White smoke from exhaust

[doe2005]

Hey DSM'ers,

I just bought a 95 gsx. It's sweet. However, I'm fairly new to this car so I need some help. My exhaust is smoking with white smoke. It happens pretty much constantly. My check engine light is on but I test what error code was causing this and it read that the TPS or Throttle Position Sensor was going bad. It read that there was over fueling in chamber 1. Could this be the problem causing the white smoke? If not, any ideas? Screamin for help. Just hoping it's not the rings cause I heard that's pretty expensive. Help.

 

[diablos991]

Extra fuel would cause black smoke. White is most likely antifreeze(especially if its sweet smelling). Blue is going to be oil.

I would start off by doing a compression test: http://www.dsmgrrrl.com/FAQs/compression.htm

My guess is that its the head gasket due to the fact that its smoking all of the time. But do the compression test first to get a more accurate reading on the state of your engine.

 

[MrBoxx]

Just in case, check the turbo for shaft play: Pull of the intake pipe, reach into the compressor inlet of the turbo, grab the compressor wheel's nut, and try to wiggle it: side to side, up and down, and in and out. If you can barely move it up and down/side to side, that's good. If it moves more than that, bad. If it moves in and out at all, bad. While the intake pipe is off, look inside to see that the compressor wheel's fins are all intact and that the blades haven't been rubbing on the compressor housing.

After that, pull of the lower intercooler pipe and check for oil pooling in it and in the intercooler. This is another sign that the turbo seals/bearings maybe failing. Don't ask me why, but for some reason when the turbo starts spewing oil into the intake tract, the smoke from the exhaust is white/gray, not blue.

Example of what a bad turbo looks like from the intake side:

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By the time the turbo got to this point, the car was spewing clouds of white smoke over two lanes wide.

 

[blackGSX2g]

Wow Eric...that has got to be one of the worst looking turbos I have ever seen!! I thought my old t-25 was bad.

I agree with the compression test (both dry and with a cap-full of oil); post up the results of that and we should be able to tell you the condition of your rings. Are you having any overheating problems? Going through coolant at all?

A bad TPS will not cause over-fueling in your 1st cylinder, or any one cylinder. Are you sure its plugged in?