This issue has randomly occurred twice last year, and it happened again last saturday, but this time it was way, way uglier looking.
HUGE smoke started pouring out around 1100'. Car never nosed over, racepak shows oil and fuel were stable through the traps, and I have run the engine since, nothing seems wrong?
So far I have pulled the plugs and the headers, everything looks fine. I do NOT have the vacuum module installed, so I do not know where it is at. I will do a compression and leakdown, but it might be a day or two before I have time for that.
Somebody sent me a video of the entire run, but the smoke occurs during the last few seconds of the video. The "pop" you hear right before I start blowing smoke is from the burst panel on the car beside me as he lifted the head off his bbc.
Originally posted by "The Bender": Transmission pushing fluid out of the vent/overflow tank?
I did not notice anything around the catch can on the firewall, but you might be on the right track?
My setup never drips on the ground, but I usually find a droplet of trans fluid or two on the bottom of the pan after a few runs. I made 1 pass on saturday, and I found way more trans fluid than normal when I got under the car today. Not dripping on the ground, but still more than I expected to see. Also, I do not have the racepak stuff with me, but there is something wrong on the pass in question. The 60' and early incrementals were a tad slower than they should have been, but the graphs show engine and driveshaft rpm spiking wildly all the way through low gear. The rpm drop to 2nd gear was less than normal, but the graphs seemed absolutely fine all the way through 2nd(high) gear?
Posts: 154 | Location: PA | Registered: December 31, 2016
Do you have a transmission cooler? Possibly the lines going to it are leaking under high pressure pushing out a little tiny stream/droplets? In the video it looked like the smoke was from the right side which is where the cooler lines are of course....
272" Spitzer 540 Chevy The Blower Shop XR1 FTI XPM Series Converter FTI Level 6 Powerglide 3.69@199 .916 60'
2017 Bradenton Heads Up Madness Open Outlaw Champ
2018 PDRA T/D #5 2019 PDRA T/D #2
2020 Retired From T/D Competition....
2020 Bradenton NMCA Hemi Shootout Winner
2021 getting back into bracket racing with a Gen3 Hemi powered 87 Cutlass.
Posts: 3101 | Location: Yes | Registered: July 08, 2009
No cooler, just a looped line. The relief line goes up to the overflow can mounted right above the the passenger side header merge collector. I sure did not notice anything to indicate that being the cause, but I will be checking it out better first thing in the morning!
Posts: 154 | Location: PA | Registered: December 31, 2016
I did pull the headers, all looks normal. It was not an immediate click off. That track does not have a long shutdown and I ran it through the lights trying to catch the blower car. He broke and had the chutes out at 1200', and I needed 2 car lengths to catch him.lol I left the car in gear for probably 300' after the chutes hit to make sure I did not end up in the sand.
Posts: 154 | Location: PA | Registered: December 31, 2016
Looks like the RHS in the video. I know the boys next door in their Alcohol motor accidentally over filled the sump tank. Surprised you don't have a Vacuum gauge on there. No stains anywhere?
Posts: 1417 | Location: Under a Truck | Registered: August 23, 2013
No kink in the line to the catch can, and the sump is not overfilled. I cannot see any staining to indicate a definite diagnosis, but I am suspicious of the looped line on the trans. It shows signs of leakage, and it would be possible for it to squirt at the right angle to spray the header on the right side of the car.
Was going to do a leakdown and compression check this afternoon, but went to look at a blower motor instead. Now I have to find the issue for certain, so I feel comfortable selling this engine.....
Posts: 154 | Location: PA | Registered: December 31, 2016
I recently had something similar. I pushed the tail shaft seal out. I click it like you did and got a lot of smoke like that. I figured the smoke came from the transmission fluid hitting the hot rotors and burning off. But I am in a dragster not a door car.
Posts: 134 | Location: Weare NH USA | Registered: July 15, 2000
