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.

 

[DUstin1515]

id also say bad headgasket most likely dsms are known for haveing headgasket problems esp. under alot of boost and typicly as above stated white smoke means coolent is being burned cylenders

 

[se0nz]

I believe coolant is mainly just white smoke, while oil has that bluish tint to it. could be wrong but that's what i thought. if you think it's a headgasket can also check your overflow bottle if it's bad enough there will be some ugly stuff in there


*edit* had oil and coolant reversed

 

[xezerax]

If it does have a blueisht tint to it, suspect valve seals as well.

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

Well ok then, ill do a compression test during the week and ill get back to you guys in that. Now i figured the white smoke would happen all the time? not just after going into full boost ? And also i put in a MLS metal HG and do you think that could have gone bad? I got the head rebuilt while i was doing my rebuild of the motor so i think chances are that cant be the problem...........right? I got a little time tomorrow i`ll just check everything out. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

I did my compression test today and it was 179 across the board. Also just for sh*ts and grins i took it out for a drive and it pulls good at 10lbs. (still running stock boost of course) and after i laid off the gas the car was smoking A LOT! It also smoked a lot when i first started it up today. Now mine you its been damn cold here in florida the past day or two so iwasnt sure if that had anything to do with it of course. I did not check the coolant bottle for anything wierd like oil in the coolant or anything. I am color blind actually (dont laugh it sux ) so its hard for me to tell if its got a blue tint to it. I took some pics of the spark plugs and i took a video of the smoke for reference. The spark plug out of cylinder 4 looked kinda black so im probably gonna change out the spark plugs.
Heres the video of the smoke:
12009pics005.flv video by Sonofpowerstroke02 - Photobucket
So what else could be wrong? Its been pretty cold today and it will be even colder tomorrow so when it warms up a little bit i`ll drop the lower intercooler pipe off and the intake pipe also just to double check everything.

 

[Demon33]

Hey everyone. Just to give a little history on what ive been up to lately - i recently encountered some white smoke that would appear after going into full boost on my t25. Well did some research and well i determined it was just a bad turbo, well ok i replaced it with the t28 i picked up and i just took it for a test drive today (today being jan. 19th) and the SAME thing is happening with my t28. The performance is a little lazy i think but im just use to my t25 im guessing. But my question is - Is it a bad turbo once again? or could it be something else? The guy i bought it from said it was a good turbo, it had a little side to side play but there was no in and out shaft play. My car has been down for nearly a month due to finding a darn turbo and now i might have to spend money on another one

Many turbos go bad due to oil starvation. You replaced the old turbo with a new one, but did you change out the oil feed line or at the very least verify that it isn't restricting oil flow to your turbo due to oil coking in the line? Also, are you certain that your oil pressure is up to spec? Even with a clean or new oil line, without enough oil pressure in the system, you might be starving the turbo especially if your oil line is still in the stock location- off the end of the cylinder head.

Another possibility could be bad valve stem seals. There is another thread going about smoke. You might want to look at it for more information. Maybe you can find some similarities to your problem and get a few ideas on where to start looking.

 

[kahl23]

+1 on making sure that your oil feed to the turbo is working properly and isn't clogged. Also, it may be your valve stem seals. Looking at that video it's hard to say if that smoke is coolant or oil, it could very well be oil, which would most likely be one of a few things, valve stems, piston rings, or turbo. I don't think that a blown turbo would cause that much smoke at idle, so I'd say it might be valve seals. Is there any oil in your exhaust?

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

Actually i didnt check for oil in my exhaust which is another thing i`ll check. I do infact have a leakdown tester some where in my garage i guess ill break that out and test everything with that. I did in fact replace the oil line with the one the guy gave me. I have the turbo running from the oil filter housing (stock location) so i didnt mess with that. Like i said once it gets a little warmer out, i`ll start to investigate further.

