It's been slow going, but the truck is running again, but not without questions...
I've had the heads checked for cracks (all was good) and resurfaced and all the valve seals replaced, replaced the head gaskets, torqued them down to spec, tightened the rockers down in sequence, set the timing, cranked it up, checked for leaks, and all was well....except...
When I first cranked it up, it spit some coolant/water out the driver's side tailpipe. This is the side that had the blown head gasket. When it did this, it blew white smoke out as well (customary with coolant in the cylinders). I'm banking this was just leftover coolant that I wasn't able to get out the block that was just burning off.
I continued to run the engine for awhile and forgot that I needed to change the oil since it was milky and evidenced that coolant/water had gotten into it during the mishap. So I changed the oil and ran it again in several intervals, each ranging from 5-10 minutes.
The oil appears to be pretty clear and clean now, but I'm still blowing white smoke out the driver's side when the engine gets up to operating temperatures (say 180-185 on the original elec. gauge). No more coolant/water is coming out the exhaust, no leaks near the head, the coolant level is holding steady in the radiator, and the temperature never appears to get over the common operating temperature (doesn't appear to be overheating). I still haven't taken it on the road, but when I start it up, I finger the throttle at the carb to cycle it through the rev range..
I'm at a loss for what could still be causing the smoke, but I have a few thoughts...
1. Maybe the cylinders that experienced the entry of coolant water during the failure are still somewhat coated and just need to burn it off.
2. Maybe the exhaust manifold and exhaust pipes on that side still have some coolant residue coating that needs to be burned off.
3. Maybe I have coolant sitting in the muffler that smokes white whenever it's heated up and the exhaust gases blow by it.
4. Maybe the problem continued deeper and I have a crack in the block.
I'm hoping for any of 1-3, and praying that it's not 4.
Experience and advice is welcome. Let me know what you think.
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EDIT: Drove it to work today...no more smoke. I took it for a test spin last night, and after some minor adjusting of the carb/throttle return springs, things seem to be running quite well. I'm going to keep an eye on my coolant levels and temp. gauge over the next several days to make sure all is well there, but it fell good on the way to work this morning.
Now onto the next thing...think my power steering pump has develoed a leak,
and I need to change my transmission pan gasket and filter
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