i stoped to fill up today and opened my hood to check the oils same ol same ol and i notcied white smoke comming from the rear of the passanger side of the engine. it smells like some thing burning but i dont think its oil. i burn alot of oil when i idel for long periods of time. so im like ok i start up the car and it goes away finish my runing around and go home i get in the drive way and check it one more time


when the engine is on and running no smoke the moment i turn it off boom smoke. the car runs great no probs. but the smoke makes me a little worryed

any idea what it could be any thing serious

any help would be great :cheers:

 

Is it white or bluish-white? Does any smoke come out the exhaust?

 

its like a whiteish smoke and smoke that comes out of the exhaust is blueish but this smoke is lookin like is commin from the back of the engine

 

I had alot of smoke coming from the back of mine one day, found a vaccuum leak and in conjunction with a tranny leak.

Blue smoke is burnt oil, if you had a blown head gasket youd be spewing out quite a bit of white smoke from the exhaust. And your temps would be going straight up.

 

temps are good 193 to about 210 and its not alot and doesnt last a long time just about 30 secs.


could i tell if i blew a head gasket


thanks vader for the help :cheers:

 

A pressure tester screwed in place of the radiator cap will show if there's a leak. Don't pressurize it to more than 20 psi though. You can probably rent one from AutoZone.

Sometimes air bubbles in the coolant with the engine idling is a clue. Spark plug(s) extremely clean (white) from the steam cleaning they're getting is another tip off.

Milky white oil is a definite indication and means "Don't start me again until repaired". Anti-freeze can kill the lubrication properties of the oil and will cause all sorts of internal damage.

Sounds more like the infamous intake mainfold gasket leak problem though.

Hope this helps.

Jake


[Modified by JAKE, 9:39 PM 10/29/2003]

 

I agree with Jake. White smoke is definitely water related. You could start to have a head gasket leaking. I had that happen on an LT1 in an S10 and it took almost 2 months before it got back enough for me to find what the problem is...

Until you do find it, I would frequently check the oil. If you see a milky, milkshake looking mixture on the end of the dipstick, then you know for sure you water entering the system whether it be a cracked head, head gasket, etc.

Just for the record though, how long does it smoke? Now that the weather is cooling off, you'll get a small amount of white smoke when first firing up for the first few minutes until the engine warms up. (condensation in the exhaust)
If that is the case, it'll obviously dissapate within a minute or so.

That would be completely normal.

Mark

 

In the electronics world, there's a saying "Once you let the magic smoke out, it's broke!" Never give it a chance to escape!

Good luck with your motor; hopefully it will be fine.

Jared :flag

 

are you smelling anything?

cause oil, burning outside the combustion process, is hard to define, colour wise.

it will look like a cloud waifting up... check for oil leaks at the rear of the motor, rear main, oil pan, things like that.

 

i cant smell any thing when the car is running only when i shut it off and thats when the smoke starts i can leave the hood open with the car on and no smoke


thanks for all the help guys :cheers:

 

I am betting on an oil leak from the rear main...

 

is that some thing i can live with or is it in the long run mess some thing up

 

it will just smell to high heavens... and that will get old.

rear mains don't blow out, just leak like crazy. I suspect in a racing environment they can blow, tho.

 

Take note of the highest wet point if you can see in there. I've had my valve cover gasket come out of place and dump oil onto my headers before to smoke up the engine bay.

 

I'm with Scorp on this one. I missed the fact that it was coming from the engine compartment, I was thinking exhaust.

Just out of curiousity, are you sure it's white? Correct me if I'm wrong but excluding steam, the only white "smoke" I've ever seen is when moisture (head gasket, etc....) is burning in the exhaust and it comes out the tailpipe. I have never seen white smoke from the engine. I'm wondering if you are using a color description incorrectly. When blue or white is added to color of "smoke", it's usually out the exhaust. You'll never really see it as "blue" even from burning off a leaking valve cover (unless it's simply pouring). It's blue coming out of the exhaust after being burned in the combustion chamber and shoved out the exhaust pipe.

That wasn't meant to come out as an insult, just trying to clarify the description... it may be a little "cloudy". ;)

Anyway, sounds like something burning off and the fact that you see if only after you shut the car off sounds like as long as the oil is flowing on top of the cylinder head, it's not dripping. It's only after you shut the car off and it has a chance to accumulate on top of the cylinder head, then it's dripping out of a valve cover gasket.


Hope that helps.

Mark