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NEW engine WHITE smoke/I've checked EVERTHING!

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SnowBird

15+ Year Contributor
528
0
Jul 9, 2006
Cleveland, Ohio/Tampa, Florida
This is a rebuilt engine, only 5 miles on it and so far Im hoping this is all the assembly lube I dumped down the cylinders while it sat for 4 months before being started. The head came off a running car that didnt smoke and I have a Felpro gasket that should help with sealing if anything.

Car starts to smoke WHITE/GRAY right about when the thermostat opens making me believe its obviously a coolant issue. I have absolutely no oil in water or vise versa, no notice in coolant loss and exhaust doesnt smell like coolant at all. When I get on the gas hard it clears out until I let off, then it coughs out more. Car not overheating at all.

Car still boosts fine, makes power, the whole nine yards. Gotta fix this so I can properly break it in.

1. compression check is still great ecspecially for a new engine with unseated rings.

2. turbo not blowing oil (could be leaking internally but doubt it)

3. FIAV check, I looped the coolant hoses bypassing the fiav to make sure its not leaking.

4. Leakdown test, I performed this by applying 80psi from a compressor to each cylinder at TDC with the coolant cap off to see if coolant bubbled at all. Nothing.

5. I had oil leaking from my oil return off the turbo, which was dripping all over the downpipe, but I fixed this and it still would smoke.

6. I checked out my turbo oil feed line thinking it was kinked and the turbo was burning up the oil, but as you saw in #5 it was pouring out oil, so I dont think its kinked.

My car has serious idle surge due to a messed up ISC, but I dont think it would be white from it running rich/lean for the split second that it surges.

Im stumped. I can only think its a cracked head (that was fine off a running car), head gasket maybe, or Im leaning towards leaky VALVE seals. They looked pretty gunky, but I didnt see it as a problem. I might just tear it down, have the head decked/checked out and slap another gasket on for the hell of it.

Any help is appreciated greatly, I apologize in advance for the fact that I am unable to frequently get on here and answer any questions one might have.
 
You should drive it in all honesty. When I first put my motor together a few years ago. That thing filled my barn completely thick with white smoke. Drove it all over kingdom come, it stopped. Some people thought it was just the rings singing, etc. If your not losing any coolant. It does make me wonder if your assembly lube is getting burned off.
 
It definitely could be bad valve seals, but it could also be the head gasket, Felpros are junk. I've seen a few cars with them blow the head gasket of 1st start up after installing it.
 
When my pcv system wasn't functioning properly I was filling the neighborhood with white smoke every time it went into boost, but not when in vacuum. YES, white smoke ended up NOT being coolant. When oil is burned in the cumbustion chamber it is the familiar blue color. BUT, when oil goes DIRECTLY into the exhaust (valve seals, turbo seals, high crankcase pressure) it burns white and smells like hell. So, 90% of the time white smoke is coolant burning, but it can also be oil going straight to the exhaust somehow. It has a distinctive smell, unlike the sweet smell of coolant burning, this smells like hell. Imagine throwing a pint of oil into a fireplace...yeah thats the smell. I hope that is your problem because I changed my pcv configuration and it fixed it immediately. Check your PCV valve & breather hose and I will submit ideas if this might be your problem. I am long-winded enough as it is. :D Good Luck!
 
SILVERBULLIT- It doesnt burn coolant at all, and the exhaust is all new.


MY1GLASER- My PCV system is routed different. I ran the breather off of the valve cover to a G2 fuel filter and then into the air intake hose. PCV is still directly routed from the intake manifold.

I guess I could check this by pulling off my PCV valve and running the car?
 
Here is a pic of a check valve I put inline between my Intake & valve cover. The stock PCV can't hold back but a few psi. You can even blow thru it with your mouth. With a fresh rebuild, you will have some extra blowby until the rings fully seat & the poor stock PCV valve aggravates the problem. Most people do something to assist this system I didn't want a catch can, so I researched and came up with the following. It holds back 250 psi and has opens with < 1 inhg of vacuum. It doesn't interfere with the PCV drawing in the amount of air that the stock ECU automatically accounts for, but it holds back any amount of boost from pressurizing the valve cover and blowing past the valve seals. It isn't pretty and there are variants of this that work well also, but I have a local Grainger and I really don't care what it looks like. :thumb: Good luck.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/newbie-forum/276068-valve-cover.html

It wouldn't let me upload it since I have posted this before. But anyway I am post #5 in this thread.

Oh and I wouldn't run without the PCV valve.
 
car now has 40 miles on engine, and it only smokes a tad when taking off from a stop.
 
My car would smoke clouds when ever i pulled up to a stop and let it idle for a second or two. The turbo was toast but i dont remember if my was pushing oil in to the intake tract or not
 
car now has 40 miles on engine, and it only smokes a tad when taking off from a stop.

So that means it's improving right? Drive it a bit more. Once you reach 100 there probaly won't be any smoke left. If you're still not convinced, then do a compression test. Then do a leak down test.
 
Are you using the stock turbo? You could be pushing too much oil pressure to the turbo causing it to blow past the seals and making your exhaust blow smoke. I had this problem and an oil restrictor on the feed line fixed it. Good Luck
 
So that means it's improving right? Drive it a bit more. Once you reach 100 there probaly won't be any smoke left. If you're still not convinced, then do a compression test. Then do a leak down test.

Its improving I thought, Ive noticed when I get about a half a quart low on oil (turbo drain leak) it almost stops completley, I dont know what to conclude from that.

Are you using the stock turbo? You could be pushing too much oil pressure to the turbo causing it to blow past the seals and making your exhaust blow smoke. I had this problem and an oil restrictor on the feed line fixed it. Good Luck

I am running a 14B, I have removed BS, but I ported the hell out of the oil relief valve. On the stock gauge at idle sometimes its about a third of the way up, and when running its at least half. You think I should port more or get a restrictor like you say (what is it, and where can I get one)? Now Im thinking that maybe my pressure is too high and thats why when my oil gets a little low it doesnt smoke as much?
 
This weekend I am changing the valve stem seals. If that doesnt work Im going to give the oil restrictor a try.
 
My vote is still crankcase pressure. If you are getting less smoke when you are 1/2 qt low on oil, it could be that the pressure is lower in the oil pan since there is more volume to fill due to the missing oil. That could be a stretch, but possible. Your pcv system might be ok, but not sufficient for your level of blowby. What color is the smoke and what does it smell like? I would expect it to smoke some until it is broken in...but I am sure I will sh_t my pants when my brand new motor smokes when I pull out for the first time. Do you still have no water in your oil? How did you break in the motor? Oh I hate the freaking turbo oil drain cause it leaked like a bi*** on my first 1g.
 
:confused:I have white smoke coming from my engine when it is warmed up.
The temp gauge is normal.
I looked to see where it is coming from but i can not tell it looks like the smoke coming from the back of the engine. What do you think could be the problem?
 
i would think it has something to do with the engine seals if not turbo might be my next bet... could b leaking oil into the pipe...run lucas oil addictive ive herd it works wonders.

:dsm:
 
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