Redundant Smoke from tail pipes Question

[NOMARQUIS]

Ok, So has anybody found a fix for the dreaded early 300a Smoke on startup problem? I know somebody had heads replaced, others did valve seals, some said it was oil, but can somebody give me an answer what could be a possible correction to this problem? My 300a has done this and I have ESP warranty. Since all the local dealers blew me off, or ran the other way when I came in, I had to drive 3 hours to my selling dealer for service. My selling dealer has had my MM for a week now and is still trying to figure this out. The service manager has been real cool and feels the car should not somke as much as it does. Of course when I got the car it didn't do this, 3k later it smokes almost every time it's cold. My first 300a did not do this. My luck is they won't find anything with it, I get socked with diag charges and still have a smoky MM. :( My car has 16k on it and was sold new and serviced by this dealer until I got it in October. They have all service records. The service manager feels it could be a bad valve seal since my car is almost 7 model years old and has low miles. Valve seals would be covered under my Ford ESP plan.

[Dennis Reinhart]

ok, So has anybody found a fix for the dreaded early 300a Smoke on startup problem? I know somebody had heads replaced, others did valve seals, some said it was oil, but can somebody give me an answer what could be a possible correction to this problem? My 300a has done this and i have ESP warranty. Since all the local dealers blew me off ran the other way when I came in, I had to drive 3 hours to my selling dealer for service. My selling dealer has had my MM for a week now and is still trying to figure this out. The service manager has been real cool and feels the car should not somke as much as it does. Of course when I got the car it didn't do this, 3k later it smokes almost every time it's cold. My first 300a did not do this. My luck is they won't find anything with it, I get socked with diag charges and still have a smoky MM. :(

Well it is valve guide seals and probably a bad head on the drivers side.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

Dennis would the "bad head" be worn guides? I am willing to tear my 300A down to have this repaired since I don't drive it often and I can afford to have the car down for a while. If the guides can just be replaced at a shop that won't be too too bad of a bill since I'll do all of the tear down/reassembly labor myself

And then I assume that a rear cooling upgrade would prevent it from happening again?

Steve

[Dennis Reinhart]

Dennis would the "bad head" be worn guides? I am willing to tear my 300A down to have this repaired since I don't drive it often and I can afford to have the car down for a while. If the guides can just be replaced at a shop that won't be too too bad of a bill since I'll do all of the tear down/reassembly labor myself

And then I assume that a rear cooling upgrade would prevent it from happening again?

Steve

The 300A has a TSB for the drivers head, if I tore the engine down I would replace the drivers head and have a good valve job with good guides, and this should take care of your problem, before I did any thing have a cylinder leak down test ran on the engine. Call me if I can help in any way.

[NOMARQUIS]

Do you know the TSB number? The service manager said he was interested in any "input from the Marauder folks" It sounds like they ACTUALLY want to correct my problem. This dealer has been very good to work with so far.

[MainEngDwarf]

I had about the same mileage on mine and had the same issue. The dealer where I bought the car said it was the pcv valve and the valve cover design had changed blah blah. they ended up replacing the valve cover and did the seals. Still had the problem. I took it to a dealer in VA Beach, they did an oil consumption test, which was inconclusive. So I left it for their senior Mechanic to check out, (this man knew his stuff). He discovered that not only was it blowing blue smoke at startup, it was also puffing blue smoke occasionally while running. He got permission from ford to tear the engine down. He discovered soft piston rings, and the ring gaps on 4 of the pistons were lined up, (). Since it was torn down, (and he couldn't find the tools to do the heads himself) he had the heads sent to a good shop, where they discovered out of spec seals and guides and rebuilt the heads. When it was all said and done it was an entirely differnt engine, tighter quieter and it seems to me alittle faster.

[babbage]

16K on an 03 is a garage queen. Seals are probably gunkend up. You need to actually drive it often and the seals will be better off!

You can try this: http://www.auto-rx.com cleans and reconditions the seals. May cure your startup smoke problem.

Drive it like you STOLE it. Run some seamfoam thru it too. Get the engine up to full temperature. Sounds like you bought it from an old fart who never drove it. Only taking short trips and too much babying obviously can be bad for a car.

[NOMARQUIS]

"16K on an 03 is a garage queen. Seals are probably gunked up. You need to actually drive it often and the seals will be better off!"


Don't worry, once I get it back, it will be driven daily in the summer. The first owner hardly ever drove it. (13k in 5 years).

[babbage]

"16K on an 03 is a garage queen. Seals are probably gunked up. You need to actually drive it often and the seals will be better off!"


Don't worry, once I get it back, it will be driven daily in the summer. The first owner hardly ever drove it. (13k in 5 years).

Sorry I didn't realize you were gone (over seas?) Iraq?
Seriously try some Auto-Rx, It stopped the smoking startup on my 02 P71 (seals)

[Blackened300a]

16K on an 03 is a garage queen. Seals are probably gunkend up. You need to actually drive it often and the seals will be better off!.

I agree with this, I drive mine hard and never had a hint of smoke. Just at WOT with my tune I get a nice blast of black smoke out the pipes.

[NOMARQUIS]

Babbage- no worries... What I meant was when I get it back from the shop. It has been at the dealership for over a week now. They are looking into the smoke problem. I sure miss my car. I wish I wouldn't have bothered with it since I cringe at the thought of it sitting out in the weather everynight. My G/F says.. "it's only a car..." :( FYI, the first and only owner before me was an older fella who lived in a town of 2000. When I spoke to him before I bought it, he recalls "I took it up north once or twice and got it up to 80. Then the wife yelled at me to slow down."

[rayjay]

Valve guides/seals as DR said. My 04 does it occaisonally. Do the rear cooling mod while its there at the shop.

[UncleLar]

babbage,watch out for us old farts,old age and treachery can be more than a match for youth and exuberance,lol. Like John Wayne said in the last line in the movie True Grit,come see a fat old man sometime.
Ever since my start at throwing wrenches back in the stone age blue smoke at start up equated to bad seals and or valve guides,if it ain't a wankel therein lays your problem along with the head problem D.R. mentioned.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

so technically the head should be rebuildable. I know dealerships just swap parts on stuff like that but for me, I have the tools to grind my own valve seats and I can have a shop install guides so the repair cost to recon a head will not be that high

[Glockafella]

I put my JLT on today, started the car up with throttle body open to the world(no filter or filter pipe) got some white smoke out the pipes.

[frdwrnch]

Yes the guides can be serviced but Ford prefers to service the assemblies because they have no control of the quality of an outside machine shop. If it was my dime I'd have the head serviced. If it's a warranty repair I'll take the cylinder head.