White smoke and now motor is locked up

[chas427fe]

Went for a ride today and everything was going along fine. Checked the water temp and oil pressure and they were normal. Came to a stop sign and decided to get on iit. Looked back and saw white smoke coming out both mufflers. Shut engine down immediately and coasted to the side of the road. Tried to start it and starter couldn't turn it over. When they were loading it on the flatbed a couple ounces of antifreeze came out of each muffler. Head gaskets??

[Eljaro]

yes, headgasket.

[4pipes]

Possibly hydrolocked and may have bent a few rods. Ask me how I know.

[82271]

Originally Posted by chas427fe

Went for a ride today and everything was going along fine. Checked the water temp and oil pressure and they were normal. Came to a stop sign and decided to get on iit. Looked back and saw white smoke coming out both mufflers. Shut engine down immediately and coasted to the side of the road. Tried to start it and starter couldn't turn it over. When they were loading it on the flatbed a couple ounces of antifreeze came out of each muffler. Head gaskets??

That would definetly be my best guess. Pull the plugs and turn it over you will probably see lots of anti freeze exit the holes.Dont let it sit without draining the pan and at least 2 quick oil changes after turning it over a few more times with the plugs out. I would drain the rad before turning the engine over after the first purge or loosen the water pump belt and fire it up for a brief time between the oil changes then pull the heads and replace the gaskets...High compression gets you sometimes..

[olddog]

Anti-freeze pouring out both mufflers?

If side pipes and no cross over, that would have to mean both head gaskets failed at the same time. Again if the exhaust is separate for each side of the engine, I would look for a common failure to both sides of the engine - the intake manifold gasket.

When a cylinder fills with water, the engine is locked up. I don't know if your starter has enough torque to bend a rod. I have heard they can.

[SoTxButler]

Too bad on the headgaskets.

But, I am wondering....what is the compression ratio on your motor and how long since the last rebuild? Have you run it hot? What gaskets are in your motor now?

How do you typically run this motor.....hard, easy?

I will be making a head gasket decision shortly and wondering about your situation.

Thanks

[chas427fe]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I just left the garage and the last little bit of oil was draining from the oil pan. The oil pan had nearly 2 gallons of antifreeze mixture in it before the oil started to come out. Tomorrow I will try to pull the plugs if I have time. I have a busy week ahead so I don't have much free time. I am still trying to decide whether I want to tackle this or not. the last times I pulled apart any engines they were a flathead V8 and a Chevy straight six with poured bearings. I guess I am dating myself.

Back to the questions asked: the compression ratio is 10:1. It has side pipes with no crossover. The last rebuild was less than 10k miles by Keith Craft. It has run great until now. I do get on it now and then, use it but try not to abuse it. I have not had it above 6K rpm. I did have heating issues at the beginning but they have been pretty good lately.

[4pipes]

Olddog is spot on. If water was in both pipes, you blew the head gasket. I know from experience that the geared starter motors can bend rods when hydrolocked.

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by 4pipes

Olddog is spot on. If water was in both pipes, you blew the head gasket.

I think you mean intake manifold gasket.....

[4pipes]

My bad. Intake gasket.

[Wbulk]

You may luck out. Sounds like the majority of the collant entered the combustion chamber after you shut it down. I've seen this is I/O Mercrusier boats where the flapper valve that keeps a back wash wave from entering the engine from the exhaust maniflod fails. When you try to start it a cylinder is full of water. Often times there is no serius damage.

[olddog]

Originally Posted by chas427fe

I just left the garage and the last little bit of oil was draining from the oil pan. The oil pan had nearly 2 gallons of antifreeze mixture in it before the oil started to come out.

I got to thinking about this statement after I went to bed last night. Was it really 2 gallons or could this be an exaggeration (like a cup of oil on the floor looks like a gallon)? I ask because, I do not think you could get 2 gallons from an intake gasket leak.

If it was 2 gallons, I would suspect that when the gasket failed, it hydro-locked the engine and a cylinder wall was broken, letting the block drain into the pan. I think I would try filling the block, while the intake is off, and see if water pours into the oil pan.

I truly hope this is not the case. Good luck.

[blykins]

Originally Posted by chas427fe

Thanks everyone for your replies. I just left the garage and the last little bit of oil was draining from the oil pan. The oil pan had nearly 2 gallons of antifreeze mixture in it before the oil started to come out. Tomorrow I will try to pull the plugs if I have time. I have a busy week ahead so I don't have much free time. I am still trying to decide whether I want to tackle this or not. the last times I pulled apart any engines they were a flathead V8 and a Chevy straight six with poured bearings. I guess I am dating myself.

Back to the questions asked: the compression ratio is 10:1. It has side pipes with no crossover. The last rebuild was less than 10k miles by Keith Craft. It has run great until now. I do get on it now and then, use it but try not to abuse it. I have not had it above 6K rpm. I did have heating issues at the beginning but they have been pretty good lately.

I'm less than 2 hours from you. If you decide that you don't want to tackle it on your own, give me a holler.

[Dominik]

"you just left the garage", was there time enough for 2 gal of water leaking into the sump, considering the coolant system was under pressure? I seriously hope your liners are fine. I know the feeling...

[Roush #1]

The FE is well known for intake gasket failures.

I understand Keith Craft is now using / selling a gasket that he has made by Cometic that has solved many of these problems.

[Rick Parker]

Old dog is onto something..............keep your fingers crossed.

[Barry_R]

What block do you have? What is the bore?

[chas427fe]

Thanks again for all the replies. I haven't had time to pull the plugs yet but I will try to answer the questions asked.
Ford FE CJ block bored .030 over. When I drained the oil I let it run until it turned to oil. I put the antifreeze into 2 one gallon containers and it filled one and the other was 90% full. I drained the radiator had very little antifreeze in it. I checked both levels oil and antifreeze before I left the house and they were fine. I was about 5 miles from home when it happened. Oil pressure and water temperature were normal not 3 minutes before this happened.
I sure hope it is the intake because this engine was a replacement for a 427 side oiler 4 years ago which had a cracked cylinder do to a faulty temperature guage and a water pump locking up.
Brent, Bill Littleton has done work on it before and it is going to his shop next week.

[olddog]

With very little in the radiator it sounds like there is a leak (not necessarily the only one) down low in the block.

Pull the plugs and see if it will turn - with a breaker bar - by hand. If it turns see which cylinders push out anti-freeze, and how much.

Spin it to clear the liquid and then do a compression test. If the compression is good, you may luck out.

Honestly, I have a real bad feeling on this. Kinda makes you sick. Hope I'm wrong.

[Barry_R]

I hate to be typing this....but I'll bet it split a cylinder wall. Probably clipped a head gasket, sucked water in, then split the wall when it tried to compress the liquid. I did that a few times back in the "nitrous days".