White smoke and water from tailpipes

[Gregtx]

So I've been working on my new motor on and off as time allows. I've had a range of issues I've been working through from bad valve guides to incorrect intake manifold geometry. I finally have the motor back together and running, but now it's blowing a good bit of white smoke and there is water dripping from my tailpipes. Generally, I would think that I had a head gasket issue, but I just had the heads reworked, planed and the gaskets are both fresh. I did both a compression test and a leak down test and everything came up aces (between 130 and 150 PSI on all 8 cylinders). No evidence of any leaks from my cylinders whatsoever.

I'm not seeing any visible signs of coolant loss, but I haven't yet performed a coolant system pressure check. That is likely my next step. What I'm wondering is if anyone has any other ideas. My thoughts are there are only two other places that water could be getting into my combustion chambers. Either an internal crack in my intake manifold or water in my fuel tank. I'm running a fairly well abused Edelbrock Performer 2 - 390 intake. My gut tells me that the issue is there. Since my heads were just magnafluxed and rebuilt, I don't believe there are any issues there. My block was back from the machine shop only 3-4 months ago and was magnafluxed then, so I don't think I'm looking at any cracks there either. Plus, wouldn't a cracked block or head result in lost compression?

Oh, and I'm getting the smoke and water pretty evenly from both tailpipes. I do have an H-pipe setup, but I would think that if the issue was isolated to one side of the motor the amount of smoke and water would be far greater out of one tailpipe vs. the other.

Ideas, thoughts?

-Greg

[69Ford]

How long do you let it run. I will get water out of my tailpipe and some white smoke until it warms up 360 FE stock exhaust. I believe this is normal. Never had the coolant run low. It has done this since I can remember. I believe that condensation builds up in the muffler and tailpipe while sitting and takes awhile to burn off. If anyone knows any different let us know.

[Gregtx]

I guess I had it running on and off for about 30 minutes to an hour. It was definitely warmed up. The problem seemed to get worse as it ran longer, so I don't think it's the typical condensation. I am wondering, however, if there couldn't be a pool of water in my exhaust from when I had issues before getting the intake manifold and head work done. I'm still getting it all dialed in and did just notice that my valve lash was pretty loose on 3 cylinders, so I've tightened that all up now. Just waiting for the gasket sealant to set up and I'll start it up again to see if there is any improvement.

[69Ford]

As long as you have good oil pressure non milky coolant and nothing out of the ordinary let it run for awhile longer keeping a close eye on everthing If the exhaust sat for a long time there maybe enough water in it to take awhile. I'm not a big engine guy but believe that H2o is a by product of the combustion process. so when the engine is cold and exhaust is cold it condenses and gets blown out the tailpipe. Please let me know if I'm barking up the wrong tree.

[Busboy]

Water or coolant that actually goes through the combustion chamber looks different than normal exhaust system condensation. It will actually be foggy and lingers. I suggest running the truck at highway speeds for a half hour or so and see if the system gets cleaned out. There are a lot of low spots that can collect moisture and it will take some time for it to be purged.

[markguiver]

Another cause for the water vapor and droplets is the reformulated gas with ethanol added to it. The ethanol absorbs moisture from the atmosphere which makes steam when ignited. I've noticed a big increase in the amount of vapor and water droplets on both sides of my duals as well in the last couple of years. Since ethanol was mandated to be used year round my truck even spits water in the summer. The ethanol makes gas go bad faster as well as corroding the fuel system if left sitting for any length of time. Our old carb'ed trucks were not designed to run this junk. I now buy Lucas fuel stabilizer by the gallon and add 6 ounces every time I fill the truck to counteract the effects of the ethanol. As an added bonus ethanol has less energy than gasoline and a lower boiling point. Less energy = more fuel consumption and a lower boiling point = a greater potential for vapor lock.
Mark.

[Gregtx]

Thanks for the advice ya'll. You guys are probably right. I did discover this morning that one of my lifters appears to be bad (squishy even after the motor has been running). I was concerned enough to call Comp Cams tech line the other day when I saw some minor damage to the retaining rim lip of one of my lifters, but they said not to worry about it. I guess they were wrong. I've ordered a new set and all new intake manifold and valve cover gaskets (again). I'll tell ya... I'm getting awful tired of taking off this intake.

[Busboy]

Some of the lifters can be replaced without removing the intake. Maybe all of them, I can't remember for sure. Just need a lifter grabber tool.

[Wafe01]

Run the engine and after warmed up. Check the oil.
If the oil is milky colored. Combined with white smoke,
it could be either a blown headgasket, or a warped. Cracked head.

Since those are new

You could remove a spark plug, have someone look in plug spot, turn it over a couple of revolutions and see if coolant is visible.

Good luck

[TNIceWolf]

look.... a 30 minuite warmup isnt going to seat or determine anything. If you dont run that engine the way it is going to be used it isnt going to seat or burn off anything.Dont get so caught up in the prescribed way of doing things that you let common sense go by the way.

[Ohiotinkerer]

If you've got antifreeze going out the tailpipes you should be able to smell it if its bad enough. And like one of the other guys said it will linger instead of just dissapearing like normal exhaust will. Hopefully it will be an easy cheap fix for you.....it never works that way for me.......