Goodwrench crate engine smoking from passenger side exhaust

[iamtherealJayy]

Took intake manifold off yesterday found the lifter napping in the valley dropped it back in replaced gaskets inserted new (used) pushrod now have to do timing and get it running to diagnose carb issues.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Now that the distributor is in the truck fired right up and idled last night, not chooching white smoke, it is burning a little oil on the passenger side. Could’ve been the dead cylinder I’ll fill it back up with coolant and check again. Then I gotta do some timing adjustments and some carb tuning. I hate this style of quadrajet with the little bar instead of a screw makes it a pain.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Alright drove the truck around the yard it’s still got a serious fog from passenger side. It’s a white grey smoke and it’s thick when you’re on the throttle. The truck is 100% flooding out I drove maybe thirty seconds before it lost all power and would only try to start with peda on the floor. Is it worth trying to save this quadrajet or should I just get a different carb? I planned on using this engine for one of my other trucks since this was originally a parts truck. I know there’s a vacuum leak at the carb base gasket I didn’t replace it because I didn’t plan on really doing too much with it yet but I have to atleast get it flooding to stop

 

[Itali83]

I really gave the last truck with a quad my best effort to save it. After fiddling around with it, taking it apart, cleaning, got a rebuild kit, still couldn’t even get it to yard drive. I junked it and bought a trusty holley. Been driving it for over a year no problems.

I’d like to master a quad but seems like the only ones here that have them, had a shop professionally (and crazy expensively) rebuild and calibrate one. To me, that defeats the purpose of a carb. If I wanted something that I wasn’t able to work on, I’d buy a new truck. So my $.02, junk it, no, throw it as far in a hole that you can and get a new carb. Might even take care of your smoking problem, but at least you can drive it and see what is what.

You may just have residual fuel/oil and n the exhaust on that side from the dead cylinder and just needs a good hot supper to burn the exhaust clean and the smoke might go away.

Ben

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I gave her some beans while it was running and right after that was when it died and didn’t start back. I really want to save a quadrajet. My 78 had a quadrajet it ran had some issues but ran but I had the option to have an edelbrock given to me so I swapped it and it’s been running an edelbrock for over a year now. I like the sound of the quadrajet and the economy of it but absolutely hate working on them lmao. I think I’ll give a different q-jet a chance, I hate this style with the knobs instead of screws for the idle mix adjustments. There’s no good way of adjusting without some tool I don’t need yet. I just don’t understand if it’s flooding so badly why is it only on passenger side? They both roll coal like a diesel almost when you really rev it up. The passenger side is like a haze/fog at idle and thickens and gets darker the higher the rpm

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Also I have no idea how to identify quadrajet models. I know the one time I redid one oreillys gave me different gaskets from what the truck had. Here’s some photos of everything I thought might need to be shown. If I can figure out what I need I’ll rebuild it first.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Oh and I’ve got 10 or twelve of those holleys all around 600cfm, but I’m trying to make this just a reliable engine for fuel mileage as I planned on throwing it in my work truck. I got some more info from the carb. 17082222 82’ Chevrolet 4 barrel automatic trans. But how do I find out what cfm this carb is or which gasket set I need

 

[iamtherealJayy]

After some more research I discovered that the bigger port on the front of the carb is a “bowl vent nipple” to go to a charcoal canister of sorts, I noticed mines blocked off with a vacuum cap. Could said vacuum cap cause issues or should I leave it?

 

[Snoots]

Q-Jet rebuilding...get Cliff Ruggles book on them. It's worth its weight in gold. Go to his website and shoot him an email. There is a form on his site that allows you to enter the number of the carb. He will give you the info on the carb and the RIGHT kit for it.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I came to the numbers R4-M4ME as a model number from the 17082222. I’m not super familiar with quadrajet I know the vent on top but what about the vent on the front? Can that being capped cause flooding?

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I’m thinking this engine needs more than a uh carb.. I rebuilt a qjet on the flatbed and noticed the passenger side exhaust had a puddle of oil under it and all inside of it. What could possibly cause that?

 

[Ricko1966]

Lots of things,step 1 run a compression test wet and dry. Post your results.

 

[MrHorsepowerLSx]

It might not be oil, it could be mixture of rich gas/soot and condensation forming inside the pipe being carried to the tail pipe when you gave it the beans. Hook a vacuum gauge up to and see if you have a steady needle at idle. There is a sticky in this section about using a vacuum gauge. Also a compression and leak down test would be a great way to know for sure the health of the motor. Guy told you it had 30k miles, but for how many of those miles did he drive it with a kicked pushrod, who knows

 

[iamtherealJayy]

I don’t have the resources to do a compression test, but I know someone who does. I’ll try to do that but I don’t know much about it. How do I go about it. I know you take the plug out and screw it in there that’s about it. I don’t know what wet dry means. How many times crank? I know you hold wot.
Edit: the reason I thought oil was the consistency of it it felt slimy sorta and slick so first thought was oil

 

[markdafedman]

That carb looks like an Edelbrock replacement for the Q-jet. I have one on my '72 Chevelle, model 1910 if I recall. Nothing short of locating the tag and casting stamps will prove or disprove my theory. Pic of said Chevelle carb attached.

As to your smoke issues, I think you'll have to solve your carb issues with a known good carburetor before you'll be able to look further. That pushrod discovery is spooky!

Good luck!