White Smoke / Car Is Smoking White [Merged 7-9]

[Apeximprt2nr]

Alright guys, well I just finished my 14B install in my 95 GSX. All is well besides some minor oil leaks on the return line and the SS feed line at the filter housing. There was also a VERY minor coolant leak from the front banjo bolt on the turbo. I tightened it a tad and I think i went away. Now the turbo is spooling really late because I think there may be a leak before the turbo.
Now on to the problems.

1. The turbo does not smoke at all besides at WOT sometimes it blows out whiteish grey smoke. I'm trying to think of where it could be burning coolant. It never did this before the turbo install.

2. There was some white smoke the past 2 days at the manifold. I'm thinking its the shitload of PB Blaster that I sprayed all over the car but I'm not sure.

3. There's a smell coming from my engine that I can smell if I pop my hood and it becomes more noticeable when I'm driving and really get on it. It smells like burning plastic sort of, with a mix of burning rubber. The lower heat shield is not on the car because it's a pain to get on and I haven't put it back on because I haven't had time. Nothing is touching anything hot so I 'm confused...The only possible thing is maybe I pout on a new 4 ply exhaust mani. gasket as well as antiseize on most of the bolts and the turbo-mani. bolts.

Any help? Thanks.

 

[Zincone91]

Thank you.. thats what i thought it was but i wasnt sure just double checking.. one more questing my car keeps overheating and i flushed the system and changed the thermomertr but it still overheats and ever sence it did it that one time my car almost stalls whenever i come to a stop or go into nutral

 

[rob1621]

not to steal your thread but, im getting white smoke also, i just installed a catback exhaust and now everytime i give it gas or rev it, white smoke comes out, it doesnt smell like anything out of the ordinary, just exhaust. the only thing done to my car for performance is an intake. car has about 140k miles. I know i have oil leaking somewhere but i dont know i guess it might have smoked earlier with the stock exhaust but not as much.

 

[darkiller_666]

Have a new Head gasket recently put on. Noticed when my car idles for a long time if i rev it a little ill see a very small amount of white smoke. Is this normal for a new HG? should i try running some head gasket sealer? the stuff that replaces your coolant?

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

Did ya have you valve stem seals fixed if not its common for the seals to leak and smoke at idle..

 

[darkiller_666]

No i didnt, i had a head that was decked and hot tanked and all good, tell the timing belt broke. Now i have a head that was laying on my buddies shop floor on it. its not decked or anything. Is valve stem seals something i could?

 

[rush2252]

If the deck was decked and hot tanked then the seals were replaced... my car was doing this before. I left it running for my girl to use the heat on a cruise night. It started smoking a lil when she rev'd it. I found it after close inspection to be a bad PCV valve. Look into adding a US plastics check valve. My OEM replacement PCV is leaking blowby again on a fresh small 16g and smoke a little.


Kolby

 

[RT-AWD]

Ok I think I've got a HG issue but i just want to make sure. I'm not too mad because i just bought a built motor I'm just because i need to get cams motor mounts and a clutch. During save up time i wont be able to drive it anyway here's the story.
I was going to a party and decided to take the DSM instead of the Daily Driver, i drove the car around the block and stopped at a stop sign when my phone rang, i sit at the sign for about 5 or 6 minutes until i smell a burning plastic type smell i look around and notice a big cloud of thin white smoke coming out of my exhaust i hang up and drive home. While driving the smoke goes away. i get to my driveway and get out, there is a small bit of smoke barely visible coming out it goes away and doesnt come back. My idle never dipped or hesitated while cloud came out. The car still drove fine and sounded as it normally does. The car had been sitting for about 2 1/2 weeks while i was doing my headliner. the only thing i did to the engine bay was add a 386 carbon fibre spark plug cover. before today there hasnt been any smoke out the exhaust like this ever. pulling the plugs and dipstick tomorrow.

 

[Rob10_99]

Is your coolant low now? Can you get a leakdown test done, or pressurize your cylinders and look for bubbles in the radiator cap.
Even simpler would be to look for cooland burn on the spark plugs.

 

[RT-AWD]

coolant is at the same level it was in the overflow jug as when i left. i dont have the tools for the pressure test. I'm going to look at the plugs tomorrow.

 

[RT-AWD]

checked plugs oil and coolant overflow everything looks as it usually does. someone on another forum mentioned blown turbo or bad seals, i'm hoping that isnt the case since my turbo is brand new with less then 700 miles on it.

 

[324vr4]

Cracked turbo housing...

 

[RT-AWD]

started it up today ran for about 5-6 minutes and saw no smoke. i doubt i have a cracked turbo housing since its so new, and i dont know why that would make white smoke come out the tailpipe

 

[lucid15]

So i have been noticing a small amount of white smoke when idling or not on the gas. It boost fine and runs strong, jsut the white smoke worries me sometimes. Today, i pulled the plugs (pics below) and noticed some oil on the valve cover and on the plug covers and checked the turbo for shaft play, no shaft play whatsoever. I should probably also mention i have a slight oil leak, i notice it leaks about 2 good sized drops a night when i park my car. Took it to a dealership that my dad is employed at, and they replaced the front crank seal, and cam cover gasket. did not fix the leak at all. Its leaking by the driver side tire, jsut inside of it. Any thoughts on these two problems?

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[blueboost68]

sounds like valve seal, if so it would be worse when u first start it after sitting all night, or sitting and idling for a long period of time

 

[ilco187]

are you sure its oil and not maybe coolant.

