? If so I'm gonna guess as stated before that you may have water in your ignition. I'll post back more later but I've gotta get going for now!

i always thought burning oil made blue smoke. it blows that wen first cranked, but thats "normal" for this truck. it also blows black smoke from runnin a lil rich. but this is the first time ive ever seen white smoke vapor. it doesnt ping or knock, on;y spits and sputters and wants to die completely. and yea, my avater is of this glotious, time consuming, and costly occasion. i was thinkin water in the distributor, until it ran perfect for about 15 minutes yesterday. im kinda puzzled.

i should also mention that the day of the incident, it ran fine for about an hour afteri got it out and drove it home. then it sat until last week, wen it started actin up

In a gasoline engine, white smoke is water in the exhaust, or coolant in the combustion chamber. I would pressure test the cooling system and see where you stand.

ok, a pressure test. what do i need to do that?

A cooling system pressure tester.

As long as its holding a constant pressure you should be good.

Here is one from Summit;

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/OTC-7991/?image=large

im bettin a hg. When i blew mine out it did the same thing.

Do a compression test wouldn't that answer the question of blown head gasket?

thanks guys. i took it out yesterday and its runnin fine now. im puzzled. im goin to put some fresh gas in it and see what happens. i don kno whats gonna happen, yall cross ur fingers lol

For future reference:

White smoke=water, or an a diesel motor it can mean partially burnt fuel
Black smoke=fuel
Blue smoke=Oil

johnboggs21 wrote:

For future reference:

White smoke=water
Black smoke=fuel
Blue smoke=Oil, or an a diesel motor it can mean partially burnt fuel

White smoke can also be coolant or incomplete fuel burn.... IE air in the fuel.

oops guess i need to edit my post lol

well i dove it about 20 miles or so, it only cut off once lol, but started actin uo a lil when we got back home. i bought some water treatment and engine cleanser and put that in, well see what happens. and i bought a solenoid for my winch. but that didnt fix the problem lol

Ain't it funny how things like that never seem to work... lol

yea and it drives me NUTS im a perfectionist when it comes to the way my vehicles run and operate

I know how you feel... I'm not a perfectionist about operation but it drives me crazy when the SES light is on and exhaust leaks are one of my biggest pet peeves!!! I also hate hack job work! When I do custom work to my truck I want it to appear stock I don't want al kinds of crap cut up the shitty butt looking work... Like right now my speedo doesn't work my SES light is on and I have a small exhaust leak an unfinished bumper!!! I'm straight pulling my hair out right now because everything I hate I'm having to deal right now! I don't turn my head at the intersections because everyone is looking at my truck and I know what they what they are looking at and it's killing me!! lol

FINALLY! someone else that is irritated by exhaust leaks! i thought i was the only one lol

i hate them as well but for some reason i tend to get them alot in my red truck... could be cause the headers hit the ground when i go over a speed bump or on the highway... once a week im under the thing welding the exhuast back on.. lol

Yup I just spent 2 hours yesterday at my cousins house welding the exhaust on my truck so now I have no exhaust leaks but my SES light is still on due to my non exsist VSS which I've given up on finding an adapter for my 208 I'm just looking for an NP241 out of a 88-91 blazer jimmy or burban fullsize! And I still have to finish my bumper and everything else but winter is the busiest time of the year for us so I've been working my butt off lately not getting home till long after dark and don't really have the time to get over to my buddies house and fire up the woodstove and kick on the welder!



Anyway on a different note hows the truck running bigcountry? Any updates!!

nah its back under the shed for now, monday night and last night i didnt get home from work till 2 am, and its been raining for three days now. so its kinda hard to get motivated lol

alright guys i gotta update, i got it out today and it idled fine, i let it warm up to operating temp and took off. now it runs great in first and second gears, but once i got up into third and fourth, i could feel it hesitating and holding back. i even put the pedal to the floor a time or two with almost no gain in speed whatsoever. it struggles to maintain 50 on a flat road. push the clutch in and it dies. crank it and it dies again, it takes three or four tries until it will idle on its own. take off again and it once again has a good strong pull thru first and second, but stumbles in third and fourth. im totally at a loss for what is happening here, my dad says mybe its jumped timing but were just not sure. any suggestions are always appreciated

is it tbi? sounds like what my suburban did and it was the fuel pump

I would be willing to bet its a fuel issue. Either the pump or the carb.

oh, it's carb'd? sounds to me like the floats are sticking and emptying the bowls.. OR the fuel pump is weak and can't keep up with the amount of fuel the carb is dumping into the motor.. had a similar issue with my bronco. i had a holley on it that had the stone type filters in the bowl where the fuel feed line went in. don't know what carb you have, but i'd check into that and the fuel filter