HELP!!! It's smokin!!

[75K15]

My engine is smoking! I was cleaning my carb and choke and I decided to check the coolant level since my hoses seemed "empty" (bottom and top) I'm such an idiot cuz I shoulda known that if the lower hose coming out of the radiator doesn't have fluid, but the radiator does... something is wrong. I freakin topped it off anyway, closed up the filter housing and did a quick start to make sure fluids were flowing right. Started right up, but a few seconds later it sounded like it was running rough... maybe fighting something? At first I thought maybe I had screwed up the choke settings or idle or something like that... I got out and checked the exhaust which smelled a little rich but seemed to be putting out a hazy smoke. When I got to the front I noticed the same hazy smoke coming from behind my filter housing. Didn't seem to go far before it dissipated, so I'm thinking maybe it was from the coolant? I thought I let the carb cleaner evaporate, and I've never heard of it making an engine smoke before. Before I shut her off, I noticed that there was still no pressure or fluid in the lower coolant hose. Is my water pump bad? Blockage? I'm thinking no flow is causing the fluid to drain into the engine from the outflow hose (upper) and it is boiling or burning. Why would that make my engine run rough though? I'm so confused. Maybe I screwed up the mixture AND my pump is out. Damn, and I just had her running great this morning!

Please help me, I would like to get this figured out without having a mechanic come out... any shop work (or house calls) comes out of my Mod budget!

[Ivan D.]

slightly rich smell and hazy smoke is what I have too, I blame it on worn out valve guides but then again I ain't too sure, truck seems to be guzzling gas real bad sometimes

About the hoses - the lower hose is full of coolant, it's just hard to feel it cause when there's air in the upper one (and there usually is) when you squeeze the lower hose water just fills up part of the upper one. When checking the upper hose for pressure, was the thermostat open? Cause until engine warms up there ain't gonna be no flow through it at all.

[75K15]

I'll check the lower hose again in the morning. For some reason I thought that the coolant always flowed, just more when the themostat is open. My buddy says it wouldnt hurt to pop in a new thermo just in case though.

I never did check my exhaust before now so I have no frame of reference on the fuel mixture. Does anyone think it's possible that I could have accidently adjusted something in the carb? I was playing with the choke and throttle when I was cleaning it, but everything seemed to go back into place when I was done... what the hell did I do to make it run rougher than and hour before?

I'm sure this is the first of MANY frustrations this beauty is gonna give me (actually its probably the 3rd or 4th by now).

[75K15]

Alright, she's running smooth now. Better even... sprayed the **** out of the carb with some cleaner and adjusted the mix and now no rich smell or smoke from the exhaust. The smoke from under the hood was from some dirt from the block I must have rinsed into the crevices of the manifold... 5 minutes and it was all done. Still gonna order a rebuild kit and a new thermo, unless I just swap out my qjet instead.