Hey guys, I've got a question for you. I've been looking at this Del Sol at our auction place and today I finally was able to run it a little in the yard. I didn't have much time to let the car warm up properly so it was pretty dead cold (65 degrees out, weather wise). Anyways, I floored it a few times to make sure VTEC worked, etc. However, when I was first flooring the car (remember the car is cold) I could see a bluish tint of smoke coming out the tail pipe. I'm not sure whether it was that way because the car was dead cold or if there's a problem somewhere?

Info about the car...
-'94 Del Sol VTEC b16a3
-87,000 miles
-Ran good, sounded good, no oil leaks
-Smoke doesn't seem to smell funny or anything
-Car just passed IM 3 months ago
-No check engine light
-Everything seems sound

I only could drive it for like 2 minutes so I didn't get the best of look at the smoke. The smoke was must noticable when it was first floored in 1st gear. The only reason why I'm posting this is because I THOUGHT I saw a bluish tint in the smoke, so that's what got me worried. What do you guys think? Think I was just paranoid when I saw the smoke and that it was prolly just the engine being cold? Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Well we can't tell for sure unless we see it... so....

Blue smoke means you're running rich and/or all the fuel isn't being combusted. This could be a caused by number of things... bad plugs, bad wires, bad cap, bad rotor, bad dizzy, bad fuel pump, bad injectors.... all that stuff can be bad and cause some blue smoke.

Run a carfax and call the previous owner. The owners of the lot are required to give you the previous owner's name and number here in KY, and it may be the same where you're from.

 

Well, it's a repo so I'm not going to take that route, lol. Like I said, the car runs/sounds/smells solid and I was only able to drive it while it was cold. I want to lean towards the fact that the car was just cold, but I'm trying to double check with you guys. And yes, I would carfax it but I don't have an account. Thanks.

 

There's a guy on here doin carfax's for free. Should be on the first EG/EK page here in this forum.

It sounds like you really want this car and you're not willing to accept the possibility that something might be wrong with it. It's not normal for a car to smoke AT ALL whether its cold or not. Just remember that.

 

The car's not even for me, it's for a friend. He really wants the car, yes. I can be unbias with it. Every car smokes when it's cold and you give it some gas, so I'm not sure what you mean by the no smoke comment. And I'm not trying to ridicule, but just point that out.

Quick note - car just passed IM like 3 months ago. Wouldn't the smoke (if it's blue) not let the car pass? I'm just curious, as I don't know. Thanks.

 

I can go start my car right now after it's been sitting for 7 hours and floor it and no smoke whatsoever...

Now, if someone has been flooding out the engine that would make sense. It would have too much gas in the cylinders for combustion and might put out some blue smoke. Check it again to make sure.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mistamike17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There's a guy on here doin carfax's for free. Should be on the first EG/EK page here in this forum.

It sounds like you really want this car and you're not willing to accept the possibility that something might be wrong with it. It's not normal for a car to smoke AT ALL whether its cold or not. Just remember that.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think he's talking about the steam caused by the hot exhaust gases in the cold.

 

I was thinking about that but its summer... where would you see steam from exhaust in the summer?

 

^^ Well he never said where he was at. Plus he said it was 65 degrees. My car was putting out steam at 6:30 the other morning and it wasn't that cold. Just a little bit cooler than normal. During the day we're hitting 80-90 degrees. I agree with you though, it needs to be checked out. I don't know how auctions work, but can you bring a mech out to look at it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mistamike17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well we can't tell for sure unless we see it... so....

Blue smoke means you're running rich and/or all the fuel isn't being combusted. This could be a caused by number of things... bad plugs, bad wires, bad cap, bad rotor, bad dizzy, bad fuel pump, bad injectors.... all that stuff can be bad and cause some blue smoke.

Run a carfax and call the previous owner. The owners of the lot are required to give you the previous owner's name and number here in KY, and it may be the same where you're from.</TD></TR></TABLE>

WRONG. Dont post up incorrect info if you don't know what the hell your talking about. Blue smoke means your burning oil...

Which could mean your valve seals are going, your rings are shot and you have blowby which is letting compression past the rings making your car slower, and also letting oil up into the combustion chamber where it will burn and cause BLUE smoke.

Black Smoke could be caused by "bad plugs, bad wires, bad cap, bad rotor, bad dizzy, bad fuel pump, bad injectors"...yes that is correct. Black smoke is fuel related, usually meaning running too rich.

White smoke is coolant. Could be your headgasket going, head warping, or the most unlikley case, a sleeve is cracked and letting coolant into the combustion chamber.

Case in point...DONT POST UP INFO IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT, thx

 

Gotcha man, here's a link I found...

http://www.trustmymechanic.com...e.htm

 

And for my final trick:

Mistamike17 (5:14 AM 7/21/2004): Black smoke is burning oil. Blue smoke is gas.
Mistamike17 (5:14 AM 7/21/2004): Nevermind, you're right

God i love being right

1500 posts

 

Damn, you got those WAY late... I sent them like right after you posted... It said you were still online too. Weird

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mistamike17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Damn, you got those WAY late... I sent them like right after you posted... It said you were still online too. Weird</TD></TR></TABLE>


haha Dan you beat me...I was just reading the thread and gonna post what you did

 

1500 posts doesn't mean you know everything!!

 

blue smoke is oil, when my old beater blew up, it was billowing out blue smoke like crazy, that was cuz my rings were bad. black smoke is rich, when i turned down my vafc the black smoke dissapeared

 

i agree. blue smoke = oil, who said it was runing rich?

since u said its at an auction can we assume it hasnt seen regular driving for awhile.. valve seals could be a little dried out.

you have 2 possible problems

1. rings
2. valve guides/seals.

pull the plugs if u can and check em out.

 

run away from this car.