Got a 69 L68... (400hp tri carb) Its been running pretty good. I take it out once a month or so. Well, I had a real tough time getting it started today. Cranked just fine but would not fire. I found one of the distro cap latches loose...and tighten it.. I figured I flooded it, because it started shortly afterward after letting it sit for awhile.

So I gas it up... and it starts up just fine at the station. And seems to be running just fine.

I took her out on the HWY for a quick spin to the next exit and back... while I was pulling off the HWY, going down the exit ramp I could feel the motor starting to hesitate... and sputter.. like it wouldn’t take the gas.. I had to keep pumping her to keep her running...

Well I managed to get the car back to the house. It was pinging real bad and not taking the gas... you could sort of feel the advance kick in and then it would rev up some... but it really felt like I was flooding her.. barely got her in the garage. When I turned the ignition off, she dieseled and then sputtered out. The exhaust was white and smoky. The gauge was not real hot but you could tell she was heating up.... smelled like unburned fuel.

I did a quick check of the timing and it was around 12*.. a little high. Well, I haven’t gotten too far into it yet... managed to loosen the distro nut to adjust the timing, but I can’t get her to stay running long enough to adjust the timing. The exhaust is basically a bunch of white smoke... It doesn’t smell like coolant, it not that steamy type smoke.

So, I haven’t checked the points yet... or the carb(s) or any thing else...

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

its relatively warm where you are right....so its not condensation....have you checked your antifreeze levels? usually when people talk about white smoke i think of antifreeze getting mixed where it shouldn't be....

 

might be a dumb question but you did put gasoline in and not diesel fuel. just an idea.

 

yea... it was about 70 here today. Antifreez - full.

 

93 Octain!

 

Sounds like the same symptoms I had when my Holley was dumping fuel at will into the intake. Had to clean the needle/seat and adjust the float down.

 

Yea... That was one thought... I had been pumping on it for a while to get it started.... I may be dealing with several small problems.

 

I had a '72 Buick Riviera that ran like this. Took all the plugs out and found #2 rusty. The head came off to reveal a blown head gasket. It still ran rough so work continued. Fixed a worn distributor bearing and emulsion tubes that had fallen inside the carburator before finding the real problem. A bad timing chain.

Good luck.

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

Can you tell me the symptoms you had with a bad timing chain? May be helpful to me on a problem I am having with the way mine is running.

 

Sounds like a fuel system problem. How long since a carb rebuild? The carb sounds like it is dumping fuel without more info. I don't think the timing is at fault; especially if it was running fine before and you hadn't just timed it. My bet is the carb. Hope it is a simple solution for you.

Bernie

 

This car had a 455 in it and we drove it for about three weeks with all of the above things wrong with it. Full throttle on the highway got ya 40 mph. The barge was very sick.

The first problem I fixed was the emulsion tubes in the carburator. How this engine ran at anything above idle I will never know.

One day after following my wife home I noticed steem blowing out the passenger side exhaust. This car had true dual exhaust so it was easy to zero in on the problem. I pulled all the plugs on that side and #2 had rust on it. That cylinder had blown the head gasket into a water passage. By the way, you would not believe how heavy a 455 Buick head is when you can't get the exhaust manifold off of it. I 'bout kilt myself gittin that thing out. After this you could at least stay with the traffic at about half throttle.

The next thing I found was the distributer bushing. I took a bushing out of a Chevrolet distributer I had to fix it.

The car still would not run worth spit so I went to my last resort. Fortunatly, I grew up across the street from THE best mechanic in the whole world. I called up Joe Young and after hearing that the car wasn't running too good he asked me one question. How many miles did it have on it. I said 72,000 and some change. He said "replace the timing chain and cam sprocket" and hung up. When I finally got down to the chain there was no slack in it. I replaced it anyway because THE best mechanic in the world told me to. I put it all back together, turned the key and she purred. Joe was right. But, he was THE best mechanic in the whole world.

It really isn't the chain that's the problem. It's the plastic gear teeth on the cam gear.

Hope this helps.

BigBlockk

Later.....

 

Detroit and their plastic cam gears, been a guaranteed fix for decades now, they still use them I guess....
but still rather do a plastic cam gear/chain on a V8 anyday 3x over than ONE foreign import cam belt on a 4 banger....
or a V6, .....talk about MISERY them is it....

GENE