Here is pic of my radiator fluid. It look sdirty. I will have to flush the system never done well when I got the car. But after new fuel system, injectors, removed emissions, new tranny new tunes car is running strong for a 88 tpi auto 305 stock.

It barks the tires from a dead stop even starts to spin both and slide. it launches strong from 0-15mph rolls. The critical file I see for how it launches and grabs from stop or WOT or from cruise is the AE aysnc pulse and AE vs lv8. I am playing with those but so far it runs good lots of pull in 1-2 but sleepy above 50mph still pulls and keeps going well into 80mph thanks to the TPI and the 2.73 I guess.

Engine wise though, I still get some smoke at startup. not all the time but usally when she is warmed up then sit, then at fire up, I get a big puff of white (I think bluish not sweet smell). I have been tuning her and I think I have the AFR ok across the board and I rather have it a little rich then lean at idle seems to run better. With it a little more rich like (124BLM at cruise and idle) I notice little to no smoke but if lean or hotter days or over 128blm I see more white smoke at idle and wot stomps. Again I suspect valve seals.

I checked my oil after recent change and it is still pretty clear and full after few weeks of driving. I checked my radiator fluid and as you see in photo, It is not drastically low but I suspect it is alittle lkower then it should be topped off but is this murkyness normal? oil? debris?

It runs well enough for a toy that I do not want to dump $ into the 305 just drive it, maybe a small head gasket leak?

 

Probably valve seals and a leaky head gasket. A compression leak-down test would tell you for sure.

 

Other then smoke at idle which is embarrassing, for the current state of the motor, is it a big deal to drive? Like I am going to get stuck? It seems minor. Just check fluids. Temps sit right at 190-200F in traffic/idle.

I agree is it easy to do compr. check in drive way just get tester into spark plug and bump engine. If i have both leaky seals and gasket pull the
heads is must then. Wondering cost vs rebuild. Hate to sink too much into 305 rather have a built 355 and keep ECM/MAF and drop in a stealth ram intake with nice street cam and mild head work

 

A compression leak-down test is different than a compression test. A leak-down tester shoots compressed air into a combustion chamber. Then you see where it's coming out. Piston has to be on TDC so the valves will be closed. Do a YouTube search of compression leak-down. There are several videos that demonstrate how it's done and how to interpret results. Could be leaky valves, rings, head or intake gaskets, etc.

Probably wouldn't hurt to continue driving it, but know it's only going to get worse. Keep on eye on things. Probably a good idea not to romp it so much ... that is, if you can resist the urge.

 

The green, glycol silicate , inorganic acid technology(IAT), coolant is only good for 3 years at the most. This in in ideal circumstances when mixed with distilled water and not contaminated. Once the inorganic acid is used up(the silicate drops out of suspension over time, especially on engines that sit for any length of time), the different metals begin to attack each other. The soft aluminum in the manifold and radiator gets the worst of it, with the iron block close behind.

There is really no good reason to use green coolant in any vehicle today. The small benefit gained from the borate additive, which is there in some older formulations to protect brass and copper in the heater cores and radiators of older vehicles, is out weighed by the inorganic acid's short life and poor ability to prevent damage in mixed metal systems. Almost every vehicle on the road today is mixed metal(cast iron block, aluminum manifold and radiator). Most have aluminum heater cores also, though I think most 3rd gens were still brass and copper.

As coolant technology has evolved, later formulations of coolant were either HOAT(hybrid organic acid technology) which is an organic acid anticorrosive blend with some glycol silicate added, or OAT(organic acid technology) which has no silicate added. The organic acid anti corrosive formulations are good for up to 5 years. If mixed with distilled water and not contaminated, it will last longer. Unfortunately, once an engine has begun to corrode internally, which yours obviously has, the new coolant will have a harder time holding the corrosion at bay. You will want to flush the system and replace coolant again in 3 years to be sure.

The best coolant available today for any light duty vehicle is the newest formulation from Prestone. BTW, Prestone makes every kind of coolant there is. Most vehicles come from the factory with some kind of Prestone coolant. The newest Core Guard Extended Life coolant is their best chemistry so far. Even the last generation of Prestone (which you can buy at NAPA as their NAPA store brand extended life coolant) is better at overall system protection than any other coolant on the market.

The main thing to remember is the difference between inorganic acid, which is glycol silicate, and organic acid. I personally switched my car from green, which was already cloudy after 3 years with silcate that had fallen out of suspension and metals that were floating around in the fluid eating at each other, to Zerex G-05. I don''t drive my IROC in wet weather which means it sits in the garage most of the year, though I do start and run the engine for a short period every few weeks or so. The G-05 is an HOAT with some silicate. The silicate besides being an anti corrosive is also a leak preventative, since it coats the interior surfaces of the engine(think silica sand).

Next time, I'll probably go with the newest Prestone Ext. Life coolant, though I already feel alot better having the G-05 in there instead of green.

 

Wow detailed thank you. So , is my dirty fluid more from sitting which it has for years and not so much bad gaskets (oil in fluid)?

 

As ASE Doc stated:

"Unfortunately, once an engine has begun to corrode internally, which yours obviously has, the new coolant will have a harder time holding the corrosion at bay."

I suspect the "dirtyness" to be corrosion because of the dissimilar metals.

 

By the way, GREAT info. I will definitely keep all this in mind with my own vehicles. I have never used anything but Prestone in my engines.

 

Again thanks, I will flush and do prestone this week. Since car sat forever (like 8 years) and most stuff I had to replace and I am only just starting to put real hiway miles on the car I am seeing more sludge breakaway probably. And with tuning I have noticed as long as I am in normal to little rich BLM the white smoke seems to have minimized or disappeared 99% of the time.

 

Mine sat for 12 years. It's my wife's car, and apparently her ex took pretty good care of it. I went ahead and got the Prestone deep flush and ran it in there for a few weeks. Probably put several hundred miles on it during that time. The deep flush comes in a (I believe) one quart container. You can either do a quick flush or a deep flush. Just pour it in and drive. Works pretty well. I drained the system and added new anti-freeze. Drove it several hundred more miles and decided that I needed to change the thermostat because I felt it wasn't opening as far as it needed to. I changed it, this morning, and the anti-freeze looked clean. I'd recommend the deep flush if it sat that long.

 

I hope that info is helpful to others. I have worked in the industry for decades and never really knew for sure what the difference was between the various formulations. I wrench for a NAPA Service center and was invited to a Prestone coolant seminar a few weeks ago. It was a real eye opener and explained the difference in coolant formulations. That's where all this info comes from.