Tofurky

UPDATE: Oil light has come on. Burns about a quart of oil a day... (am currently not driving it)

Dude my car's like a smoke machine in the morning, when I go to work or school. Seriously a cloud of smoke will develop and just follow me until I get to work. But it will only happen if the car has been sitting there for a good 10+ hours.
As soon as the car warms up, no more smoke. Runs perfectly awesome.

What gives?
there is no oil in the charge pipes, it's a brand new turbo. No noticable oil leaks. Nothing leaking around the turbo either.
White smoke comes out of the engine bay, and tailpipe.
There is a faint smell of oil, and maybe even coolant.

Some other symptoms are:
Loppy cold starts. Might take a few times to start er up. It will idle real low and fluctuate for a second, then go back to normal. But only happens on cold starts, and goes back to normal after a few seconds. (was thinking this was normal, due to the 550 injectors)
Idles fine after it's warmed up, doesn't fluctuate. No problems.

CEL comes on, if I downshift off the freeway or something. But when I shut off the car, and start it up, to figure out which code it's throwing, it won't blink or even show up. And won't come on again, until I downshift and coast. (happens rarely)

TIA


-erik


Modified by Ruckus138 at 9:25 PM 4/9/2003

boosted hybrid

Whitesmoke=coolant. Sounds like you might have a bad headgasket.

Tinker219

a buddy of mine with a probe(something swapped in, not sure what) had this problem. the culprit ended up being a blown headgasket.
good luck....

Tofurky

doh.
wouldn't it still smoke after it's warmed up? especially after I boosted? It doesn't though.
hmmm. i hate pulling heads.

Cyber ITR

my car will be blowing blue smoke at startup if i dont start the engine for 2 days =\

Tinker219

me too, especially B series. The only thing I can think of is maybe what little is left over of the HG expands when it gets hot, creating a seal?

TJ R

Apparently I have the same problem. White smoke (massive too) on cold starts. After it warms up, it's all good from there. Someone suggested to me (since I recently changed the headgasket) that it could be the valve seals.

BTW, possibly related to the subject, can someone list the part number(s) for the valve seals (B18B1)?

Thanks

Tofurky

bump till i pull the head

omahaturbocivic

When I blew a headgasket mine did the exact same thing. Cold starts were ruff bad idld and lots of smoke but once it warmed up it ran perfectly. I drove it like that for a few months till I could get a new motor. After no more than a month it would start overheating after driving a while then it just got worse and worse from there. I think it must have started out as a real small leak that maybe sealed as the engine got hot and metal expanded.

Dublocivic

Check your coolant overflow after you boost see if it is forcing coolant out. All cars will puff white smoke on cold start especially when its is chilly out. It will also smoke (more) without a cat until the exhaust heats up enough to vaporize condensation. If your HG is leaking coolant you should be able to see it pushing coolant under boost.

TurbothisLS

headgasket symptoms
good luck man

shifthard

also you could check and make sure your oil return line from your oil pan to your turbo is not KINKED if it is your oil is going straight to your downpipe out your exahust not going back to your pan and causing all the smoke..i know it will be a dark smoke but i thought i could share some idea

hope that helps

Tofurky

true. but that wouldn't explain the smoke completely stopping once it's warmed up.

there's no coolant in the oil, and no oil in the coolant. it hasn't come close to overheating once.
the smoke doesn't smell at all like coolant, but of really strong oil. and the coolant level remains constant, but it seems to be burning oil. so what else can it be other then the headgasket?

safe driver

my car only smokes in the morning when it's moist and humid and cold. on the dry warm mornings it doesn't smoke. i think it's condensation in the combustion cambers.

blue99turbo

Without a doubt it's your headgasket. I just fixed mine a month ago the smoke will get worse if you leave it alone. Mine showed no signs of being blown besides smoke on start up or after long ideal.

hatchy

I am in the same boat--no oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, compression test shows no leaks, and my car doesn't over heat. But here is the difference: My car only smokes for about 2-3 seconds on *HOT* restarts, it never smokes on cold starts (i.e., after the car has been sitting for more than a hour or two).

I use to think it is the head gasket, but now the valve seals look more interesting...

TurboDC4

It could very well be your valve seals if its not the headgasket.

Tofurky

Update: Oil light has come on, burns about a quart a day. Any ideas? I'm having doubts about the headgasket. heh.

falcongsr

take off your downpipe check for oil going past the turbo seals? otherwise its the

HEAD GASKET

Tofurky

alrighty... can someone explain to me what exactly happens when the headgasket goes? and how it would cause oil to burn off? thnx. still learning.