360 fresh rebuild water vapor in crankcase?

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1972hiboy
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360 fresh rebuild water vapor in crankcase?

Post by 1972hiboy »

OK guys ive got one for you, A few months back I had pulled my 360 out of my pickup to rebuild it. It was .040 over bore crank and rods standard size. Long story short, I thought the piston rings never broke in because I was noting a good amount of whitish smoke chugging from the breather in the valve cover. But I continued to drive throught my break-in process and have heard of engine sometimes going 3500-4,000 miles before the rings seat in propetly so I went ahead and put some miles on it. The killer is that the truck ran great smoke and all. A friend following me had noticed smoke coming out of the tailpipes a couple times ( really solidified my first thought about the rings not seating) . couple days ago i drove out to my dads place about 45minutes away from me and on the highway noted what felt like a couple cylinders drop off ( you know how the "tone" of your engine changes ) and power fell off quite a bit. When I got home I just parked it and the next day I was going to go into the mountains to cut some wood and I checked my oil and the dipstick had condensation on it and the makings of white oil/water residue on it. I yanked the breather out and it had a accumulation of oil/water white buildup on it as well. hats where it sits. Could I have toasted a head gasket already? I have a 190 degree thermostat in it but I didnt think that was to hot but maybe? Oh forgot to mention the truck was going through about a quart of oil every three weeks ( assumed it was burning and going out the tailpipe) Any thoughts from anyone? The first thing im going to do is a compression test this week and get a baseline reading and see if it tells me anything...... :help:
Rich
1973 f350 super c/s 460/c6 22k orig miles
1972 f350 srw crewcab special 390
1972 f250 4x4 sport custom 390fe Red
1972 f250 4x4 custom 360 FE " Ranger Ric"
1972 f250 4x4 custom 84k og miles 390
1971 f250 4x4 sport custom 56k og miles. 360
1970 f250 4x4 428 fe hp60 205 d60
Dont eat yellow snow.....
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DuckRyder
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Re: 360 fresh rebuild water vapor in crankcase?

Post by DuckRyder »

A compression test will be a good step in diagnosis, as would checking the radiator for signs of combustion gasses and a radiator pressure test while the plugs are out.

I would suspect the intake gaskets myself - what brand and line did you use?
Robert
1972 F100 Ranger XLT (445/C6/9” 3.50 Truetrac)

"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -- Jeff Cooper
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1972hiboy
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Re: 360 fresh rebuild water vapor in crankcase?

Post by 1972hiboy »

Thats a good point Duckryder, there will definatly be testing to try to reach a legitimate conclusion to these problems. All the gaskets were fel-pro. Now that you mention the intake gaskets I recall having issues torquing a couple of these.......
Rich
1973 f350 super c/s 460/c6 22k orig miles
1972 f350 srw crewcab special 390
1972 f250 4x4 sport custom 390fe Red
1972 f250 4x4 custom 360 FE " Ranger Ric"
1972 f250 4x4 custom 84k og miles 390
1971 f250 4x4 sport custom 56k og miles. 360
1970 f250 4x4 428 fe hp60 205 d60
Dont eat yellow snow.....
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