240 miles with smoke through heater

[wrighthm]

I've got a kodiak mk3 heater or shin burner heater. Everyone who has one knows that you get air coming through the heater whether the fan is on or not. This is a good thing or a bad thing in my case. Just got the courage to drive my series to Kningsport, TN (where I grew up) from Lexington, KY. It took close to five hours in the truck. After the first 30 mins I noticed a little smoke coming through the heater. It was not thick smoke but more like steam and you could only see it when sunlight hit the passenger side door panel a certain way. You could definitely smell it though so I had to open all the safari vents, front vents and all the windows open. I checked it out under the hood once I first saw the smoke and it seemed to be coming from my breather caps on my oil filler tube and the valve cover. I had noticed that these seem to steam a little after I had turned the car off and opened the hood to work on it before. If it's doing it while the truck is off it is doing it while e truck is on I suppose. The truck doesn't smoke out the exhaust but I do use about a quart of oil over a months worth of daily driving. I must drive about 300 miles every month because I checked the oil when I made it back to the hometown and I was a quart low after having just filled and topped all the fluids before I left. I covered the fan inlet with a plastic bag and electrical tape while stopping for gas and it seemed to help a little but I could still tell the smoke was getting through. When I got here thrusday night I wrapped the oil fill tube cap in aluminum foil and that seems to have helped too. My question is does the filler tube need a breather mushroom cap like the cover on top of the motor and I know I'm never going to make this truck air tight, but has anyone had a problem like this with fumes or anything coming through their heater box. I also think from the cap catching the oil condensation at the top it was dripping a small amounth out of the breather vents in the cap and that was falling onto hot parts under the hood and so on and so forth. Any help would be great I am driving it back tomorrow and I really don't want another anxiety attack over fumes and my health or my dogs health. Haha...

[Terrys]

What year truck? Early ones had a breather cap atop the filler tube. Later ones were sealed, with a tube running from the side of the filler tube, to a PCV valve and then back into the engine. Are you getting a lot of blow by? If so, it may be time for a ring job. If not, you could look into a sealed filler tube and PCV arrangement. I'm guessing you have an early truck anyway, as the heater blower air intake is on the wing on later 2A trucks. If it's an early one, you should have an intake duct running under your battery tray to thefront of the truck. In either case, there shouldn't be any easy way for engine fumes to enter the airstream through the heater core.

[wrighthm]

It's a 1962 and I am guessing you would recommend taking the aluminum foil off of the breather cap?

[wrighthm]

Oh and there's one thing I forgot to mention. The blower setup in the engine bay does not have the elbow that connects to the duct underneath the battery tray. It's the elbow piece that has a flap for opening and closing the airways into the heater. I have the piece in Kentucky with all the other parts that came with my truck. I tried to fit it the other day and found out that the holes no longer line up with the studs because of a clearance issue, so the elbow has to be rotated slightly and needs new holes drilled to line up with the studs. Never thought I would have this problem on the highways.

[stonefox]

So are you saying the heater intake duct just pulls air from the engine compartment or does it connect to a outside air source?

[wrighthm]

The duct runs from the grill to the blower, so yes it does have a fresh air source. Having said that I do not have the duct connecting through the elbow that connects to the blower. So it is exposed to whatever is under the hood as well. I have never had a problem with fumes or this oil condensation before now. It was also my first time on the highway for any extended period of time.

Side note; The truck ran for five hours at 65mph ( with fairey overdrive) and I got close to 20mpg from my 2.25

[Terrys]

Well, I guess it goes without saying, you've got two issues coexisting, both of which need fixin'. Whether the engine issue is first is your choice, but I'd like to be breathing fresh air in any case. If the aluminum foils stays there, then I'd guess you don't have a blow-by problem. I'd be pretty happy with that fuel consumtion in mine