RE: Bubbles in Radiator & White smoke

[tw@domain.elided]

It is very likely that you've got a head gasket problem. You might pull the
oil drain plug and let a little out to see if the oil is floating on some
water/antifreeze; if so, then you probably better deal with it promptly. The
water isn't too evil, but apparently antifreeze and bearings don't mix. I
recently had this problem with my (IH Farmall H) tractor, and was told a lot
of horror stories about people who have had main bearings seize due to
antifreeze getting in them. Fortunately, when I pulled it apart my bearings
were clean, but the antifreeze/oil mixture had seriously gunked up a couple
of cylinders with some nasty varnish-like stuff. Some throttle-body cleaner
I had lying around cleaned it up, fortunately, but I have a feeling that
letting it go much longer would have been bad.

Tw

> -----Original Message-----
> Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 12:24:17 -0400
> From: Brent Fidler <brentfid@domain.elided>
> Subject: Bubbles in Radiator & White smoke
>
> I am experiencing a similar problem to Tom M.  I too get a
> puff of white
> smoke behind my 79 SII when I start the engine.  I have inspected my
> radiator and found lots of little bubbles in the antifreeze.
> From what I
> can understand this means that I have a failing head gasket,
> right?  I have
> experienced no noticeable loss of power (I pulled my boat through the
> Appalachian Mountains last weekend without a hitch) and the
> white smoke
> only occurs at startup.  The only other problem is that my
> radiator has a
> slow drip.  Can this be related?
>
> What should I do?  Do I need to pull the heads immediately or can I
> continue operating till it gets worse?  I am a novice and
> have learned only
> from tinkering and lurking.  I couldn't even fathom pulling
> my 345's heads
> right now, but I do have the service manuals.
>
>
> Brent A. Fidler
> brentfid@domain.elided