 

[kahl23]

Out of curiosity I just looked at the temp in Tampa right now, 39*. Seriously, 39* is that cold? Must be nice haha. A leakdown test and checking for oil in the exhaust sound like good ideas, post back when you do them.

 

[My1GLaser]

I had excessive crankcase pressure cause white smoke before. It was most likely pushing past valve stems seals. Oil was going straight to the exhaust and it burns white because of the intense instant heat. I put a check valve inline with my PCV valve and solved the problem. The stock pcv valve barely holds back 10 psi and I was running 20 psi.

Of course all this was after buying a brand new turbo and finding out that wasn't my problem. Blue is when it goes to the combustion chamber first and burns. Yes there was some blue too, but there was enough white smoke that it filled the neighborhood, literally!

 

[aaronspeed]

You never said if you checked your fluid level and if you removed the radiator cap and verified if you see bubbles when the car is running. Always check the easy things first.

 

[4g64fiero]

I've had bad valve stem seals do this to me as well as a bad turbo. If the seal on the hotside of the turbo blows the smoke will be white as well.

 

[live4my4g63]

ive blown a few turbos and head gaskets and they both will push white smoke out

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

Yea but do u think the bad seals would be on two turbos? I dont even think my T25 was even blown in the first place, but the T28 for the money was a good upgrade for me. I just replaced my T25 for my T28 and im having the same smoking problems. I didnt check the levels on my coolant, but i did notice i had to fill up the overfill bottle a couple times so i`ll check that once i get to it. I was thinking it was due to the fact that i didnt fill up the radiator enough when i swaped my turbo out. Well ill get to it this weekend its finally warm enough to do something significant And yes its cold at 39 degrees here in tampa, remember we are use to seeing 93 degrees....not 39 degrees But going back to the head gasket thing, can a MLS headgasket go bad so quick? I mean im just asking just in case.

 

[beniger]

White smoke is from coolant being burned, have you checked your oil to see if maybe coolant has gone into your oil. If there is coolant in your oil you need to rebuild. Did your car over heat on you before you started to notice the white smoke?

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

Not at all actually. It ran great after i rebuilt the engine just had a small oil leak coming form the bottom of the timing cover towards the carnk pulley. Other then that no over heating or anything.

 

[JusMX141]

It's hard to tell the difference between "white" and "blue" smoke in about 90% of light sources. I can tell the difference between oil and coolant smoke by how it hangs in the air as well as the smell, but I can't tell you how to smell something over the internet.

Did you check the T28 for shaft play before you installed it? Did the turbine wheel appear wet in any way?

Here's some oil smoke caused by a blown turbo, and the blown turbo that caused the smoke:

<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i239.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid239.photobucket.com/albums/ff165/jusmx141/DSMTuners%20Stuff/GT35RLastPass.flv">

<embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i239.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid239.photobucket.com/albums/ff165/jusmx141/DSMTuners%20Stuff/Blown35RShaftPlay.flv">

Video courtesy of eBay- where else can you find quality journal-bearing GT35R's that last 400 miles?

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

ok i havent checked the compressoer wheel at all...but im actually working on the car right now and i wanted to post back some results of my leakdown test and the first 3 cyliners (1,2 and 3 cyliners) were all between 9% - 17% @ 100psi of air but going to the number 4 cylinder the spark plug was pitch black (couldnt tell what the smell was on the spark plug, but the results were 90%! . Im thinking i should retest that cylinder just for curiousity sake. Also i didnt notice any leaking past the PCV valve, the dipstick tube, or through the exhaust. Next im going to pull the intake and MAF off and see what the turbo looks like. I did actually drive it today and the smoking wasnt relaly that bad then it was in the past few days. (plus its a tad bit warmer out so i dont know if thats a factor?) Ill post back with anything else i find.

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

Ok did a little more picking around on my car and found no oil in the lower intercooler pipe or anything. Next im going to drain a little bit of oil to see if theres any coolant mixed in. Also can i run the car without the radiator cap on? or should i just look for any bubbles that occur while the car is running in the overfill bottle?

