djsvette

My 59 was in storage for many years. Two years ago, I took it out of storage. I pulled all of the plugs and shot oil into the cylinders and let it set for about a week, turning it over every few days. I replaced all of the ignition wiring, distributer cap, wire, plugs, etc. I drained the oil, changed the filter, etc. It has ran fine for the last two years. I only ran it in a couple of parades and around town as I am repairing other things on it. Last weekend I ran it in a parade. It lasted about an hour. 3/4 of the way through the parade I noticed blue smoke coming out of the drivers side exhaust. When I got home, both exhaust were emitting blue smoke. Now when I first start it up, it doesn't smoke but after it's warmed up it does heavily? Both exhaust but mostly the drivers side. It never smoke before. If my speedometer is correct it only has 90,000 miles on it. Any ideas? Thanks Dennis

bj1k

It's hard to say without at least doing a compression test of the cylinders but it might just be that your valve seals are dried out and maybe started to deteriorate and leak down into the cylinders . I would start by doing the compression test .

GTOguy

Also, since the car mostly sits and is only used for low speed parades, the rings could be varnished/gummed up. You should A: drive the car as a car, or B, trade it for a vintage tractor for future parades, which would be a much happier vehicle at .5 mph.

Frankie the Fink

djsvette

Thanks, that was going to be my next step.

djsvette

Thanks, that was going to be my next step.

djsvette

It gets driven other times, yeah not likely to trade for tractor.

dplotkin

All of the advice provided is good. Frank is zeroing in on what I think you likely have and you should follow his suggestion. Its possible you have stuck rings, but I doubt it. Based on what you write and what I know about the small block Chevy, valve stem seals are going to be it. You could have some valve guide wear too, most older engines will, but those seals go and give you what some call the Chevy "puff" on startup and a blue trail on deceleration.

Also, no engine likes to sit and many running problems go away with use, so drive it. If the stem seals need replacing its no big deal to do.

Dan

djsvette

Thanks Dan, good advice. Just seems strange it was ok for two years then started smoking all at once. Sounds like seals to me also (I hope)

Frankie the Fink

My 63 sat on a lift for most of 4 years before I bought it...during the test drive in Ohio for 30 minutes I noticed nothing unusual....when I got the car home to Florida and began driving it a bit the seals were blown and garage filled with blue smoke on start up. Storage will make them brittle but it might take a while for them to fail.

BTW - put new seals in my car and problem is gone...

DansYellow66

You might try a little Marvel Mystery Oil in the crankcase and a little in the fuel wouldn't hurt either.

djsvette

Thanks, I'm going to run it some more and see if it clears up, also check the compression.

djsvette

I put a quart in it the other day, going to run it some, drain the oil/filter and see what happens. Need to check compression also. Thanks

AZDoug

Old gas will varnish up rings. Wash, rinse, repeat. Soon, the rings are glued into the piston grooves and don't do much.
I have seen pistons like this removed from cars that were rarely driven, using old gas.
Doug
Like this:

domenic tallarita

Hey,
I did the same thing with a old fork lift. I put lots of oil in it to free up what I thought were stuck valves (flat head) or rings. also a bit of carb cleaner.
Started it up and ran good but then started to smoke a bunch. So I drove it around outside the shop and created a smoke storm. Got the extra set of spark plugs out so when the fouled I would be ready. They didn't foul, and that's when I figured out the problem.
All the oil was in the muffler and when it got hot enough it smoked!! I waited till it was dark (late) and ran it around the ramp so it would not look like fire smoke.
It took about 45 min and the smoke stopped. I did pull the plugs about half way and they were a bit dirty from the initial start but cleaned up and all was good.
On the flip side, the post about old oil makes sense.
I would run it and pull a plug or 2 and see if it is fouled . if the car runs good then it may have oil in the mufflers.

Dom

Kerrmudgeon

That would also explain why it doesn't smoke on startup, like with broken valve seals. The heat has to build up in the exhaust system and THEN it starts to smoke.









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domenic tallarita

Hope you get lucky!

Dom

ztheusa

Needs a "Clyde" tuneup. Rev it to about 4500 RPM, and pour a quart of water in the carb. It will smoke like hell and run much better.

Mechanic "Clyde" did that at University Chevrolet............regularly (Seattle).

domenic tallarita

That's what we did when I was at the dealership to get the carbon off the pistons. We didn't go quite to 4500, about 3000. We did it because the carbon buildup got between the piston and head and caused a knocking. Happened on the 300 SB's a bunch when grandma bought her new car and didn't drive it hard.
Then GM came out with a pint can for the purpose of de-carbonizing to get rid of the knock. Their instructions were to warm up the engine, run it at 2000 and pour the can in the engine, then as the can was about to empty pour it all at once so the engine would stall. Then you waited about 1/2 hour so the chemical could remove the carbon, and then run the engine hard.

Dom

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