White smoke, not BHG again please...

[NiGMa]

So I was fixing my brakes today. When i finished i started the car and went for a test drive, and i notice i am blowing white smoke out the exhaust. I then smell coolant... =(

I had a BHG 4 years ago and had a complete rebuild done because of it. Could it really have gone again? the block was decked, composite(Cometic) HG was torqued down to correct specs. etc.

Is there any other way coolant can enter the engine? I did hose the exhaust side of the engine down when I was done with the brakes, the water couldn't have got in the exhaust could it? only thing I can think of is maybe the head bolts got loose somehow?

Also, I should point out that I haven't changed the coolant since the rebuild, it was a long life type, I think it was max 3 years though, could running old coolant for 1yr have something to do with my white smoke? haven't noticed a large amount of coolant needing to be topped up, my notes show coolant level was pretty stable lately.

Is a block test an accurate way to tell if I have a BHG?

 

[AJ'S 88NA]

Did you re-torque after 5 heat cycles?

Could have been washing it down, maybe got some water puddled somewere, Id drive it some more and check.

 

[Mike Morris]

Was the head checked for warpage?

 

[NiGMa]

Did you re-torque after 5 heat cycles?

Could have been washing it down, maybe got some water puddled somewere, Id drive it some more and check.

Yeah, it was re-torqued. I hope it was just puddled somewhere, can't really understand where though...

I'll try it again.

 

[NiGMa]

Was the head checked for warpage?

I think it was, but it was machined or whatever to make it flat.

I just remembered the other cause it could be, I've been running water only as a coolant for a bit over a week until i get some Toyota red. I've only driven it a few times though, is a week long enough to cause any significant corrosion? I doubt it, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

 

[SRZMK3]

a week isnt long enough to cause that much corrosion but.. a headgasket job really isnt that hard on a 7m time to just crack down a break down the engine, also another good way to see if you have a bhg is when you have your car warmed up see if there is white steam blasting out of your coolant reservoir straw end, also a non breaky downy way to check if you have one is to take off your exhaust manifold and see if a couple of your exhaust ports on your head are wet with water/coolant. then that way you could find out which ones are blown cuz the dry ones obviously arent. honestly its best to check now and rid of the issue before the head warps and blows the oil side of the gasket and you end up with water in oil and a rod knock...

also check your head for pitting around the water jacket and on the block, if there is pitting take it to your machinist and get it planed and maybe rewelded, if there is excessive pitting on the block look up online about how to solve that issue its usually an amount of jb weld, otherwise youll need to take the block to the machinist and have them plane the block...

then next time get some permatex copper spray and a shucks gasket the one with the brass seals around the oil and water jackets, then pretty much cover the head gasket with a good amount of the copper spray get some arp headbolts and tighten them to about 80 ft lbs... that will result in another good 4 years of supra funtimes //

 

[NiGMa]

a week isnt long enough to cause that much corrosion but.. a headgasket job really isnt that hard on a 7m time to just crack down a break down the engine, also another good way to see if you have a bhg is when you have your car warmed up see if there is white steam blasting out of your coolant reservoir straw end, also a non breaky downy way to check if you have one is to take off your exhaust manifold and see if a couple of your exhaust ports on your head are wet with water/coolant. then that way you could find out which ones are blown cuz the dry ones obviously arent. honestly its best to check now and rid of the issue before the head warps and blows the oil side of the gasket and you end up with water in oil and a rod knock...

also check your head for pitting around the water jacket and on the block, if there is pitting take it to your machinist and get it planed and maybe rewelded, if there is excessive pitting on the block look up online about how to solve that issue its usually an amount of jb weld, otherwise youll need to take the block to the machinist and have them plane the block...

then next time get some permatex copper spray and a shucks gasket the one with the brass seals around the oil and water jackets, then pretty much cover the head gasket with a good amount of the copper spray get some arp headbolts and tighten them to about 80 ft lbs... that will result in another good 4 years of supra funtimes //

Thanks for the tips!

I checked for steam coming out of my coolant reservoir straw when engine was hot and had someone holding pedal at 2k and did not see anything =)

Also, it just occurred to me that the reason I was blowing white smoke maybe because when I was hosing the engine bay down I did remember washing near my exposed pod filter, which could have had a pool on water sitting under it that it was soaking up and taking in to the cylinders. ??? seems reasonable to me, its just never happened before.

Lol, all that work for just 4yrs of "supra funtimes" eh? =D makes me sound lazy actually.

 

[SRZMK3]

yup sadly to be expected if you have fun in your supra expect to be taking it apart once every 2 to 4 years..

honestly isnt that bad the engine is pretty simple and theres tons of room to work with...

if you have a buddy who can wrench pretty fast the job can usually be done within a day or 2 max if everything goes smoothly

but if youre sure its just (residual water) then fine but id be careful with this engine and not kid yourself and take the extra precaution the car is just too worth the effort of double checking before you break everything...

 

[JSeaman]

Have you got any coolant loss at all? Keep your eye on that as priority 1, was it just condensation? A little while smoke can be totally normal. Hosing down the engine bay is generally not something I do but that should clear within a single trip - is this a regular thing? Does it always smoke even when warm?

 

[NiGMa]

Very minor amount of coolant loss. And it was alot of smoke.

But thankfully, it has not smoked at all since, so somehow I must have sprayed water on something that leads into the cylinders.

I will still be monitoring it closely though.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[IndigoMKII]

I was going to say that running straight water in the coolant system could of caused damage when the water froze but you're an aussie so scratch that idea lol

 

[NiGMa]

Lol, yep, scratch that. =)