white smoke/ steam coming from tail pipe

[90gsx16g]

I just bought a 90 gsx with a rebuilt engine all new raceing components installed. bored out to 2.4 liter. It starts and runs fine( except tranny but thats a different story) anyways there is steam i believe coming from the tail pipe or it could be very faint white smoke... its about 50-60 degrees outside and its been raining. is this normal?

It idles perfectly fine and it drove without problems the 3 times i drove it befor parking it.

 

[Artago]

I just bought a 90 gsx with a rebuilt engine all new raceing components installed. bored out to 2.4 liter. It starts and runs fine( except tranny but thats a different story) anyways there is steam i believe coming from the tail pipe or it could be very faint white smoke... its about 50-60 degrees outside and its been raining. is this normal?

It idles perfectly fine and it drove without problems the 3 times i drove it befor parking it.

Well if it's been raining and it's cold outside then it's just condensation. However, if it's sunny and warm and the car still puffs whites smoke AFTER it has warmed up FULLY then that's NOT normal. In that case you may have a blown head gasket. The white smoke is usually caused by coolant getting into the combustion chamber and burning up. When it burns it makes white smoke. You can do the following checks:

1. Check if you are low on coolant. If you are low then you are leaking it somewhere. (Such as via a blown head gasket) Top it up and check again in a few weeks.

2. Run the car (let it warm up properly), shut it down and pop the oil cap off. Check around the oil cap seal for white foamy bubbles. If you see white foamy bubble then coolant is mixing with your oil somewhere (such as via a blown head gasket).

3. Check your spark plugs for white residue. When coolant burns it will leave white residue on you sparks plugs, exhaust manifold, and basically you entire exhaust.

NOTE: If any or all of these checks turn out negative that doesn't mean everything is ok. It just means that the signs are not showing up ... yet.

I hope you find your problem but before you panic, check to see if the car still smokes in warm sunny weather. If it does then do the checks I mentioned and get back to us.

Cheers, Tom

 

[90gsx16g]

yeah i was guessin it was just condensation but i guess i'll have to wait for sunshine sometime to know for sure. ### i just checked coolant and its not low at all.

 

[timot]

you have a custom turbo back, does it dip at any point creating what could be a reservoir for water in your exhaust? It is possible that is evaporating causing you white smoke however, artago is correct with the things you should do first

 

[90gsx16g]

alright so i checked coolant and there isnt any missing, so i started it up today and there was no smoke or "steam". im pretty sure it was just cindensation. thanks for your help an ideas guys.

 

[Artago]

Haha, false alarm!