Hello John, saw your question :
> After tuning up my TR-3A (see previous post) I drove it till it was fully
>warmed up. When I quit, I noticed that condensed water vapor was coming
>out from under the valve cover. Pulled the cover and guessed it may be
>coming up along the push rods. It smelled oily, but then the whole engine
>does. I don't think it was burning oil.
> Any ideas about what is going on.?
>John Cowan
>
..and as to where that water is coming from , how about...
the air. Since this is an old `open' (that is, non-PCV) engine,
and you said that you drove it until it got warm, apparently for the
first time in a while, you are finally purging some of the water
that has accumulated inside over time, with the changing temperatures
and humidity. You've probably seen a rapid warming of the air cause
cold, massive objects (like your engine block) to `sweat'. Well,
the old open systems will sweat inside as well as out, so your recent
warm-up of the engine is just driving that water off, as vapor. I
would guess that if you ran it for 10 or 15 minutes longer, all the
water would have been driven off, and you would not have seen it as
you described.
Still waiting for weather that will condense `sweating' onto my
cold 40-ounce Olde English 800,
Tom Tweed
SW Ohio
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