I have noticed recently that there has been white smoke coming from my exhaust.
It happens even when the car has had time to warm up. Whenever I accelerate, it lets out a puff of smoke.....

How can I help my car quit smoking?

Seriously, is it something to worry about?

When the car is cold its normal but not once its warmed up... lol lol

pretty sure white smoke is bad, burning oil?

When the car is cold its normal but not once its warmed up... lol lol
I know.....I'm a bit worried.

wait for one of our many mechanicly minded members to turn up before you start worrying lol

wait for one of our many mechanicly minded members to turn up before you start worrying lol

hehehe. ok :D

i see you lookin ego and no i didn't mean you lol

i see you lookin ego and no i didn't mean you lol
:bowrofl:

wait for one of our many mechanicly minded members to turn up before you start worrying lol


Even when they do turn up id still be worried....about them.. lol lol lol

Sorry.................... Sounds like rings.
If so would probably be in need of a rebuilt.


Has it been given alot of stick?

if the smoke is only noticed after idling and then when you stab it you get a puff of smoke.... it is most likely the valve stem oil seals allowing oil to leak down the valve guide and into the combustion chamber. Depending on kilometers and not seeing it this is what i would say. A couple of options are
1. replace stem seals only (in car)
2. remove heads and have heads service and replace stem seals
3. A very temp fix would be to add an engine oil stabilizer such as Lucas or the like. (This stuff works)

Only problem with fix 1 is that you cant tell if the guides are worn and it may not be long until you have to go option 2.

Hope this helps....dont sleep too badly. :)

Sounds like piston rings, valve seals may even be on the way out as well. A reco (which is pretty much replaces what i just said) sounds like a viable option, alot cheaper if you do it yourself. I've been told that a little bit of smoke wont hurt the engine, and if it isn't too bad you could probably put it off for awhile.

umm... white smoke?

i see white smoke as being coolant or water. trust me, i know this wen i had coolant running directly into my 4th cylinder after i did my modding. long story so i wont start lol

if it was oil, wouldnt it be blue smoke? oil burns blue, not white. wen i first got my car the rings were shot, and i think almost everything else was too and it blew blue/black smoke.

black smoke would be ur fuel related issues.

brendan

Does it really piss out or just buff out slighlty?

wen the rings were shot, it was blue smoke constant. idle/and any stage of throttle (obviously, cause it's still burning oil)

the white smoke would be almost constant at idle (not heaps but yeah, u could see it) wen there was water pouring in. i cant remember wat it was like wen i was driving cause i was always the one driving.

why dont we all just wait for DR KB and he'll clear everything up........

i think ill sort it out RIGHT now...

White smoke: White smoke is caused by water and or antifreeze entering the cylinder, and the engine trying to burn it with the fuel. The white smoke is steam. There are special gaskets (head gaskets are the primary gaskets) that keep the antifreeze from entering the cylinder area. The cylinder is where the fuel and air mixture are being compressed and burned. Any amount of antifreeze that enters this area will produce a white steam that will be present at the tailpipe area.

If white smoke is present, check to see if the proper amount of antifreeze is inside the radiator and the overflow bottle. Also check to see if antifreeze has contaminated the engine oil. You can look at the engine oil dipstick, or look at the under side of the engine oil filler cap. If the oil is contaminated with antifreeze, it will have the appearance of a chocolate milkshake. Do not start the engine if the oil is contaminated with antifreeze, as serious internal engine damage can result.

How did antifreeze get in the oil or cylinder in the first place? The engine probably overheated and a head gasket failed due to excessive heat, thus allowing antifreeze to enter the cylinder (Where it is not meant to be).

Blue Smoke: Blue smoke is caused by engine oil entering the cylinder area and being burned along with the fuel air mixture. As with the white smoke, just a small drop of oil leaking into the cylinder can produce blue smoke out the tailpipe. Blue smoke is more likely in older or higher mileage vehicles than newer cars with fewer miles.

How did the engine oil get inside the cylinder in the first place? The car has many seals, gaskets, and O-rings that are designed to keep the engine oil from entering the cylinder, and one of them has failed. If too much oil leaks into the cylinder and fouls the spark plug, it will cause a misfire (engine miss) in that cylinder, and the spark plug will have to be replaced or cleaned of the oil. Using thicker weight engine oil or an oil additive designed to reduce oil leaks might help reduce the amount of oil leaking into the cylinder.

