The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support Kiggly Racing
Please Support STM Tuned

Blown Headgasket maybe?

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

DSMTyson

10+ Year Contributor
1,225
10
Nov 9, 2010
Lake Charles, Louisiana
I'll try to describe this as best I can.

When I first start my car up in the morning, after about 1 minute of runtime I can start to see very vague puffs of WHITE smoke coming out of the exhaust and it increasingly get worse until it is more of a transparent white fog. But it then goes away after about a minute. But then comes back and goes away again.

After it warms up to operating temperature and I start driving the smoke will intermittently come and go for the first minute of driving, and then it will completely clear up. It was eating a little bit of coolant before this started happening, and since it has started to smoke randomly it has stopped eating coolant....Which has me really confused..

I was sure it was a blown headgasket, so I did a compression test because i've seen blown headgaskets will usually cause a drop in compression in 1 or 2 cylinders.


I did a hot compression test.
Comperssion was Cyl. 1: 144psi, Cyl 2: 137psi, Cyl. 3: 141 psi, Cyl. 4: 150psi.

Seems normal to me.

Can anyone verify that what I am experiencing is a blown headgasket? Or could it be something else? :aha:
 
But wouldn't that cause blue smoke due to oil getting into the cylinders? This is white smoke. Which would mean coolant, right?

Sorry, I've never had to deal with coolant getting anywhere but on me or in my cooling system.
 
Yeah, that makes sense.

So your're saying that when the valve stem seals are cold they get a little bit of blow by, and once its warmed up the seals expand it stops the blow by and it starts to run normal.

I'll keep an eye on it and see if it starts to drink coolant. If not, it looks like its time to rebuild the head and upgrade the internals.

_____________________________________________________

Edit: Is there any harmful effects of leaking valve stem seals?
 
So your're saying that when the valve stem seals are cold they get a little bit of blow by, and once its warmed up the seals expand it stops the blow by and it starts to run normal.
Yup, it's pretty much on cold start-ups only and can puff lightly for a minute or so.

Is there any harmful effects of leaking valve stem seals?
Nothing major. You can consume a bit of oil, and/or leak a little exhaust into the crankcase, but if doesn't affect driveability much at all. A co-worker's Escort has had shot seals for 2 years now, and it's still doing just fine.
 
Thanks a lot, man. I feel better knowing that I wont #### up anything by driving around.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top