Today I was working on my 1966 Volvo 122s, attempting to get my brakelights to work. They are operated by a hydraulic switch that simply completes the circuit to the lights. The contacts were corroded so I took them off and rubbed them with sandpaper and sprayed it down a bit with some electrical contact cleaner. I did the same with my battery and fuseblock.

After I got the lights working again, I put some ATF in the floats of my carburetors and started the engine. The car hadn't been started and allowed to warm up for a good 3 months. The carbs ejected the excess ATF out of the vent holes and my throttle response was excellent. :D

The only reason I say this is because this was what I was doing right before the "smoke" appeared. I don't really think it was electrical in orgin because it had no smell. I had the exhaust hooked to a ventelator hose so it wasn't pooling exhaust either.

I shut off the engine and pulled the battery leads when I saw "smoke" pooling around the engine compartment and front of the car. I tried to trace it and followed it to around the area of the brake light switch, but I am not sure exactly. It could have been coming from the bellhousing area and floating up.

Does anyone have any guesses what this mystery odorless smoke was? It was very pale.


Note: I really don't know where in the engine compartment it was appearing from, I just thought I saw more near the switch.

Also, the electrical cleaner was mostly methanol and some other alcohols and petroleum stuff.