Tail Pipe Smoke - 1940 Flathead V8

[Bob Grieb]

I recently aquired a 1941 Ford . It runs great and has good power but emits blueish smoke from the tailpipe when accelerating from a stop. I am looking for suggestions as to what may be causing the problem and how I might test for the cause. The compression is around 100 psi and even in all cylinders.

Thanks

Bob

 

[Jack E/NJ]

Seems like a bit of oil might be getting by the valve guides too. Does it smoke when you in-gear coast/decelerate, then accelerate? Jack E/NJ

 

[Bob Grieb]

I do not notice the smoke emissions when I decelerate.

Thanks for your input.

 

[51 MERC-CT]

Had a similar situation at about 70K miles. Put in a can of Rislone stop smoke, within appox. 500 miles the blue smoke was gone.
Continued to add at each oil change and now at over 100K miles still no smoke.

 

[Bob Grieb]

Thanks 51 Merc

 

[Bob NH]

Anybody ever heard of adding Bon Ami soap to cyl's to break the glaze on cal.walls ?

 

[Bob Grieb]

Never heard of that. I would think that Bon Ami being an abrasive could do damage to the engine conponents..

 

[Bob NH]

I did not actually witness the event but think it was tried in a Ford dealers garage in my town by one of the senior mechanics and apparently was successful ! I share your thoughts as to other dammage if not flushed out somehow afterwards. This was some years ago and said mechanic is now deceased. If you ever met him ,you know he would do it !

 

[4t8v8]

Anybody ever heard of adding Bon Ami soap to cyl's to break the glaze on cal.walls ?

Have heard about it for many years. I have also heard that it is a gift that keeps on giving. Would not pour anything gritty in my engine. Nope.

 

[B-O-B]

We did that on air compressors to seat the rings but then cleaned every bit of it out before sealing them up. This was in the 50s.

 

[19Fordy]

Here's what some HAMBers say about using (My good friend.) Bon Ami.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/hey-oldtimers-im-thinking-about-the-bon-ami-trick.592765/

 

[Bulligen]

My father in law was a master mechanic at Chrysler in maintenance, They would have old fork lifts that the employees would abuse and seize up. They were not worth rebuilding again so he said there were a few occasions that they would free them up and put some comet cleanser in each sparkplug hole. That abrasive would hone down the walls and they were able to run the old girls for quite some time before they had to just use them for parts.

 

[rotorwrench]

The stuff I remember old timers using wasn't the powdered cleanser. It was the multi purpose cleaner that is a basic glass type cleaner like Windex, 409, or other ammonia and alcohol based cleaners would do the same thing. You just pour the liquid down the carb while the engine is running at an idle. This washes the oil off the cylinder walls and scuffs them up a bit.

I wouldn't put any dry powder cleanser in there since it could make the rings stick and create a lot of premature wear. When they start to smoke, there is either extreme ring wear or some cylinder scoring going on. Sometimes it indicates a broken ring or the oil control rings are just not doing their job any more. As the rings wear, they lose tension against the cylinder wall. Since the flatheads have 4-ring pistons with two being oil controllers, there is more friction going on there than in a modern engine and those old oil control rings were definitely old school.

 

[corvette8n]

When I changed the oil on my 8BA, I found broken oil control rings in the drain pan, you can also stick a magnet thru the drain hole to see if you can retrieve any bits.

 

[40 Deluxe]

Ol' Ron and others have warned repeatedly against prolonged idling of a fresh engine, to avoid this very problem! I would look closely at this as a possible cause. What is the history of this engine? Is it a recent rebuild/overhaul? Was it done years ago and has smoked from day one? Or is it just worn out?
A lot of guys have the tendency to repeatedly start their fresh engine just to admire their handiwork and listen to the cam. So they glaze the cylinder walls before they even get the car on the road!

 

[cmbrucew]

Anybody ever heard of adding Bon Ami soap to cyl's to break the glaze on cal.walls ?

Yes I have heard of Bon Ami to seat the rings. Also drip water down carb to clean carbon ( stuck valve ). Also brake fluid in automatic transmissions to stop leaks. Ground up cork in the differentials to silence gear/bearing noise.
Sure there are more. Used car lots and junk yard practices.
Bruce

 

[Bob NH]

cmbrucew, U guys out west got all the tricks don't ya ? You happen to run a used car lot by chance ? Too funny, LOL