1980 chevy malibu classic white smoke and strong smell

[RiseAgainst]

i just recently bought a 1980 chevy malibu classic 4 door with the 228 ci v-6, i smelled the strong fuel odor when i got it, but figured it was just the natural way it smelled from being so old, the smoke i always figured it was just normal steam since its been below 30 here alot lately, but i ran it in my garage and had my wife give it a little gas while i watched the exhaust, the odor was pungent and thats when i realized it seems more like white smoke, the only thing physically wrong under the hood is the heater core is gone so the tubes are connected to one another. im not very knowledgeable working on engines and dont know where to start looking, any ideas? also the car seems to run very "under performanced"? struggles to accelerate but not so bad its painful to go through.

[MagicRat]

Lots of white smoke which does not dimish as the car warms up usually means the engine is drawing coolant into the combustion chamber. The white smoke is actually mostly steam.

Coolant can get into the combustion chamber in a number of ways, such as a bad head gasket, cracked or warped cylinder head, or (less likely) leaking intake manifold gasket or cracked intake manifold.

See if you can borrow or rent a cooling system pressure tester, the kind with a little hand pump and a gauge. Hook it up when the engine is cold. Start the car and observe the smoke. Then pressurize the cooling system and watch the smoke. Does it get worse? If yes, you are burning coolant.

Also, with the engine off, pressurize the system and see if it holds pressure. If the pressure falls, look for external leaks. If you find none, but are losing pressure, you are probably burning coolant.

Other things.... look for coolant in the oil. If this happens, the engine oil looks like a frothy green-brown milkshake, which is a classic sign of a bad gasket.

If you are burning coolant, the place to start is to remove the intake manifold and both heads, and shend them all out to a machine shop to be checked for cracks, warps and porosity.

As for the engine power.... these engines were low-powered to start with. Engine wear, improper tuning, carbon deposits on the valves etc all can decrease power. Also, these engines had a thermally-controlled vacuum source for the distributor. The thermal switch inevitably becomes stuck, leaving the distributor with the wrong vacuum source, cutting power and fuel economy. Such thermal switches are best bypassed, so the distributor gets "ported" vacuum all the time.

[RiseAgainst]

upon intial startup, while its cold, theres no smoke or anything. also i checked the oil and it wasnt any of what you described, although it was a little lighter black/brownish, but im problabl going to replace all the gaskets anyway. How about the fumes? those ARE present at initial startup.

[RiseAgainst]

Also, i just took it to base and back, and lo and behold, it stopped putting out any kind of visible exhaust, but it still has that horrible smell. It put out a really good bit of smoke, though up until i got down the street, then no more at all. I also noticed the temp gauge go to 190 then backed down almost immediately to 160, could it be because the coolant was being used too rapidly to make it into the chambers?

P.S.- sorry to ask so many questions, but would anyone also know a website or something to get body parts? i need to replace the front pass. fender and the bumpers.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by RiseAgainst

Also, i just took it to base and back, and lo and behold, it stopped putting out any kind of visible exhaust, but it still has that horrible smell. It put out a really good bit of smoke, though up until i got down the street, then no more at all. I also noticed the temp gauge go to 190 then backed down almost immediately to 160, could it be because the coolant was being used too rapidly to make it into the chambers?

P.S.- sorry to ask so many questions, but would anyone also know a website or something to get body parts? i need to replace the front pass. fender and the bumpers.

the smoke with these vehicles is common...the carb system employed in these vehicles was [is] very problematic in cold damp weather..

the thermostat should go to 190 deg and stay there..if its not then replace themostat...also use at least 50% coolant ...also put in some 1/4 of a bottle of bars stop leak...

any parts needed try a scrap yard...if near a big city it is possible but a 1980 vehicle where I live would have rusted to dust by now..

see if you can get a newer vehicle..this is not good for a daily driver vehicle..

daughter had 1980 monte carlo...not good in the cold weather.

[MagicRat]

What does the odour smell like? Coolant? Chemicals?

Old gasoline tends to decompose and smell like varnish/ paint thinner.

[Ol'Jim]

Originally Posted by MagicRat

What does the odour smell like? Coolant? Chemicals?

Old gasoline tends to decompose and smell like varnish/ paint thinner.

I was just thinking the same thing - Old Gas. Any idea how long the car had been sitting when you bought it? Have you fueled it up since? Might want to add a can or bottle of carb/fuel system cleaner such as Regane just BEFORE you pump fuel into the tank, (it gets mixed by the incoming fuel flow). Also would recommend changing the fuel filter, and if the smell is a strong gasoline smell inside the car, or under the hood, you need to IMMEDIATELY check for leaks, and correct the problem. Use an abundance of caution! Don't smoke near the car, or allow any source of sparks, etc. Park it outside the garage until this condition is corrected! Just this morning, a woman I work with told me her son-in-law was working on a leaky carb, on the car, while it was running, and got sprayed with fuel & caught fire. The poor kid is 25 years old, and in the burn unit with 1st & 2nd degree burns on both arms... THINK SAFETY!

[RiseAgainst]

i kind of just dealt with it. it still has the smell and smoke in the beginning of starting it but it goes away mainly. However, i just did a tune up to the car, oil, spark plugs, and wires, and i followed the location of dist.cap to plug in the haynes manual for my engine, and now it wont start, just turns over and the third time i tried to crank it, after taking the air cleaner housing off again, there was smoke coming from the carb. im completely lost on what to do and i have duty section muster in the morning

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by RiseAgainst

i kind of just dealt with it. it still has the smell and smoke in the beginning of starting it but it goes away mainly. However, i just did a tune up to the car, oil, spark plugs, and wires, and i followed the location of dist.cap to plug in the haynes manual for my engine, and now it wont start, just turns over and the third time i tried to crank it, after taking the air cleaner housing off again, there was smoke coming from the carb. im completely lost on what to do and i have duty section muster in the morning

If you did not remove or lossen the distributor the problem is with how you ran those wires...make sure #1 plug goes to # 1 on the cap..use the old cap to see if you can find this as it was...

the other item would be you did not put the cap on correctly so remove the cap and make sure you installed every thing correctly as well as those electrical connectors...


I will see if I still have a plug wire diagram for this 228cu v6..
I thought they used the 229 cu V6 ....

[j cAT]

well if you require the picture of the plug wire firing order, I do have it ...however this 228 cu is not listed..so you have the 229 cu V6 chevrolet engine or you could have the buick 231cu V6...

if you have the 229cu engine , #1 on the distributor is exactly in the center of the engine furthest forward....then the firing order is 1 6 5 4 3 2 ....distributor rotation is clockwise ...


the vin# will reveal the engine if it is the as built engine...the 4th digit is the engine ID...if K it is 229 if A it is 231............

[Ol'Jim]

And the cylinder layout on Chevy/GM V-Type engines places the Odd-Numbered cyls on the Driver's side, with #1 at the front, 1-3-5 & Pass side would be 2-4-6 from front to back...
Did you replace Cap & Rotor? Or remove the cap to re-wire it? If so, check to make sure cap is properly seated, and not 180* off from correct position. (There should be a small tab/slot to ensure correct alignment, but most of the HEI caps had spring clamps, which can sometimes allow installation of a mis-aligned cap). Is the wiring connector securely snapped into the cap?
Let us know if you still need help.