Black Smoke: Black smoke is caused by excess fuel that has entered the cylinder area and cannot be burned completely. Another term for excess fuel is "running rich." Poor fuel mileage is also a common complaint when black smoke comes out of the tailpipe. Black smoke out the tailpipe is the least cause for alarm. Excess fuel will usually effect engine performance, reduce fuel economy, and produce a fuel odor.

How did the fuel get into the cylinder in the first place? Some of the causes of excess fuel are a carburetor that is out of adjustment, a faulty fuel pump, a leaky fuel injector, or a faulty engine computer or computer sensor. If black smoke is present, check the engine oil as in the white smoke example to make sure excess fuel has not contaminated it. Do not start the engine if a heavy, raw fuel smell can be detected in the engine oil. Call your mechanic and advise him of what you have found.

all from an online article. magic wen u use google hey?

yawn....yeah and the faint blue smoke which may be noticed out the back window of the car at the lights....will most likely to the untrained eye look white. i dont see water only causing a problem when you stab the throttle and what you so affectionatly call white smoke will be steam if caused by water. ;)

And being a V6 of that vintage i think there is a fair chance of me being correct. we shal see

i was going to mention The head. but generally white smoke pisses out like you would believe.

yawn....yeah and the faint blue smoke which may be noticed out the back window of the car at the lights....will most likely to the untrained eye look white. i dont see water only causing a problem when you stab the throttle and what you so affectionatly call white smoke will be steam if caused by water. ;)

faint blue smoke (being dark in colour) you'd think would be mistaken for black smoke.

and yes, of course if water is being vapourised it will turn to steam. thats wat it says in my post above.

just keep checking ur water levels. have u done anything with ur cooling system lately? radiator? hoses? check all the hoses and make sure nothing is leaking, though it seems internal if there is steam coming out the exhaust. it hasnt heated up really badly lately?

So TM since when has faint blue been dark in colour?.....Perhaps pale blue would be a more appropriate word then if you please.

ive never seen oil burn and give off a very faint blue, almost white smoke. all the oil burners ive seen have given off a darkish colour. even wen there was only tiny amounts of oil being burned, it just let off tiny amounts of darkish blue smoke.


EDIT: u wanna check u are burning oil? take off ur oil cap and check if there is alot of blow-by. you'll know

Does it really piss out or just buff out slighlty?

It's not really bad......it's depends on how hard I accelerate.

It's not really bad......it's depends on how hard I accelerate.

harder u accelerate, the quicker water is pushed through the cooling system by the water pump to keep things cool.

the only time you'd think there would be more blue/black smoke from oil/fuel would be wen the engine got warmer, higher temps means more burnt oil?

Allright thanks for the help guys.....
I'll take it to my mechanic soon and I'll tell him what you said.
See what he says...he's a friend so he won't charge me as much.

And how would taking the oil cap off to see if there is blowby confirm stem seals?
Yes he said it was only when the vehicle warmed up.

sounds like your turbo seals on its way out :bowrofl: :bowrofl: :bowrofl:

You should have seen my turbo car when i thrashed it the just turned it off then tried to start it again the next day man it filled up the complete cul-de-sac with white smoke and i mean pure white!!! :cry:

next day straight out to get a turbo timer :D

So i guess that means that oil can make white smoke cuz that's all it was the excess smoke in turbo...

another way to check for coolant leak is to have a friend follow your car when you drive around. when the engine is warm and you accelerate hard, if water comes pissing out of your exhaust, theres ya prob

That "white" smoke you see is probably actually very slightly blue. If it was water and coming out as steam it wouldn't hang around very long for you to see it.

Think of a car early in the morning when you see the little whisps of steam come out the exhaust but just a bit longer.

It'll be oil, my old motor did it, my old car did it, my old man's car did it, in fact every car that's ever burnt oil that I've seen has done it. The smoke looks white unless you pay close attention. All the cars that burn smoke that I've seen look white.

Valve stem seals will usually be the problem, or Valve seats. Usually you just replace all the valve guides, seals etc.

It wont be rings.

Darker colours are related more to fuel. Cars that run really rich have a darker, browner colour, I wouldn't say black though.

ppops1984, I had same prob as you man with my TS V6! When I took off at lights, I had what looked to be a puff of white smoke..! Parently my Valve Stem Seals where starting to leak, and the head gasket! Had the heads taken off pretty much straight away for a rebuild, goes good now..! How many K's you done?

Thanks KB and TS Magna!!!!!

