hello all, I have this problem with my 90 Si (all stock) that we are trying to figure out but are stumped, here are the symptoms:

-recently in the mornings there will be a fair bit of white smoke coming out the exhaust, this will happen for 2-3 minutes then stops completely and will be fine for the commute to work...this only happens on the first start of the day, and is a little worse if its a cold morning...

-I tried to smell the white smoke but I couldn't really smell anything, so I couldn't tell if it was oil or coolent, I hear coolent has a salty taste

-there is coolent disappearing, I have to top it up every 3 weeks and it takes about a litre (made me think headgasket)

-it is also burning a bit of oil, more than before the smoking problem I THINK (this made me think worn out valve seals)

-the rad is in rough shape, I don't visually see any leaks (none on the floor), but a fair number of fins are missing

-on every start except the first ther idles really rough (around 500 rpm) for about 2 min then something happens and its perfectly smooth (might be unrelated but started at the same time as the smoke)...

-this has been happening for a few weeks now, I've done an oil change since, and there was no signs of coolent in the oil, it was just the way used oil should look like

So based on these I've been told its the headgasket, however I've also been told it could be worn out valve seals because apparently oil looks white when its burned that way, but I'm wondering if it could be something else??

so, what do you think I should check to find out where the problem is? any simple things I should look at/replace before jumping into a headgasket repair?

thanks,

 

Coolant smells sweet, not salty.

White smoke + disappearing coolant == coolant leak into the engine somewhere. How's the oil look? Does it have "cottage cheese" on/in it? If so, your coolant is going into the oil. Not good; coolant is not a very good lubricant and you can waste your engine's bottom end in quick order.

Even if you don't have coolant in the oil, you're still losing coolant somewhere. The smoke tells us it's probably into the combustion chambers.

Sounds a lot like a head gasket problem.

--DD

 

thanks Dave, there is no oil in the coolent...I'm going to look into headgasket..

 

Do a compression test.

 

didnt it take long self to start?