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exhaust smokes white

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 11:18 am
by rootbeer_eg
ive done some searching but it only talks about white civics and stuff so heres my question i just swapped on ls motor in my civic for another and after we got it all back together and running i tooks some coners hard like i norm,ally do and the car smokes like a bat out of hell i can figure it out i want to prolong the chance of having to change the head gasket but i dont think it is the head gasket because there is no oil in the cooanl and there is no coolant in the oil and all my other gearhead buddies say its not the headgasket When i bough the other ls motor it had just been rebuilt by a local shop by were i live and they did all the seal and everything and it has had everything changed so i don no hwtas wrong. i just changed the intake manifold gasket and throttle body gasket because i thought thats were coolant was sneaking through and it still does it and could it also be that they didnt torque the head down properly and there is coolant going through there
thanks any help wou;d be appreciated
and one more thing it doesnt smoke profusely itll stutter and then itll smoke then stop just for about 3 seconds so thats why i dont think its the head gasket :?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:16 pm
by cjw_89
antin freeze burning off from your inside your cat..Or water burning off in your cat? I uno i had that white smokey stuff before from an exhaust i just installed that was out in the weather...

Re: exhaust smokes white

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:28 pm
by Datsmart
rootbeer_eg wrote:and one more thing it doesnt smoke profusely itll stutter and then itll smoke then stop just for about 3 seconds so thats why i dont think its the head gasket :?

That is probably why I would suspect the head gasket.
Do you get bubbles or spitting water when the car is running and you remove the radiator cap? That is another symptom of a leaking head gasket.
Do a compression check. The leaking cylinder will have a lower pressure.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:36 am
by mADmAN
check piston rings...

engine oil could be leaking in to the combustion chamber....

n while ur at it.. make sure to check ur engine oil very often.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:29 am
by Butterzz
mADmAN wrote:engine oil could be leaking in to the combustion chamber...

Oil = Blue smoke
Unburned Fuel = Black smoke
Coolant / Water = white smoke

PostPosted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:08 am
by rootbeer_eg
it doesnt burn oil and it only smokes white when i take a corner hard but just normal driving its fine, so i have no clue, and could it be just coolant sitting in the cat and wwhen i take a corner it sloshes around and burns off in the hot exhaust

PostPosted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:46 am
by jgpoirier
Here is something wacky not saying its your problem but might be. I gave my buddy a hand swapping engines after he put the rod through the pan. Got it started and thing blew white smoke like mad. Determined wasn't headgasket, changed intake gasket, for some reason I decided to pull the headers off and almost half a quart of oil poured out of the cat. Took the cat off and the whole inside was soaked in oil. Punched the cat out and let it dry out for a while. Through it back on the next day and whalaa no more white smoke.

Guy

PostPosted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 12:33 pm
by rootbeer_eg
how would a quart of oil get into the cat because the other motor we pulled out didnt burn oil we pulled it out to build it for boost, but i really just want to no why its smoking white, and i think im goin to drop the exhaust all the way back cause i have to determine how much of the new exhuast i have to trim when its ready for the turbo, and to see if there is anything in the cat

PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:19 am
by rootbeer_eg
bump

any other reasons why my car could be doing this i want to prolong me having to change the head gasket if thats what it is :? :(

PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 5:23 am
by ghskid06
rootbeer_eg wrote:bump

any other reasons why my car could be doing this i want to prolong me having to change the head gasket if thats what it is :? :(


lol, sometimes the best thing you can do is pull the head and have a look. There was a lot to read and ill admit i didnt read every post, so if someone said this im sorry, but usually if the head gasket is bad you can find oil in your coolant. Even though it might not necessarily bubble.

Other people might have a different opinion on this, but if you arent loosing any fluids anywhere and your car isnt acting up i would just assume a large amound of water somehow managed to get into your exhaust. It doesnt have to come from the engine, it can come in through the tail pipe too. Do some high speed circles in a parking lot and see if it stops after a few minutes. Just dont blame me if you get a ticket.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 10:50 am
by cjw_89
Drop your exhaust from the header back go out to a remote area and do what you did before to see if the problem persists if a head gasket was blown you would have milk in your engine,even on your oil cover... I lost a head gasket once in my coupe and it ran like crap took the plugs out to find antifreeze dripping off the plug. Not good stuff I tell ya

PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:13 pm
by rootbeer_eg
the oils not milky and niether is the the coolant so on my next day off im going to drop my exhaust and see if there is anything sitting in the cat or the resonator and thanks for the helpful responses , and the sparkplugs are clean the have a fine electrode for a hotter spark which is good,and if theress nothing there i guess on my next day off ill rip the head off and inspect




on the other not which is the best headgaket to get just an oem replacement of a higher performance head gasket,it already has arp headstuds and its has 11.5:1 comp pistons if that changes anything :?

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 7:20 am
by rootbeer_eg
so i figured out why m car wa smoking like a diesel it was because the person who rebuilt the motor before i bought it didnt torque the head bolts down and i didnt eve need a cheater bar to take the head bolts out

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:07 am
by cjw_89
Wow :o. I'd say he went the cheap easy route. Which is re-useing the headstuds and after torquing to the amount called for never give them an extra 1/4 turn to take in account for used studs. I did before and they worked fine. How bad was your valve lash? Just curious

PostPosted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:23 pm
by rootbeer_eg
every thing else was fine i had my mechanic friend look everything over before i took it apart and he said the valve lash was fine i have only driven my car with the motor in for about 1000 kilometers if that and he checked it after and it was good i dont remember the tolerences he said but it was good . The motor was just rebuilt to the "old "headgasket wasnt even squashed down ,well its all back together and its started first crank which i was pretty exctied about cause it was the first time id ever changed a headgasket on a dohc motor before usually its a small block chevy of a ford