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.

 

[colemoney1]

Looks like your burning to lean, I had this exact same problem before. In my case it was a massive crack on the hot side of my turbo, I fixed it and then it ran perfect. Take the turbo off and inspect.

 

[colemoney1]

Pull the turbo and check the hot side, I had your same problem, massive crack. I fixed it, no problems since.

 

[Aphix]

I know for a fact the 14b has a big crack in it. I guess I should have mentioned that. I spoke with Turboglenn and he said it may be oil getting sucked past my valve seals under vacuum. I still don't understand why it only burns the oil once I begin giving it gas again, because it's not like the engine quits running when I let off the gas.

 

[JusMX141]

Check your turbo's oil drain for kinks, and make sure your PCV system allows crankcase pressure to vent properly. Sounds like whatever turbo(s) you're using aren't able to drain like they should.

 

[Aphix]

Thanks for the insight JusMX. Those two things make more sense to me than any of these other ideas because it literally began happening overnight. I had just finished doing the Translab shift kit when this began happening also, not that I can see a link between that and my issue.

 

[masterjonny]

ok so when the car idles there is no white smoke at all also when im just cruising to . but yesterday my friend was behind me on the freeway and i got on the gas then he told me i have white smoke coming from the exhaust. so what is causing the problem??

 

[Archer Fabrications]

your burning oil

no hes not, white is water, blue is oil, black is fuel

do you have oil in your coolant? Possible blown HG if it is actually WHITE smoke and not blue. If its blue i say your burning oil as well.

 

[cl1ckclack]

well... blue and white smoke can easily be confused by those who don't know any better... id start off with checking easy things. like the condition of your turbo.

 

[Archer Fabrications]

well... blue and white smoke can easily be confused by those who don't know any better... id start off with checking easy things. like the condition of your turbo.

+1 on that COULD also be valve seals

 

[cl1ckclack]

+1 on that COULD also be valve seals

it could be valve seals... it could be a variety of things. but always best to start looking with the easy, common stuff when i bought my car, it did the same thing, and gradually got worse. ended up being some serious shaft play in the turbo.

 

[jeber21]

if its white you might also be running lean or it could be the turbo common guys do your research

 

[Alan11]

Well.. why haven't you guys noticed his car is N/T valve steam seals are the most probable thing for him, worst case scenario the headgasket! Are you loosing coolant? How much?

 

[cl1ckclack]

if its white you might also be running lean or it could be the turbo common guys do your research

I've seen and heard about white plugs, or the inside of your exhaust manifold, or turbo being white from running lean... but i don't think i have ever seen a car smoke white from running too lean...

Well.. why haven't you guys noticed his car is N/T valve steam seals are the most probable thinf for him, worst case scenario the headgasket! Are you loosing coolant? How much?

crapppp... didn't even notice that he has a N/A car

 

[Archer Fabrications]

Well.. why haven't you guys noticed his car is N/T valve steam seals are the most probable thing for him, worst case scenario the headgasket! Are you loosing coolant? How much?

I noticed, that's why i didn't say check the turbo , I said could be valve seals or burning oil.

if its white you might also be running lean or it could be the turbo common guys do your research

, take your own advise this kid has no turbo

 

[rlacasse1]

Well if you are positive it is white smoke then you are definitely burning coolant, not oil.

Pop off you radiator cap and see if it pushes any coolant. That's a good indication of a blown headgasket.

Also, as previously asked are you losing coolant at all?

 

[masterjonny]

Well.. why haven't you guys noticed his car is N/T valve steam seals are the most probable thing for him, worst case scenario the headgasket! Are you loosing coolant? How much?

im not loosing coolant

 

[Archer Fabrications]

im not loosing coolant

Well r u sure its white and not blue? Are you sure there is no oil in your coolant? or does your coolant look muddy?

How did you check your coolant? Did you just look in the over fill bottle, or did you look in the filler neck. If you didn't look in the filler neck, look there thats where you can tell if your low.

 

[masterjonny]

Well r u sure its white and not blue? Are you sure there is no oil in your coolant? or does your coolant look muddy?

How did you check your coolant? Did you just look in the over fill bottle, or did you look in the filler neck. If you didn't look in the filler neck, look there thats where you can tell if your low.

my friend told me white and i check the filler neck and it looks clean and wouldnt the car overheat if there where oil in the coolant

 

[rlacasse1]

Not necessarily.

Pop open the oil cap as well and see if you oil looks like milky crap.

 

[djdsm]

damn i didnt even pay enough attention damn thes 18 hr deployed days my bad white is coolant but if the car isnt over heating its hard to really tell what is wrong it could be any of what the other guys said but there is deff a problem somewhere in or around your head

 

[forcefed_90tsi]

First things first. Have your buddy drive your car and follow him and YOU verify what color smoke is coming out your exhaust.

 

[masterjonny]

Not necessarily.

Pop open the oil cap as well and see if you oil looks like milky crap.

i did an oil change this weekend and the oil wasn't milky looking at all

First things first. Have your buddy drive your car and follow him and YOU verify what color smoke is coming out your exhaust.

ok i verified it when you jump on the gas it pops out black

 

[Archer Fabrications]

i did an oil change this weekend and the oil wasn't milky looking at all



ok i verified it when you jump on the gas it pops out black

well black and white are TOTALLY different, your friend must have been color blind. you are burning fuel or running mass rich. have you dont anything to your fuel system? or ECU? there is no reason you should be having black smoke on a stock car. are you SUUUUUURE its not blue? caugh* valve seal* cough. do a compression test let us know what ya get.

 

[Albrecht09]

I read through quite a few pages of the combined "why is my exhaust smoking" threads, and couldn't seem to find either someone having the same situation or a definitive reason for whats causing my exhaust to smoke.. here's whats happening.

On a cold start, it doesn't smoke any more than a normal car, and doesn't smoke til its fully warmed up. Once warmed up, the car will only smoke after sitting and idleing for a minute, like at a red light, and when I start to give it gas to go, it will puff out some, but does not smoke while driving, building boost, letting off the throttle, or anything. Only at idle, but the longer it idles, it gets worse and worse. The smoke is white/grey, and is definitely a "burning oil" smell, I am pretty confident I've ruled coolant out. Oil level on the dipstick only dropped a little bit after ~1000 miles since the last change.

So far I have done the following diagnostic steps:

-Compression test is normal, (in order) 170, 165, 160, 175 psi.
-Coolant level has not dropped at all
-Cylinder leak down test showed 10% or lower in all 4 cylinders
-Turbo has minimal side to side shaft play, and no in and out play.
-Lower I/C pipe has a very small amount of oil (very little) in it

I am pretty sure its leaking at the oil seal of the turbo (14b btw), and burning from there, but most of the threads I read where this was the case, the person had a lot of in and out shaft play. The problem is definitely made a lot worse by the fact that there are dozens of small holes in my exhaust, it was on the car when I bought it, and I think its a counterfeit...Its an HKS Hi power turbo back system, but at literally every spot where there was a factory weld on the exhaust, it seems it was welded to hot and breaks/has dozens of tiny pin hole's in the pipe, and when I try to patch it with my welder on the lowest setting, it just burns a bigger hole the second I touch it.

Could the turbo oil seal leak while still having no shaft play? The car drives completely fine, builds boost normally, no performance issues. It just sucks when I'm at a drive thru for food, and while waiting, my car smokes out the whole line. Pretty embarassing when I go to pay/get my food.

 

[mchustle]

Sounds like valve stem seals to me.