 

[juzslidin]

white smoke is not oil , oil is a blue ish color . white is coolant / water . when does it do it , just in the mornings ?

 

[lucid15]

It doesnt seem to do it on initial startup, just randomly. what can i do to check if its coolant? i dont know what i can do.

 

[98DropTop]

Ok So I took a road trip which was ~ 14-17 hrs both ways, and as I was in Toronoto driving around I noticed white smoke.... That was a few weeks ago.... Forward to present...

Coolant level was pretty low during the trip I noticed, like very low, idiot I am forgot to check it before trip, but during trip and since I have filled it up and level has only really dropped a couple times, and has been good for about a week or so... A little lower before starting and after driving seems to have gone up a back to where it should be.

Just changed my oil and ps belt and alt belt less than a week before road trip.... Checked oil everyday since, doesnt seem to be "chocolate milky" or really losing level other than a tiny bit at road trip but since then it has been fine... And as of today, July 9th, I just changed oil again and inspected old oil and was black like normal...

Coolant under the rad cap seemed to be nice and green just like when I put it in... I decided to hold off flushing it for now

Did compression test today as well, July 9th, at first numbers seemed fine from cylinder 1 over was 175, 168, then my buddy noticed the end on the tester was a tad loose because the next cylinder read 193? so we redid it with the tester tight and reading seemed high...

from driver side --> passenger

198 - 183 - 193 - 195

Plugs were in decent condition and no oil found on them.. I was just reading before posting this that high compression mean perhaps carbon buildup?

I did not do a wet test, didnt think I had to because my numbers were high?

As for a leak down test, I dont think I can bring it to a garage for one as of now, because I bought new lugs and when I was changing them, and was using the key it was on so damn tight I warped the key, I sent for one in the mail about a week or so ago... I remember reading in the leak down test that the driver side tire needs to be removed? Thats the only thing holding me back from gettnig that done for now.... Dumb I know.

I inspected the turbo for shaft play, none.... I did not check the lower intercooler pipes for oil, the intake pipe has some oil in it, but I think I read thats from the line coming from the engine?

Battery is redtop and not even a month old...

My AEM UEGO reads very rich... most of the time 10.9, I was cruising on the highway today back home at about 60ish and it was around 11.0 and mostly 12.5-13.1... But city driving it is always very low, low 11's to 10.9... I have bought a new front O2 sensor and its on its way... I just didnt get one for my wideband because it still seems to read ok sometimes like when I was on the highway??

This video is from after all this and taken today (July 9th) when I got home..

whitesmoke.flv video by hugo1984boss - Photobucket

I hope I have not let anything out...... Please give me your thoughts thanks.

 

[Jeff99GS]

Sounds like it may be the head gasket. If you are losing coolant and the exhaust is blowing white smoke, those are 2 signs of head gasket leakage.

You don't have to have milky oil or brown coolant to have a bad HG. It could be leaking coolant into the cylinder and burning it right off. That would explain the white smoke too.

I know you said you can't, but you really should do a Leakdown test on the engine. Or have one done. You can buy a cheap leakdown tester for like $40 US dollars. I think its worth it!

 

[BogusSVO]

another way is to do a coolant system pressuer test, some times you can rent them from a parts store.

it is simple enough to do, remove your rad cap, and place the tester where the cap was and pump it up to the rating on your rad cap, (13psi?) and see if and how fast the gauge drops.
Now if it falls fast, just pump it back up 3 or 4 times, Pull ALL the spark plugs out of the engine, IF you have a bad HG with a leak into the combustion chamber, when you spin the engine over, you will see a mist of coolant from the spark plug hole.

 

[My1GLaser]

I don't think that is coolant at all.

White smoke is not always coolant, plus that looked like it was slightly blue and it really wasn't alot of smoke IMO. I had a completely clogged PCV valve cause so much crankcase pressure that it was forcing oil directly into the exhaust (somewhere?) and it burned white like you wouldn't believe. Swapped it out and put in a check valve and it went away completely and never came back.

So my thoughts are its oil from somewhere. Valve stem seals, turbo seals, pcv valve (normally more a prob in boost)

What does it smell like? Coolant smells kind of sweet, and burning oil smells like crap.

 

[98DropTop]

The coolant level was dropping around when I was on road trip, but on the way back and since Im pretty sure it has been ok....I have been monitoring it and the oil everyday, for the past week and it seems to be fine so far, and I drive it everyday.
I was thinking headgasket as well, but was also hoping that it was not that at the same time.

As for the leakdown test, the only reason I have not gone to get one done is I was under the impression that the driver side front tire has be off, and I am waiting for the new wheel key that I warped to come to me in the mail... If I am wrong about that please let me know the right way and Ill make a trip to a garage as soon as I can, and if so that probably wont be untill next Mon afternoon or Wed morning.

I can take a look at the pcv valve... What should I be looking for when I check it?

Driving the car is fine, Boosts fine, driving seems to be normal, other than the white smoke and rich reading. How bad is it to drive if fluid levels are monitored everyday and car drives fine.

I guess it smells sweet.... Does not really smell bad

 

[Guzman08]

have you tried using seafoam

 

[98DropTop]

No I have not... That is suppose to clean up carbon build up and what not, help with idling, etc......? Would it be a good idea if headgasket is possibly leaking?

 

[Guzman08]

not sure.. about that.... but have you checked your engine coolant temp sensor.. that could cause rich flow