White smoke when gas is let off

[Twizzle]

Ok, ive searched these forums but havent found the answer. So heres my story:

One day, when my control arm fell off, my car overheated. coolant was spewing out of the reserve tank. i brought the car to my mechanic, and he tested and said my radiator was leaking. So i got a fluidyne, installed it, filled it, now if i press the gas, to like 100% throttle, 4k rpm, and let off, a good amount of smoke comes out of my exhaust. i can also make it smoke longer if i let off slowly, at 20% throttle. it doesnt smoke when it idles, or when im slamming down the pedal, only when i let off, even if i let off and go down gradually, it smokes for that period. i dont think its a headgasket cause it doesnt smoke when i step on the gas... also, my tuning was reset and now i just set everything to -10%, (650cc,2gmaf), could it just be a tune issue? i cant tune now cause im awaiting a new palm which hasnt arrived. i thought it could be my gas, cause it was sitting for 3 weeks, with that Emission clean stuff, and i thought it could be carbon being cleaned out...but it doesnt seem so. i got a new tank of gas, and it stopped it only a little.


i also noticed that before i put everything back together, my coolant reserve bottle has a plug, and it was not connected. the guy before me has been running it without the plug plugged in so i guess it wasnt a problem. but i plugged it back in anyway, anyone know what this plug does? please let me know if you have any info, thanks


edit: it does it alot more when idling now that i have checked it again.

 

[Twizzle]

I dont get this, now i just took it for a quick test drive, and it does in fact, have more smoke when i go higher in rpm. What doesnt make ANY sense is that when i drove it home from the mechanic with the leaky radiator, there was ABSOLUTELY NO SMOKE at all from the car, i let it sit for 2 weeks as i waited for my radiator, drained the coolant, took fan off, swapped radiators, put fan back on, filled it with Dex-cool this time, and now it smokes like a mother. i am completely baffled as to how it even could blow the headgasket, while it wasnt being driven. Also, what other indications are there to look for if i have a blown headgasket? is there any other things that could possibly cause this, all in relation to replacing a radiator? im so furious i could kill a man

 

[dogpoop]

I'm assuming the smoke is white?

I would seriously suspect a bad head gasket. If it wasn't leaking before the overheat, it might very well have started as a result of the overheating.
Check the coolant for oil and the oil for coolant. You may want to pressure test the cooling system too.

 

[Twizzle]

well, when i drained the radiator, the coolant was perfect with absolutely nothing mixed, thats why i made this post.



but i found out what it was. it wasnt the headgasket , contrary to popular belief. what actually happened was when i took off my radiator, i also took off my upic and intake and plugged the holes with rubber end caps except one, the intercooler hole, which i had to use a rag for because i ran out of end caps, until i was finished cleaning the upic, intake (cleaning k&n) and all the grease on them. but then i remembered i washed the engine bay after degreasing it, by spraying with a pressure washer, however the one intercooler hole was stuffed with a rag. what must have happened was, the rag soaked up water, and began leaking thru the rag into the intercooler. so my guess was, even though i finished installation 4 days later, there was still water left in the intercooler. i first checked the oil, and it was mixed with water, and this also started my lifters to start ticking bah! so i ran to the local auto parts store, picked up some high mileage synthetic and a fram filter, and before i changed the oil, i flushed it with a few quarts of real cheap oil from walmart, then again, before changing oil, i drilled a hole in the intercooler bottom, and drained what was left (barely anything, but still some water) and bough a drain plug (home depot), similar to that of a fluidyne radiator. then i filled engine with the oil, after replacing the filter of course and rethreading the plug, also got some sparkplugs because they were shot even though they were brand new cause of the water mix, started it up, and it ran as smooth as "butta". lifter tick was gone, my car wasnt smoking and all it needs now is a good tune. this was a good experience because i now know to check EVERYTHING to make sure its plugged and that water may be coming from elsewhere and not necessarily a headgasket phew....

 

[dogpoop]

That's good news. Count your blessings!

 

[Twizzle]

i still have one question, what is the plug from the coolant reserve bottle for?

 

[Twizzle]

anyone? i really dont wanna make another thread just for this question.