Welp, there's smoke coming from my engine

[JasterMereel42]

Backstory first.

I know the cooling system in the Jeep is very dirty. I also replaced the water pump, the t-stat housing, the t-stat housing a 2nd time after the 1st one was warped, and the t-stat. Once I got everything back together, I decided that I needed to do a Thermocure flush. I drained the cooling system, filled it back up with Thermocure and distilled water, and took it for a test drive. The t-stat worked, but I had forgotten to clamp down the upper radiator hose, so Thermocure+distilled water sprayed all over the engine bay. It is brown, sticky, and smelly.

I let it dry out and I started up the Jeep a few days ago. I just had it in my garage with the hood open. As it got up to operating temp, I started to notice a burning smell and some smoke. It was coming from along the edges of the valve cover, mostly on the driver's side. I thought some of the Thermocure goop had gotten into that area and was burning off whenever the engine got hot.

I took the Jeep to a local car wash today. I covered the PCM and the air intake and sprayed out the entire engine bay. I used some engine cleaner at first, and then rinsed it out pretty thoroughly with some light pressure water. I drove it home and let it run for about another 10 minutes.

The engine in still smoking from the valve cover area. Here's a video of the engine hot, but turned off.



I'm thinking that the valve cover gaskets have been leaking pretty badly and this is just the old oil burning off. But I'm new to this so I wanted to see what more experience people think is the issue.

 

[Crom]

Smells like???

 

[tr21triton]

Smells like???

BACON !!!!!

 

[Apparition]

BACON !!!!!

Teen spirit

 

[tr21triton]

I cleaned my engine with that gel degrease/cleaner and it took a good while to burn off. if your valve cover is leaking it's easy to replace maybe about 2 hours ! just dont drop the torque limiters, dont ask me how I know.....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3048979217...d=link&campid=5337789113&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

 

[JasterMereel42]

I cleaned my engine with that gel degrease/cleaner and it took a good while to burn off. if your valve cover is leaking it's easy to replace maybe about 2 hours ! just dont drop the torque limiters, dont ask me how I know.....

I'm worried about bigger problems (head gasket, cracked head, etc), but I think I'll start with the valve cover gasket since that's the easiest thing relatively.

 

[JasterMereel42]

I cleaned my engine with that gel degrease/cleaner and it took a good while to burn off. if your valve cover is leaking it's easy to replace maybe about 2 hours ! just dont drop the torque limiters, dont ask me how I know.....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3048979217...d=link&campid=5337789113&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

Fel-Pro valve cover gasket will be here on Monday. I hope to be able to do the swap on Tuesday.

 

[KennethS]

Head gasket failure or cracked head results in coolant loss and overheating. Smoke from burning off residual chemicals is a temporary thing that has no impact on engine temperatures.

 

[JasterMereel42]

Head gasket failure or cracked head results in coolant loss and overheating. Smoke from burning off residual chemicals is a temporary thing that has no impact on engine temperatures.

I have suspicions that this might be the case, unfortunately.

 

[JasterMereel42]

Bumping for the weekday crowd to hopefully get more advice on what is going on.

 

[chili_pepper]

I'm worried about bigger problems (head gasket, cracked head, etc)

Head gasket failure or cracked head results in coolant loss and overheating.

As @KennethS said, you would likely be suffering other symptoms if it were more serious. If you had head gasket failure, it would probably be running a bit rough, blowing smoke out the exhaust like 007 and the oil would look of chocolate milk. If the gasket failed outward, you'd probably have a pressurized leak of coolant noticeable. And that's only if it fails on the water jacket, you could have compression issues from a cylinder to cylinder leak, external and internal leaks of oil, etc...but I feel like you would notice a remarkable change in engine performance.

First time I did an oil change in mine, the funnel slipped while filling and dumped some dino juice on the intake and down the side of the block. I caught it pretty quickly but she still smoked for a bit until all the oil was burned off. Not sure how long it might take that Thermocure to do the same. Looking at your video, might be that the intake insulation pads have soaked up some of the chemicals and water and are contributing to residual smoking as the engine heats up.

I'm new to these vehicles myself but as I understand it the rocker cover gasket is a fairly common issue, I'd estimate half the LJ's I looked at had leaking cover gaskets and rear main seals (the other half probably already had them fixed! ). Some had been leaking long enough that it looked like a pan gasket issue at first glance.

 

[JasterMereel42]

As @KennethS said, you would likely be suffering other symptoms if it were more serious. If you had head gasket failure, it would probably be running a bit rough, blowing smoke out the exhaust like 007 and the oil would look of chocolate milk. If the gasket failed outward, you'd probably have a pressurized leak of coolant noticeable. And that's only if it fails on the water jacket, you could have compression issues from a cylinder to cylinder leak, external and internal leaks of oil, etc...but I feel like you would notice a remarkable change in engine performance.

First time I did an oil change in mine, the funnel slipped while filling and dumped some dino juice on the intake and down the side of the block. I caught it pretty quickly but she still smoked for a bit until all the oil was burned off. Not sure how long it might take that Thermocure to do the same. Looking at your video, might be that the intake insulation pads have soaked up some of the chemicals and water and are contributing to residual smoking as the engine heats up.

I'm new to these vehicles myself but as I understand it the rocker cover gasket is a fairly common issue, I'd estimate half the LJ's I looked at had leaking cover gaskets and rear main seals (the other half probably already had them fixed! ). Some had been leaking long enough that it looked like a pan gasket issue at first glance.

I haven't noticed any of those major symptoms at this time, but I haven't been looking that hard either. I can let the Jeep run in the garage and I don't see any smoke in the exhaust. I also haven't noticed any engine performance, but I have only driven it maybe 100 miles since I got it.

I was thinking that some chemicals and water got on the insulation pads as well.

Right now, I think I'm going to do a finish flushing the cooling system by pulling the thermostat out. I should be able to run it for about 5 minutes at a time before it gets hot enough to start smoking from the valve cover. Once I get the cooling system thoroughly diluted with distilled water, I'll put the t-stat back in, and fill it up with coolant. Right now, it is still running a diluted Thermocure+distilled water mixture. I'll pay the money to flush with distilled water for how many flushes it takes in order to make sure there is no tap water or Thermocure left.