View single post by Mark Rosenbaum
 Posted: 04-17-2005 10:42 pm
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Mark Rosenbaum



Joined: 03-12-2005
Location: Kingman, Arizona USA
Posts: 532
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 Since you detect no odor, I'd suspect first coolant, then brake fluid via the path Ricardo mentions, with oil at the bottom of the list assuming the crankcase is not overfilled.  I'd also add a couple of notes to his comments:

For (1) - if an engine has bad intake valve guides there is usually a pronounced puff of oil smoke from the exhaust pipes, immediately upon startup.  If the smoke is definitely oil and it takes a few seconds to begin, suspect the oil control rings.

For (2) - coolant is also present within the intake manifold so check the joint between the manifold and head.  Depending on the brand and percentage of antifreeze in the coolant, the characteristic sweetish odor is usually but not always detectable.

Finally, just as weird possibilities, you might check:

(A) Is the hose from your windshield washer accidentally hooked up to one of the vacuum ports on the carbs or intake manifold?

(B) If you have a vacuum-controlled water valve in your heater hose line, is the valve perhaps defective and allowing coolant to be sucked into the engine?