1960 Questions for all other cars 1958 edsel 4dr Ranger w/36

JWPRICE007

MEMBER
1960 ALL OTHER MAKES ALL OTHER MODELS
V8
2WD
AUTOMATIC
133,000 MILES

I just aquired a 1958 edselt 4dr ranger w/361 engine the car sat up for nearly 16years on car jacks. I got the car up and running when the car starts up is run just fine but after 3 mins or so the car starts to smoke white smoke what do you think the problem might be?

Winston

3 Replies

DOCHAGERTY

MECHANIC
9,601 POSTS

The problem is most likely a failed head gasket or perhaps a cracked cylinder head casting. Try applying pressure to the cooling system overnight and see if it pushes water into the combustion chambers, of course you will need to remove all the spark plugs to avoid doing damage to the engine when it is turned over.

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Monday, January 26th, 2009 AT 2:43 PM

JWPRICE007

MEMBER
12 POSTS

The cooling system was completely vacum down to have no air in system the car turns over and runs when car turns off, the tail pipes still smoke little bit. If the car had vacum leak from main head gasket would that lead the engine to run normal in idle and less under load of driving?I did pull off the spark plugs and there is oil on every single one of them no water contaminent was seen on the tip of the plug and I used one of those guides you find in those generic repair manuals to see it just oil on the plugs? Could the head gasket lead to that type of failure or could the oil be coming from some were else?

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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 AT 1:58 PM

DOCHAGERTY

MECHANIC
9,601 POSTS

How long did the motor run and how much smoke/steam was coming out? Was it just condensation, did the motor come all the way up to operating temperature?

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Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 AT 2:26 PM