if its not one thing its another: blown turbo? (white smoke out exhaust)

[MA70Snowman]

okay between running rich, and chasing down oil leak after oil leak i've got new problems.

I replaced what I hope was my last oil leak. the Valve covers. all i did was pull them off, wipe down the galley and the mating surface put new covers w/ new gaskets on (had painted covers sitting on standby) okay got it all put back together.. started her up, played with my idle (the throttle cable was to tight so slackend it a little) okay then let it warm up to help seal the new valve gaskets. left it running fora bout 5 mins. went outside and I have WHITE smoke pouring out myexhaust. Thought it might be fuel, my WB is reading about 10.5 the car is still running fine (or at least Idles. I don't want to drive it w/o having an idea of whats going on) the engine had the HG done before it was dropped in the car not more then maybe 1k miles ago. any thoughts on this at all?

 

[AF1JZ]

I thought white smoke was coolant and black smoke was oil. Could be wrong though. Was the work done right when the HG was replaced?

 

[eman2289]

blue smoke is oil... white smpke is coolant... usually means bhg

 

[Aspec]

Does it smell like coolant/antifreeze? Unless you sprang a leak and are sucking coolant into the engine via the intake, odds are you have a blown HG. When mine finally let go I was sitting at idle also. I feel for ya:cry:

I wish for you that it turns out to be something else.

 

[jetjock]

Not good. Is coolant disappearing? Test it the way I mentioned in my PM. I've never seen it mentioned here but as an aside if you are burning coolant and it's the silicated type expect the O2 sensor to be trash.

 

[MA70Snowman]

I've been through 5 BHGs (on 4 other supras) and This is honestly showing no signs of a BHG at all. (maybe i'm in denial)

coolant isn't disappearing, my overflow isn't bubbling over etc. ::shrug:: aside from white smoke i'd swear my engine was healthy.

 

[MA70Snowman]

Does it smell like coolant/antifreeze? Unless you sprang a leak and are sucking coolant into the engine via the intake, odds are you have a blown HG. When mine finally let go I was sitting at idle also. I feel for ya:cry:

I wish for you that it turns out to be something else.

and no it doesn't smell like coolant/antifreeze, all i smell is fuel, and strong fuel.

 

[Daves929]

Wouldn't that mean you're running too rich will be greyish smoke I think, I also think white smoke is coolant

 

[MA70Snowman]

Wouldn't that mean you're running too rich will be greyish smoke I think, I also think white smoke is coolant

thats what i always thought it was.

well, I went out to buy the materials for that test as JJ recomended. I took the supra, at first it was fine, I didn't expect to see anything till it warmed up anway. then about 3 blocks away I was acceling from a stop sign, saw a slight trail of smoke behind me fora bout 200 yards then it stopped.. got to my destination turned it off, nothing.. left went to the gas station left it idling while i went inside came out.. nothing.. went home.. nothing.. total round trip maybe 4-5 miles. after i got home i turned it off looked under the hood.. saw a little bit of smoke under the hood (i'm figuring thats from changing the valve cover gasket today. but i'll be keeping my eyes open) so uh yeah.. i'm stumped and scared. JJ i'll let you know the results of the test as soon as it cools down enough to get a sample.

 

[Kylar27]

Sometimes it can be hard to tell what color the smoke is, so definately use smell as well.

most of the time
white= Coolant, smells sweet
grey/blue= oil, smells like burn oil
black= fuel, smells like fuel

oil smoke on accel = rings or turbo seals
oil smoke on decel = valve guides or seals

of course color can vary depending on how much of whichever contaminent is getting in the exhaust flow, or could be a mixture of several.

Maybe you just dripped oil/crude on exhaust and it was burning off?

 

[MA70Snowman]

S
Maybe you just dripped oil/crude on exhaust and it was burning off?

thats what i would have been inclined to believe.. b ut it was sitting idle in my driveway, blowing smoke out the exhuast..

and unfortunatly for me.. smell is a sense I don't have.. (haven't had it going on 15 years, every so often if i virtually stick my nose in something I can catch wiffs of somethings but not all. fuel is one smell i can get at times..)
the wife said it smelt strong of fuel, but nothing else

also because of all the assembling and dissassembling i've been doing lately and until its running decent i'm running straight water in my cooling system.

 

[jetjock]

Sounds like you're in the clear with the HG although it would've been better to have found a reagent test kit. You don't have any other symptoms so I think you're ok there. I have no idea what the white smoke is unless you have a coolant leak where the line runs through the intake manifold. I thought you got the fuel smell and mixture thing all straightened out?

 

[johnathan1]

I've heard of the coolant passage on the throttle body erroding, and leaking coolant into the intake through there...

But I think you problem is that you are running overly rich...or oil burning, if only a little oil is burning, it is very hard to distinguish, aside from smell...they both look white. What is you AFR @ idle?

My turbo seals are leaking, and I get a fair amount of smoke a few minutes after cold startup (if i let the car sit and idle) if i rev a couple of times, it pretty much goes away, and doesn't smoke again for the remainder of the drive...unless I boost for an extended period, in which case you can smell oil burning, but I never see any smoke behind me.

 

[MA70Snowman]

Sounds like you're in the clear with the HG although it would've been better to have found a reagent test kit. You don't have any other symptoms so I think you're ok there. I have no idea what the white smoke is unless you have a coolant leak where the line runs through the intake manifold. I thought you got the fuel smell and mixture thing all straightened out?

the fuel smell and mixture stuff was/is all straightend out, until that smoke hit. other then that its great

as far as what my AFR is at idle:

before and after smoke: its at like 13.8
during smoke: it was at like 10.4

I"m thinking that while i did the swap, I doused it in carb cleaner to clean the spark plug galley and the injector area. thinking that somehow that all got sucked into the intake somehow. hoping it clears up morrow when i go to start it up and see how it does.

 

[MA70Snowman]

the fuel smell and mixture stuff was/is all straightend out, until that smoke hit. other then that its great

as far as what my AFR is at idle:

before and after smoke: its at like 13.8
during smoke: it was at like 10.4

I"m thinking that while i did the swap, I doused it in carb cleaner to clean the spark plug galley and the injector area. thinking that somehow that all got sucked into the intake somehow. hoping it clears up morrow when i go to start it up and see how it does.

Okay went out today.. running fine.. no smoke.. nothing. ::shrug:: i'm so confused.

 

[mkIIIman089]

How long since it had last been run? Was it outside/open garage door? Was is rainy/overly humid/damp outside?

 

[MA70Snowman]

How long since it had last been run? Was it outside/open garage door? Was is rainy/overly humid/damp outside?

it sat over night, that was it. no rain here in sunny socal. not damp, not really humid either.