White Smoke

[95_4G63T]

Hey everyone, just bought my first DSM and I have a question. It's a 95 GST and I noticed that whenever I push it, a huge cloud of white smoke shoots out of the exhaust. I had my GF driving behind me and she said it really only happened when I was really accelerating. My first thought was the pistons rings, but this is also my first turbo, so I don't know what part that might play in this problem.

 

[ddavisaf]

You've got a blown headgasket.
Replace it.

 

[95_4G63T]

Ouch, you think that's the only possibility? Hopefully not. But I got the car from a used car dealership w/ a 12 month warranty. Maybe they'll take care of that, cuz I don't want to have to shell out that much time/ money to do it on my own, or pay someone else to do it.

 

[95_4G63T]

I always thought that blue smoke indicated a bad head gasket, when the oil mixes w/ coolant. Or is that just a progressively worse state of head gasket failure?

 

[freestyledude]

Its not necessarily your head gasket. A few ways to tell if you have a bad HG,

Are you low on oil and/or collant?

Is there coolant in your oil?
It would smell like coolant and in extreme cases could be brown and milky.

Have you checked your compression?
This would tell you if you have a bad HG or rings/internal problems.


Head gasket failure can cause white or blue smoke/steam, it depends where it failed.


If you have a warranty on the car still, you may as well take it back!! I would also check your states lemon laws for further info on warranty repairs/buy backs.

 

[95_4G63T]

Ok, thanks for the info. I was actually about to call the guys I got the car from and let them know. But I'll have to check out the different things you pointed out in the meantime.

 

[ddavisaf]

There is no way that coolant burns blue. Even with oil mixed in.

And yeah, it's a HG. If it were his rings the smoke would be noticably blue.

White smoke is coolant. Either a leak, or a headgasket.
Blue smoke is oil, seals or rings.
Black is fuel.

If you're billowing white smoke out of the exhaust then you've got a blown head gasket. You want confirmation then look at your coolant level (Open the rad. cap) and I betcha it's dry. Then do a compression test and you'll see one or more of your cylinders much lower than the rest.

 

[huafist]

Yep, run a compression test.

 

[95_4G63T]

There is no way that coolant burns blue. Even with oil mixed in.

And yeah, it's a HG. If it were his rings the smoke would be noticably blue.

White smoke is coolant. Either a leak, or a headgasket.
Blue smoke is oil, seals or rings.
Black is fuel.

If you're billowing white smoke out of the exhaust then you've got a blown head gasket. You want confirmation then look at your coolant level (Open the rad. cap) and I betcha it's dry. Then do a compression test and you'll see one or more of your cylinders much lower than the rest.

I'm not at all trying to say you're wrong, I was simply asking whether there were other possibilities. What I do know is that I drove the car 70 miles yesterday one way and not once did the temperature guage go even slightly above halfway. With that in mind, I figured I'd try to keep an open, optimistic mind about what could be wrong. Sorry if I offended you by asking for a 2nd opinion.

 

[SinEclipse]

even tho the temp. gauge does not go up, you can still be losing coolant. i had the same problem and it was my head gasket.

 

[ddavisaf]

Naw, I'm not offended. I just got back from a 3 day boat/fishing trip and I am totally exhausted.
Your coolant Temp Sensor might be bad also. They have a tendency to go out.
Compression test will tell all. Do one of those and post your results.

 

[95_4G63T]

Ok, I'm going to pick up a compression test guage on the way home. Probably won't be able to do it tonight, hopefully tomorrow. I'll post the results when I get them. Thanks everyone.

 

[kene04]

I have a very similar problem. Now, this is my first stick shift, and I've only been driving it for a week so might need to take that into consideration. But, sometimes whenever I take off in first or if i'm backing up my exhaust blows out an insane amount of white smoke, specifically if I'm taking a little while to get the "feel" when it starts to catch and I can ease off the clutch. I've never noticed it smoking any other time unless I'm in too high of a gear, such as when I should have gone to first but I only downshifted to second. Could this be a blown headgasket? or am i floodin it a bit? it always has a shaky takeoff whenever it happens and whenever it's after a downshift, it takes an average amount of time to get up to the right speed.

 

[ddavisaf]

Run a compression test.

 

[95_4G63T]

Ok, I definitely think I did something wrong with the compression test. I got a reading of 195-195-195-195. Doesn't sound right at all, huh? Don't know what I did wrong, but those are the numbers I got. But on another note, I did notice something disturbing. When I pulled the spark plug wire cover off, there was a pool of oil inside. I cleaned it up with a towel, did the test, then replaced the plugs, wires, and cover. I took the car for a 10-15 minute ride. When I came back, I checked under the hood. Pulled the cover off again, and once again there is a pool of oil.

Although I don't know what I did wrong w/ the compression test, I'm now unfortunately convinced I've got a major problem. Guess I'll have to bring it back to the dealer and have them take care of it.

On a side note, the car also has a rough idle. Could that also be caused by a bad head gasket? I don't have any codes being thrown.

 

[SinEclipse]

that pool of oil is from the oil cap. replace the oil cap and you wont ever see that pool of oil again.

 

[ddavisaf]

^^ At least until your oil cap goes out again

If you've got a bad headgasket then you'll have a rough idle. Your compression test is a little high. Could you explain how you did it for us?

 

[95_4G63T]

Ok for starters, I let the car run until it got nice and warm (halfway). After that, I pulled the spark plugs out and unplugged the coil. Then cylinder by cylinder I had someone get in the car, floor the pedal (as I pulled the throttle in the engine bay to WOT), and crank the car until the needle on the guage stopped bouncing. I knew there was a problem with the reading immediately, but I wasn't sure what the problem was. I've never done a compression test before, but this is the procedure I was told to follow. Did I do it wrong?

 

[ddavisaf]

No you did it right.
Hmm....
Pull off your Lower Intercooler Pipe and see if you dump out a bunch of oil.
Have you been losing any fluids?

 

[95_4G63T]

I actually just got the car Monday afternoon, so I couldn't really be able to tell. But I did pull off the radiator cap and it was bone dry as well as the overflow tank. When I bought the car, I was told that the top and bottom end were just recently rebuilt due to a bent valve. I have the numbers for the guys who did the work so I am tempted to call and verify the work was really done.

 

[ddavisaf]

Yeah, you're definatly losing coolant. Call the guys, tell them that. It sounds like a headgasket. But your compression levels are saying otherwise. Tell them that they need to fix the headgasket since they're the ones that did the 'top and bottom end work'.

 

[95_4G63T]

Thanks for the help. Guess I'll have to call these guys and ream them out. At least I have the warranty so I can get it done w/o having to spare my time and energy. Hopefully it'll be done right this time.

 

[ddavisaf]

Good luck

 

[kene04]

Hey I finally found out what was wrong with my car. Turns out that my headgasket was just fine, but you might wanna check your valve cover gasket. Turns out that was what the cause for my smoke and oil pooling was.