Okay so I have been driving this setup for about a month now. I have been prety nice to it. I don't hot rod it all over the place or anything like that. I just noticed this morning that it started smoking. Just a little at idle and then in between shifts it gives a puff. It also smokes more at idle if I give it a rev and then let off. It seems to be a whiteish smoke. Please give me some Ideas as to what to look for.

 

look for loss of coolant....then look for a headgasket.

 

overflow still stays full at hot. As far as I could tell. Wouldn't that be a blueish smoke?

 

Coolant is white smoke, oil is blue, fuel is black.

It sounds like it is only smoking in vacuum. Do a comp. test.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tippyman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Coolant is white smoke, oil is blue, fuel is black.

It sounds like it is only smoking in vacuum. Do a comp. test.</TD></TR></TABLE>


No It smokes when I get into it also. I tried that on the way home today. I'm guessing that it is the headgasket. How can I tell for sure without pulling the head?

 

Okay so I went ahead and drove around for about a half hour or so. I jumped straight on the Interstate and cruised for about 20 miles and no problems then dropped back into town and still no smoke? WTF? I can't figure out for the life of me what is going on. If it was the headgasket then is would stay smoking right? And some of the coolant would be in the oil right, or the other way around? Please help me figure this out.

 

Okay so today I drove it to work. 7 or 8 miles. No smoke, even when I let it run outside the gas station! Got to work, pulled into one of the wash bays to scrub off all of the buffing compound and still nothing. Then started it up and pulled it over to the shop, after about 20 min. of washing, then it starts smoking. Let it sit all day while I was working then started it after work. Let it idle for about 10 minutes to see what would happen and nothing. Then I give it a couple of bumps and it smokes a tiny bit. Then nothing the rest of the night. Drove it for about 20 or so miles and nothing.

If it was the head gasket there would be some sign of oil in the coolant or the oil would look like milky color right? No loss of coolant in the overflow or the radiator, and both are still green. If I put my hand in the smoke it doesn't feel steamy on my hand or wet when I pull it away. Just hott! I'm going to do a compression test tomorrow after work and see what happens then. Any suggestions would be a big help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sohcvtec91hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> How can I tell for sure without pulling the head?</TD></TR></TABLE>
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tippyman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do a comp. test.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Do a compression test, then leak down. No one on here will be able to tell you exaclty what it is.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RCautoworks &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do a compression test, then leak down. No one on here will be able to tell you exaclty what it is. </TD></TR></TABLE>



Doing a comp test will tell you if there's a prob, the leakdown will tell you where there's a problem. (In a sense...)

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tippyman &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">



Doing a comp test will tell you if there's a prob, the leakdown will tell you where there's a problem. (In a sense...)</TD></TR></TABLE>

Can't believe no one else suggested that

 

Okay thanks guys. I will do that after work today.

 

if it only smokes in vaccuum its the valve seals...the oil gets sucked past them and the compresion test wont show that

 

No it smokes under boost as well. At least it did the one time I got into boost with it smoking. Okay so I did the compression test today. It was 110 accross all 4 cylinders and when I did it before boosting the car they were all at 150-155. So what does this mean? Do I need to do a leakdown test? If so how do I go about doing it?


*edit* I forgot to hold the gas pedal open durning the test so I will retest and give you the real #'s

 

 

Do a wet compression test right after and tell us the before and after results of the wet test

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RCautoworks &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do a wet compression test right after and tell us the before and after results of the wet test </TD></TR></TABLE>

I did the compression test again. I got 175psi on all 4 cylinders. The spark plugs looked great. I'm sooooo lost right now. How do you do a wet test? Is there a chance that the ECU is leaning out or something? No loss of oil or coolant has occoured. I just don't know what is going on.

 

Search "leakdown test".

 

I doubt its the headgasket. The smoke looks white, but probably has a bluish tint as well. I'd look into possibly a messed up turbo.

 

I hate to ask this question, but being as it started smoking after you washed the car.

Are you sure you don't just have water in your exhaust?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC_MShue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I doubt its the headgasket. The smoke looks white, but probably has a bluish tint as well. I'd look into possibly a messed up turbo.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Turbo seal would do it.

Could be rings, maybe. Put a teaspoon of oil in the cylinders then do a comp. test. If the numbers go up significantly, then it's probably the rings.

 

Okay I can try the oil thing. How wold the seal go out on a turbo that only has like 500 miles on it? Not very hard miles at that? Would I be able to tell if the seals on the turbo were bad from the outside?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sohcvtec91hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Okay I can try the oil thing. How wold the seal go out on a turbo that only has like 500 miles on it? Not very hard miles at that? Would I be able to tell if the seals on the turbo were bad from the outside?</TD></TR></TABLE>
bad return line maybe

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC_MShue &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
bad return line maybe</TD></TR></TABLE>


The return line is a straight shot. I did the leakdown test tonight and go maybe 2psi worth of leak per cylinder. So now what?

 

This morning I will pull the oil drain and see if maybe there is something cloging the passage. Other than that I don't know what to do. The drain is a good size not small by any means. I'm just glad that I don't have to pull the motor apart yet!