"What bothered me, bluesish smoke came out the tail pipes with a rough idle. That only lasted about 2-3 minutes and the idle smoothed out, bluesish smoke went away and idle ran at 750 rpms. What the heck is that all about??? I only have 10 feet deep by 20-foot-wide storage unit and the smoke quickly filled up the storage unit, was not happy about that. Not sure what to think about that condition. Maybe this is normal???" Perhaps your valve guide seals are worn out or missing and oil is seeping into the cylinders when the engine cools down? Not sure why it would last 2-3 minutes, though unless there's a lot of oil collecting under the valve covers.
Blue-ish smoke could be it running really fat until the choke opens up. It sounds like the choke plate is not doing its job 100%
The choke plate should close completely and then open slightly when the engine starts. My engine runs at 1000 rpm cold idle. Vacuum break is set at 3/16". Didn't like an 1/8". Pic was taken while engine was running. This took me like 10 tries. Bend this, adjust that..what sucks is you have one shot at it and then you have to wait till the engine is stone cold again to re test.
I will have to try it again. I don't have a remote start, so it's hard to see when i'am inside the car. I can't see if the choke plate is one 100% closed and then opens up on startup. VET
Yes, my Holley does have a electric choke. It appears the electrical wires are hooked up. I'll give it another go and measure the choke plate opening. VET
Ok, thanks for the tip. Maybe I should take some pics with air cleaner off (1) One pump, see where choke is sitting. Should be fully closed. If NOT, now what do I do? (2) Start car, choke plate should be open about 1/8 inch. Idle should be close to 1500 rpm's. (3) Once engine is up to temperature, I should kick the gas petal to lower the rpm's to 750 idle. (4) Idle should be smooth. I'll give it a try and see what happens. PS, did I miss any steps?
The engine was rebuilt about 3,500 miles ago, can't see valve guides being wornout. Also, the engine was rebuilt by a Buick man on this forum. All that said, the previous owner had let the car sit for 2 years before I purchased it. From May of 2021 to now, the car has only been driven maybe 300 miles while in the shop the last 2 years. It really bad on a car NOT to drive it. VET
While a freshly rebuild motor should not have worn valve guides I had this kind of a problem and significant oil consumption with a new motor in my previous '71 GS. Turns out the engine builder forgot to install valve stem seals where they pop out of the guides up top. Once we discovered the issue he paid to have the valve covers removed and seals installed. Problem solved. Just a thought. All you have to do is remove a valve cover and check. Here are some symptoms of worn or missing valve stem seals: How do I know if my valve guide seals are bad? "); display: inline-block; height: 24px; width: 24px; transform: rotateZ(180deg);"> Where there's (blue) smoke, there's fire. Starting a cold engine is often a good way of determining the health of the valve seals. ... Idling. A similar phenomenon happens when idling. ... Excessive smoking. ... Higher levels of oil consumption. ...
I've had both valve covers removed and rocker buttons replaced. Stem seals inspected and valve springs. Had compression check done, average is 180 psi. Had leak down test, another outstanding condition. Had bore scope pictures taken down the spark plug holes, pistons look good, also was able to get pics of the Stage 1 valves, again great shape. Had all coolant components replaced to include installing an Griffin aluminum radiator. Water pump is a high flow TA performance model, new fan clutch, new high flow thermostat. New water hoses. Waterless Evans coolant. New high amp Postmaster alternator. New balancer. New TA performance Oil pump & timing cover with front neoprene crank seal. New Holley 4150, 750 cfm, electric choke and mechanical secondaries. New MSD ignition. I have the oil lubrication modification done, 5/8 inch pickup and oil holes enlarged to 5/8 inch. Everything has been checked and double checked over the past 2 years. What more can I do???
Nothing at all besides drive it! Choke adjustments are a PITA. Just takes patience and some trial and error
Thank God, because i'am going nuts over all the negative situations I've been into over the past 2 years having this Buick worked on. A car that was supposed to be a "turn key" driver. That was far from the truth. I'am soooo frustrated, all I want to do is wait till Spring gets here so I can drive and enjoy it. VET
Doesn't matter. Open the hood. Take the air cleaner off. Open the throttle and make sure the choke blade is fully closed. If not, adjust it as in the video. Loosen the three screws, and rotate the black housing until it closes. Then tighten the screws. Leave the hood open, and see if it starts and fast idles. If it doesn't, then you need to look at the fast idle cam and adjustment screw. You can also follow the instructions in the video for an alternate way of adjusting the fast idle. 1500 is where I have mine set. That isn't for every engine though. Adjust the choke blade and fast idle so that the engine starts easily when cold, and the fast idle is high enough where the engine runs smoothly without loading up. After the engine is running for say 30 seconds, depress the gas pedal (don't kick it). It should drop to the second step of the fast idle cam, and idle a bit slower on it own. You should be able to put it in gear and drive away without any fuss or muss. Like Jason said, it may take you several tries to get it perfect. It's a Pain in the butt. Welcome to old car ownership. VET, you were a machinist right? You can do this. Have some faith in yourself, I do.
I agree Larry, I can do it, now that you explained it very well, thank you. Now, to the root of the problem. This situation didn't happen when it was set this summer. This only just occurred the first day I started it on a 40 degree day So does this mean I have to reset it when warmer weather comes back??? Last time I had a choke on a carb, it was manual hand controlled and it was easy to operate. If I had known this choke was going to be an issue, I would have bought a carb with a hand choke. That said, adjusting the electric choke looks to be an easy setup. As far as evening a machinist since I was 16 and working the profession for 40%+ years is a lot easier than a Classic car hobbies that I don't do a lot of wrenching on and I stopping drag racing a very long time ago. I find myself playing catch-up and it's not easy. I also don't want to sound auto uneducated on this forum. We all have a certain amount of pride. Sometimes I have to swallow some of that pride. I will tell everyone on this forum everyone has been very helpful to me, that I appreciate it more than you may realize. In fact, because of all the build suggestions I have received over the past 2 years, my car would have been worst off of I had left it to the shop to try and figure out all the problems on my Buick. Thank you to everybody who have lent me a hand in my car build and upgrades. VET
Hey VET, one more thing to add to cold start problems is if you still have summer fuel in the tank in winter temps. Depending on location, in the Fall season, the volatility of the blend is increased on purpose by the gasoline suppliers for cold weather since the fuel evaporates more slowly with decreasing temps, so with summer's low evap fuel in winter, it' may be that much harder to start requiring more throttle pumping and longer cranking...as well as seeing the smoke you described through the air cleaner when it finally lit due to the excessive amount of fuel ingested. Just a thought, even though it may only be a small contributor to your problem. Devon
Don't overthink it. If "Drove great and performance is the best I've seen from the time I bought it. Burnouts are outstanding too." is what you got - leave it alone. Drive it more often and enjoy it until it threatens snow and they dump chemicals all over the road. Remember when they were new they were supposed to start in all temps - even in Flint! Watch for the blue smoke and see if it gets worse.
Gee, glad you said that. I forgot to tell everyone that I installed gas stabilizer for the winter. I wonder if that has any effect???