At least I know what it is....now to get it fixed. :doubt:

Anyway thanks again to everyone!! :bowdown:

I don't have anything spectacular to add sorry... cos the experts have already been and gone lol but I am glad you are doing something about your cars smoking habit, as I was behind a second gen driving home from work tonight, and there was that much bloody smoke coming out of it, not only was i getting a good dose of carcinogens but for just a few mins I wasn't too proud of my www.aussiemagna.com sticker trying to boast how good magna's are to other motorists, whilst sitting behind this smoke belching abomination :sick: lol

I don't have anything spectacular to add sorry... cos the experts have already been and gone lol but I am glad you are doing something about your cars smoking habit, as I was behind a second gen driving home from work tonight, and there was that much bloody smoke coming out of it, not only was i getting a good dose of carcinogens but for just a few mins I wasn't too proud of my www.aussiemagna.com sticker trying to boast how good magna's are to other motorists, whilst sitting behind this smoke belching abomination :sick: lol

i too have noticed that is actually a common problem with 2nd gens especially. :confused:

I just want to say that i had a coolant leak into my cylinders once it lasted about 40k and the raditator was empty, i think if it was a coolant leak you would be having all sorts of overheting problems.. my money is on valve stem seals.. it goes both ways too there is a lot of pressure when combustion occurrs not only does water dissapear out of your exhaust but the temp out of the piston will seriously heat your cooling system..

Stop guessing or looking for a merical fix and just get it compression tested. It will show a head gasket leak or bad rings but not valve stem seals. So if it comes up negative on the compression and head gasket leak then its valve stem seals


/thead

Stop guessing or looking for a merical fix and just get it compression tested. It will show a head gasket leak or bad rings but not valve stem seals. So if it comes up negative on the compression and head gasket leak then its valve stem seals


/thead


lol its a forum....all you can do is make an educated guess. Will find out exactly what it is when he does get it checked i suppose.

I just started to get this problem with my 2nd gen V6 wagon, seems to be getting a bit worse. Usually only happens when I'm sitting at lights etc for a fair while and then take off - doesn't seem to smoke when it's actually driving. But I've been in a lot of stop-start traffic lately, so it's getting to be highly embarrassing.

Any rough ideas on costs for getting the valve stem seals done on a 12valve V6? As my dad pointed out to me, being a V6 it has two heads, which means twice the work, twice the gaskets, etc...

If it is the valve stem seals, what are the repurcussions if you don't have it attended to? ie. is it just the embarrassment and loss of some oil, or is there more serious/permanent damage being done?

Hello ppops1984 and other forum members,

New here to the forum and I'm visiting from out of town (California). Wanted to say hello and provide some smoke feedback that you can find on http://members.shaw.ca/costall/1000Q/

TG

My car blows white smoke! Is there a fix?
caused by water evaporating in the exhaust stream. Occasional puffs [are] usually from condensation in the exhaust pipes (especially in humid areas) or a water balloon up your stove-pipe. Continual white smoke [is usually due to] a warped head/head gasket and coolant entering your combustion chambers. If you're really unlucky, might be from a cracked head."

Some people have reported that high boost levels may promote white smoke, for some reason. Turning the boost down some cures the problem. This might be related to worn out seals on the turbo, which can leak oil into the exhaust. A bad brake booster can potentially let brake fluid into the vacuum line, which also produces white smoke.

Turbocharger diagnostic charts can be found here from Majestic Turbo and here from Michigan Turbo.

My car blows black smoke! Is there a fix? My car blows gray smoke! Is there a fix?
From an October 10, 1998 post by David Gawlowski:

"This is caused by uncombusted [unburned] fuel. Could be plugs, timing, clogged air filter, air/fuel mixture, wires, coil, etc. Start with the cheapest answer and work your way up."

Check out David's Turbocharger Troubleshooting diagnostic chart for a comprehensive guide to smoking and other engine problems.

My car blows blue smoke! Is there a fix?
From Todd Hayashi, there are three likely causes:

1) Failed oil ring(s) in the block
2) Failed valve seal(s) in the head
3) Failed turbo oil seal
Lorrin Barth pointed out that a fourth cause, especially on rebuilt heads, may be poor fit between the valves and the valve guides.

More details on blue smoke can be found in this post by David Gawlowski. Also check out David's Turbocharger Troubleshooting diagnostic chart for a comprehensive guide to smoking and other engine problems."

Thanks for the useful info LRuff98163. Much appreciated.