Also got done with checking more stuff like no oil in the exhaust and no coolant in the oil......or oil in the coolant for that matter. (figured i would edit this post rather then posting more just to be safe )

 

[beniger]

it needs the radiator cap, puts pressure on the system just idle it and keep an eye on it

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

Ok i put the radiator cap back on the car when i ran it....i didnt see any bubbles or anything coming from the over fill bottle. This is def. getting on my nerves but im determined to find out whats wrong first before i go tearing my car apart. Also a friend of mine told me to check for oil in the exhaust (i dont know why but i checked it anyway) and i didnt find anything in the downpipe or in the muffler itself. He thinks it could be the intake manifold gasket and i really dont think it can be that.

 

[quattro527]

The newer formula Mobil-1 oils will burn this color, and it also burns fairly easily with a very low flash point. If you see smoke AFTER making full boost and then letting off, it is a sign of your thrust bearings going bad on the turbo. You most likely have some shaft play, either rebuild the turbo now (or soon) if you plan on keeping it around, because once those seals you out completely, your wheels will be grinding against the housings. Oil seals are the only thing that keep the shaft floating and prevents metal-to-metal contact.

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

HHmm...never thought about that. But im not using mobile 1 anymore. i use 20w-50 valvoline due to the fact that i have a small oil leak and it helps to not find the leaks as bad (yes i know i need to fix that, thats next on the list.). Now this also happened during when my T25 was on the car, so the T25 had the trust bearings going out too? Also the car does this when i first start it up and also a lot when im decelerating coming out of boost after a hard pull. The turbo is surprisingly lazzy also, maybe the trust bearings could impose on the performance? Where could i get this turbo rebuilt, i kinda like it Oh almost forgot, in my last couple of posts, i said that my number 4 cylinder spark plug looked to be pitch black, seemingly something was burning on that spark plug only not sure what would cause that but should i just replace the spark plugs to see if anything changes?

 

[quattro527]

HHmm...never thought about that. But im not using mobile 1 anymore. i use 20w-50 valvoline due to the fact that i have a small oil leak and it helps to not find the leaks as bad (yes i know i need to fix that, thats next on the list.). Now this also happened during when my T25 was on the car, so the T25 had the trust bearings going out too? Also the car does this when i first start it up and also a lot when im decelerating coming out of boost after a hard pull. The turbo is surprisingly lazzy also, maybe the trust bearings could impose on the performance? Where could i get this turbo rebuilt, i kinda like it Oh almost forgot, in my last couple of posts, i said that my number 4 cylinder spark plug looked to be pitch black, seemingly something was burning on that spark plug only not sure what would cause that but should i just replace the spark plugs to see if anything changes?

All the symptoms you described is a failing turbo seal. (after decel from WOT, puff of smoke in the mornings, etc). You can also try to rev the motor up to 5000 for a few seconds, and letting off. There should be a "puff" of smoke a few seconds thereafter.

BUT...Your plugs being black is simply from a rich A/F mixture, on top of the carbon deposits from the oil being burned. However, if only one plug is black while the rest seem fine, I would have that cylinder tested. When's the last time you did a leakdown on the engine? I'm hoping that it's your turbo, and not a bad ring in #4 that's causing excessive blowby.

 

[lowandsleekDSM]

Thats actually was part of the test. When i did test the number 4 cylinder it tested at 90% leakage, WAY more then the other 3 cylinders it almost makes me want to test that cylinder again. I did a compression test and all the cylinders were at 179 across the board and both tests were done on a warm engine. Now during the leak down test i didnt feel any air coming our of the exhaust or the oil cap (when it was off of course) and not even through the dip stick tube and also the PCV valve, so thats why im thinking of retesting. I would love to actually keep this turbo since money is some what of an issue right now. Should i just go ahead and replace the spark plugs and see if the problem continues?