I just swapped a rebuild 22r from sunwest automotive into my pick up, I have just under 180miles on it and I've been noticing puffs of blue smoke on deceleration, mostly after I floor it and let out the gas, as the rpms wind down I get a little could of smoke out my tail pipe. Could this be its just not broken in yet? Or something happened to a ring or valve guides? I don't have any blow by. Any one have any ideas? Thanks

 

I'd talk to the people who rebuilt it before it I drove it another mile.

 

Blue smoke can SOMETIMES be normal on a rebuild. Typically it is because the rings aren't properly seated yet. Typically, it can take upwards of 500 miles to seat the rings. And since Sunwest is a high volume engine reseller, they probably have dozens of 22R engines lying around ready to ship so in order to store them for longer periods they most likely use a lot of assembly lube on everything (including the cylinder walls) to keep the engine fresh. That lube can take a little bit to burn off. If this is the case, you can sometimes smell a hint of gear lube and/or burnt graphite (sorta like the smell of welding) coming from the exhaust.


Is it puffing smoke on start up?
Is it spitting an oil residue at idle?
Are you using conventional or synthetic oil? (Synthetic is a no-no during break in)

My recommendation would be to do a quick oil change (they may have down the "pack the oil pump with lithium grease" BS to get the oil pump primed - it's not necessary and can also cause some smoking), check the valve lash and check the timing then run it for a couple hundred miles and see if it gets better.

 

Thanks for the reply,I'm using conventional oil, no smoke on start up besides condensation, and it's not spitting out oil residue. I'll change the oil and watch it. I'm not low on oil or anything. My grandpa thinks it's because my weber 38 is too big an its just putting in too much gas and it's just unburied fuel. Anyway I'll keep an eye and watch what it does

 

Yeah it's hard sometimes to tell if the smoke is blue or black. I think if you stick your finger in the tailpipe, you might be able to tell. If it's black and sooty, it's unburnt fuel. If it's black & oily...burnt oil.

 

Rings havent seated yet sounds like.

How did you break it in the first 20 miles or so?

 

I drove it down my road. Speed limit 35 took it to 55. I never took it above 3500rpms and I didn't lugg it.

 

The color smoke it's almost white though. Maybe light blue

 

Being that you say that it's almost white, you could also be burning some water. Hopefully it is water in the fuel and not a headgasket, but you still want to re-torque your head bolts at some point in the break in process. Top off the tank with fresh gas and see if that helps.

You could also have a rich fuel mixture, but that smoke tends to be more black. If you have soot in your tailpipe like 83 said, you might want to try leaning out the fuel as much as possible to see if that helps at all. Also, if it is rich, you will have some occasional backfires when downshifting or clutch braking.

 

My truck leaves a black soot mark on the pavement when it gets started first thing in the morning..! That's how rich my mixture is. I leaned it out but it seems to have had no effect.

Oh well. Just got a rebuilt carb in the mail yesterday, so it doesn't matter anymore

 

No sign of coolant loss. I'm thinking its just not all the way broken in. Or maybe mixture. I'll check my tail pipe and see what kind of residue it is

 

And what do you mean by soot?

 

Like what's left in your fireplace after a log has burned. Ash. Black powder. Not greasy.

From Google search :

a black powdery or flaky substance consisting largely of amorphous carbon, produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter.

 

So it is powdery like ash, and I noticed it also smokes when shifting (but not down shifting) so I'm thinking its fuel. Maybe carb issues.. I didn't rebuild the carb and I had similar problems with the old engine

 

And if you care about your nice new cylinder walls, definitely get those carb issues worked out. Gas doesn't lube things...so having extra gas possibly washing the cylinder walls will cause them to wear prematurely.

I wimped out on rebuilding my own carb...but hated the thought of doing that to my engine, so I just ordered a rebuilt carb. If you're good at tuning them, that's a good place to start. I don't know much...but tried tuning mine, and didn't notice any difference. So rebuilt it is!

 

I'd would probably just ditch that weber 38 and grab a new 32/36

 

I would 32/36 weber.. I have had mine for. Couple years now and they are nice! Clean up ur engine bay! And give you a little more power and fuel economy

 

He's got a 38, so I'm guessing his engine bay is already cleaned up. With lots more power. Fuel economy, on the other hand...32/26 would improve that.

 

Just an update. I did some camping up by Mt Baker and put a few more clicks on the odometer. Seems to be clearing up and going away. Must have just been breaking in. Thanks everyone for the input. Yes the engine bay is cleaned up. Pretty bare the to the bones.

 

Well, another update. Driving to school I had my mirror adjusted to my tail pipe and I'm still getting puffs of light blue smoke on shifts around 3k and down shifts around 3k. Also if I get on it then let out the gas it will smoke on decel. No smoke when accelerating and if I hold a gear longer. So smoke on start up or idling. I have like 700 miles on it now so I would think it would be broken in. At least not smoking this much. I really need help with this one. Thanks also I don't seem to be burning much oil if any. . .