Pouring white smoke out of the exhaust. Options

[czwalga]

Well.... got the car running yesterday drove it for a while. Some coolant leaking which turned out to be a bad radiator cap.



Today got it up to temperature, it just pours white smoke out of the exhuast. I know that usually means headgasket... however it's brand new. I cleaned the head and block, but didnt have the head decked. It seemed smooth though.

Should i start ripping it apart or any other ideas? I've never seen a bad head gasket pour this much smoke which is strange. Doesn't necessarily have that sweet smell either, but not sure what else it could be.

This post has been edited by czwalga: May 16, 2011 - 5:08 PM

[Smaay]

its possible that it overheated the day before and warped. you did break a cardinal rule of checking the deck and head for straightness. do a compression check and see how that is. there is also a tester you can get to test the coolant for exhaust particles.

[czwalga]

its possible that it overheated the day before and warped. you did break a cardinal rule of checking the deck and head for straightness. do a compression check and see how that is. there is also a tester you can get to test the coolant for exhaust particles.

It's possible but, the temp gauge was fine and I really didnt drive it very far. What could have happend is that since the radiator cap was faulty, the system never really pressurized. Once i put the new cap on it found whatever weakness there was.


Damn, guess i'm going to have to tear it down.

[czwalga]

I dunno, i tested it again. It's not bad at idle, but as soon as you give it gas is when it really starts pouring out. I can't tell if it has the sweet coolant burning smell.

[delusionz]

do a compression check and see how that is. there is also a tester you can get to test the coolant for exhaust particles.

+1

[wvuguy]

When I put used 7AFE in my celica, it had a lot of white smoke too in the start. I also thought it was a blown head gasket. The car was sitting for couple years so there might have been a lot of moisture in the exhaust system. Keep and eye on the coolant and the temperature gauge. Also check for the condition of the oil and make sure it does not look milky. White smoke in mine went away after a few days. It also did not smell like coolant or oil.

[czwalga]

When I put used 7AFE in my celica, it had a lot of white smoke too in the start. I also thought it was a blown head gasket. The car was sitting for couple years so there might have been a lot of moisture in the exhaust system. Keep and eye on the coolant and the temperature gauge. Also check for the condition of the oil and make sure it does not look milky. White smoke in mine went away after a few days. It also did not smell like coolant or oil.

Well i'd say it could be a possibility, but the car has no exhaust other than the manifold. It also coincided with putting a properly functioning radiator cap on, which pressurized the coolant system.

I'm just trying to double check myself, the heads coming off tonight and going to have it milled tomorrow, hopefully be back up and running by thursday night. But is there anywhere else coolant can get into the cylinders other than the head gasket. I'm almost positive it's a no, that's where it has to be coming from but just don't want to do all this and have the same thing happen.

[trdproven]

if its been sitting for a while could be moisture, water builds up, besides that water is a by product of combustion but thats just one thing. you can easily check if your coolant or oil is intermixing. is your temp overheating?

i barely drive my car so i too thought the white smoke was coolant initially, I dropped the exhaust pipe and water spilled out. this caused the white smoke.

could be anything but best thing to do is check it one by one.

[czwalga]

Took the head off. Doesn't seemed warped at all. Head gasket seemed fine. Compression was fine before.

I did notice a decent amount of oil sitting on the intake valves though. I pulled a couple valves/springs and checked the seals, they seemed like they were sealing fine, was able to get suction.


The smoke wasn't dark though so i'm just really confused.

This post has been edited by czwalga: May 18, 2011 - 7:36 AM

[mkernz22]

it's probably just from the engine sitting for a while. Mine did it for a after my manual swap for about a day or so

[czwalga]

it's probably just from the engine sitting for a while. Mine did it for a after my manual swap for about a day or so

The engine ran for atleast an hour total before this started to happen though.

[czwalga]

Just got a call back from the machine shop. Head was warped .006" tolerance is .002"