BTW Welcome to Australia and Aussie Magna!! :D

so what did it end up being because im about to replace the valve seals on the weekend to solve the same problem in my gfs magna.

It's the Valve Stem Seals, I had the same problem.

gfs one must have the same problem so im going to attempt to change them on the weekend... $40 for the seals... $100 for beer, antiseptic and band aids :D

Yep it's the valve stem seals........I'm getting mine done in a week or two. I thought I'd wait untill the next service.

I was going to get it done last service, I told my mechanic and he said that was fine. But when he looked at the car he forgot I had a V6 and apparently it's a lot harder to do a V6 than a 4 cylinder and he didn't have the time. So he said just want till next service if I didn't thiknk it was urgent. I didn't mind too much.

Who told you its valve stem seals, and is the smoke definately white

Did they perform all the required tests before you spend money were its not required

Wow, this thread has been pretty interesting and helpful for me. I just read the causes for white, blue, and black smoke. I stopped my blue smoke problem by using a thicker oil and some additional product that is designed to stop the blue smoke. My car is running a little bit rich at the moment, nothing serious to the point where black smoke is evident. So I'll keep an eye on it but, good and interesting read this thread was.

well ive got the seals so i guess im going to be busy this weekend trying to figure out how to change em... printed out the written guide but im still going to need to buy the workshop manual which i will get tonight and have a read.

$5 a seal from my local mitsi joint so $40 all up is a pretty good deal :)
might as well change the oil and filters i spose while im at it.

will put up a full pictured tutorial when its done (only 4cyl so sorry it wont be much help to the others).

I'll suggest doing a search on "White Smoke" OR "Valve Stem Seals" etc

Alot of information will come up, good reading aswell.

yeah i found heaps... seems like quite a common problem in old magnas...
luckily i have access to a factory with every tool imaginable so it should make things a lot easier.

in a few months i'll chuck a new engine in.

Another possibity that no-one has mentioned yet is auto fluid/oil. Is/was the car an auto? Some auto's change gear by monitoring the vacuum of the inlet manifold. There is some sort of valve at the gearbox end of the tube connecting the g'box with the manifold. If the valve springs a leak it can suck the oil into the inlet manifold. Burning auto oil equals white smoke.
How do I know this? It happened to me. Admittidly it was about 15 years ago so things may have changed in regard to how the g'box monitors the engine (ECU's etc.) but it's another thing to check.

I put my vote towards a coolant leak (head gasket, cracked water jacket, cracked head). Have you checked for coolant loss?

I put my vote towards a coolant leak (head gasket, cracked water jacket, cracked head). Have you checked for coolant loss?

mines definately not this... if it was a cracked head there would be oil in the water/coolant and vice versa which there isnt.

Its the Valve Stem Seals, when you accelerate and a puff of white smoke shoots out, its burning oil thats getting through the seals.

Puffffffffffff the Magiccccc Dragonnnnnnnnn

Its the Valve Stem Seals, when you accelerate and a puff of white smoke shoots out, its burning oil thats getting through the seals.

Puffffffffffff the Magiccccc Dragonnnnnnnnn

yep that's what happens to me......It's definately the valve stem seals.

It’s the valve stem seals, if it smokes when you press the accelerator after idling and then disappears. Test it! Park the car, idle for a minute, press the accelerator. If it smokes heavily during idle AND when revving then piston rings, if it smokes when pressing the accelerator after idle and then no more when revving then valve stem seals. Mine does the same. I'm too lazy to get it fixed. Will have to soon as carbon is forming too much on the piston heads, which is not good for the engine anyway.

One would assume it would be blue smoke, not white!

It is blue, but it is so pale that it looks white on the Magnas for some reason.

I have a slightly different theory. I believe blue smoke=oil, black=fuel, steam=water but I have seen white smoke coming out of a vehicle. It was my '90 Pintara. A seal on the auto trans or in it had cracked. Don't know how it works but once they fixed that the smoke stopped. Also extra oil in the sump would contibute to white smoke if in excess. 8lt of oil in a '75 Corolla taught me that one. :bowrofl:

i saw a land cruiser on the side of the road on the m3 and it litterally had smoke PISSING out of the exhaust it was everywhere :bowrofl:

I put my vote towards a coolant leak (head gasket, cracked water jacket, cracked head). Have you checked for coolant loss?


this would have been my guess aswell and severall mechanics i spoke to said the same thing
WHITE SMOKE is water or brake fluid

BLUE SMOKE is oil. That goes for all petrol cars.

only diesel is different