I found this site and all the knowledge that is here is amazing.

May I ask, is there anyone with any insight on a slant 6 engine, for a 66 dodge A 100, Van?

I have searched many and many sites (this is how I found this site) and so, being new to the whole old vehicle thing, I am possibly looking to have my engine replaced.

The problem in short, white smoke from exhaust (runs fine though), many mechanics in this surrounding area don't want to work on an old Dodge engines (even though one older gentleman did go through the vehicle and replaced/ fixed, what he "could") because the parts are hard to "find".

He believes that doing any head work, pistons, etc.. is a waste of time and money. So thus (not being a mechanic myself) I am searching for an engine I could possibly purchase and trust.

Thank you for your time.

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Dodge A100 Rookie

White exhaust smoke suggests water in the combustion chamber(s), turning to steam. It's possible you have a head gasket going bad, or maybe need to get the head bolts re-torqued. Worst case, there's a crack somewhere letting water into a cylinder while it's running.
How does your oil look? How about the dipstick? Brown, with a whitish or grey gunk on it?

and welcome to the board, and the world of Chrysler's leaning tower of power.

Roger

Does the white smoke only happen when the engine is cold and stop once the engine warms up? If so, that is normal. Does the white smoke happen all the time and smell like maple syrup? If so, then you are burning coolant. See Roger's post above.

Where are you?

If it puffs smoke on startup and clears right up it's possibly just valve seals.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Wow, thanks so much for the information.

The engine starts fine, without smoke, then maybe 2 minutes or so, it starts to smoke, white smoke.

There does NOT seem to be any leak, any funky coloration or weird fluid mix on the oil dipstick, or the coolant/ radiator fluid, and the van actually runs well.

It starts smoking after it starts to "warm up" and when it smokes, it really smokes. All the time.

I am in Southern California, San Diego County more specifically.

Thank you Roger for the welcome and the help everyone.

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Dodge A100 Rookie

Welcome aboard.


Two suspects:

Exhaust system is full of moisture from short trips never reaching full operating temperature, then starts to evaporate once heated up creating white vapor.

Or, as mentioned above, coolant is entering combustion chamber in some way, turning to steam, and once exhaust system is hot enough not to condense said steam it can be seen exiting. This condition would contribute to the first situation as well.

Remove each spark plug and look for any that are real clean, that may indicate which cylinder or cylinders have a problem such as blown head gasket (an easy fix) or cracked head (more expensive because one needs to locate a good replacement head but about the same labor as replacing a head gasket).

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67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

If you find that the engine actually needs to be replaced, I would contact Doug Dutra (Dr Dodge) on this site. He could steer you towards a good used motor or possibly even build you one. I think he is in the LA area

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65 Dart station wagon slant 6 - now under construction
47 Dodge Custom 4 Door sedan
87 D100 Short Bed slant 6

Retired USAF 1966-1986
Retired US Postal Service 2004-2014

Does the smoke eventually go away if the van runs long enough? If so, it is just "motor mist" like GTS225 mentioned. It is the condensation buildup in the exhaust being heated and evaporating away. The white smoke is just steam.

I recently purchased a 1976 Dodge truck that has a slant six. THere was a terrible exhaust leak at the exhaust manifold which allowed essentially all the exhaust to escape under the hood. Once I repaired the exhaust leak I notice that the muffler was rusted out from the inside and that a large amount of white smoke was being produced while the engine was running. White smoke never came out from under the hood, just from the tailpipe after I had fixed the leak and routed the hot exhaust gasses out the tailpipe.

What had happened to the truck was the lack of heating from the exhaust gasses allowed water to buildup in the mufler which lead to it collecting water and rusting out. Now that the exhaust gasses are going (mostly) where they are supposed to, the water is slowly evaporating out of the exhaust line and muffler.

The amount of steam coming out the taipipe has gradually decreased the more I run the engine. I am sure it will be gone completely after my first test drive out of my driveway.

My point is that your white smoke may just be steam. Try taking the van for a long highway drive and see if it still smokes.

The steam or the tailpipe?

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

That is an open question at this point. The rest of the exhaust line doesn't look too healthy, either.

Reed may be reffering to the

65 Dartman, thank you.

I will keep this in mind. I am between Los Angeles and San Diego so LA would be good.

Thanks again.

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Dodge A100 Rookie

Doc lives in the bay area. He still might be just the guy to talk to though!

I think Mark Ethridge is pretty close to you, as are some folks in Nevada. Well, relatively. I don't know if Mark has a stock good running engine hiding in his shop. You could always check with him. He goes by madmax/6 here.
Check with Andrew {Kidd) on the forum. He may have something available. Never know what he's going to dig up either.

The first race of the year is historically Vegas, so you may be able to get something delivered via the Killer Bee parts pipeline.
Doug Dutra (Doctor Dodge) and Kidd usually attend.
PM those guys to see what is available, and whether someone would be able to haul it down. An engine is a bit bigger than the average part, but one never knows.

Based on your description of the problem, I'd do some exploratory first. It may be something rather minor. A good running engine is worth checking into before going through an R&R.

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

If it is really smoking bad and it is coolant your radiator should be getting low. Get a pressure check put on the radiator and you will find out if the system has a leak somewhere. Hopefully it is just moisture. Good luck!


Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6