Thick white smoke....

[Jonson]

Hey guys, I'm hoping someone that reads this has come across it before and can help me out, cos I'm close to burning this car to the ground. Please keep this thread clean as I strongly think someone else will have this problem later on and it may help them and I'm hoping fresh eyes will help me.

Car is a FL auto Legnum, only mod being a cat back. Car originally came in with internal and externally leaking rear turbo and a miss and blowing huge amounts of thick white smoke at idle and all throttle. I have not smelt the smell of this smoke before, it is not fuel, not stale fuel, NOT sweet like coolant, doesn't smell like trans oil, not burnt oil. The car runs/idles and drives completely fine, just very thick smoke. I've been cautioned twice for roadtesting it, so driving it on the road now is almost out of the question.

MUCH later on when customer questioned again he said that he ran it almost empty, put some Caltex 98 in and a lil while later started to smoke.

The below is a list of what I have test/checked/replaced. It does not mean that I haven't missed something, so feel free to question any of it.

-Replaced rear turbo, it was stuffed. replaced badly fouled plugs. Car still smoked the same amount just no cooked turbo.
-Oil condition and coolant condition normal
-Put in thicker oil - no change
-added Lucas oil stabiliser - no change
-Carried out cylinder leakage test and compression test on all cylinders - passed
-Checked ignition and belt timing (had the major service about 5000k's ago) - passed
-Put in 30ltrs of ultimate - no change
-Replaced fuel pressure regulator, injectors and rail - no change
-Replaced front turbo on off chance - no change
-Drained and cleaned fuel tank, put a bit of metho in case of water in other side of saddle tank, 20ltrs of ultimate - no change
-replaced PCV valve - no change
-suspected trans oil entering engine, but has external/aftermarket oil cooler IS there anywhere else the trans oil can enter engine?
-No visible signs of excessive oil in cooler piping
-No codes or anything out of ordinary when logging with EvoScanGPS.

I've dealt with a lot of cars over the years and am usually pretty good with diagnosis....but this thing has me stumped. Fresh eyes are needed. Come at me ideas!

 

[king_panther]

My old Grandpa was belching white smoke while warming up at idle (in neutral).

After a few minutes of driving, it would go away though. However everytime you started it up, smoke belching again.
I filled up MEEK's workshop with smoke once it was that bad.

We, as in MEEK, replaced the valve stem seals & the smoke went away. They however have refused to do another VR4 due to it being a BITCH to do (it was their first time at doing on our engines).

 

[Jonson]

Valve stem seals typical signs are - Smoking on startup and then clears or idling fine and then smoke on take off. This has the smoke as soon as it starts, at idle and at throttle, it's not dependant on coolant temp, fuel level, type of engine oil etc. Thanks Brad.

 

[Interloper]

bizarre

do any vacuum lines run from the tranny to engine (like a transmission modulator valve)?

 

[Scottie]

Have you checked the cat converter? excessive oil from the turbo mixed with high temps could have knackered it..

 

[Scottie]

Or it could have a heap of oil sitting in the exhaust somewhere...

 

[steveP]

So it's running like it's got too much oil?

 

[pu-11-me]

There's not oil in the exhaust?

 

[TME_Steve]

Definately oil smoke, not coolant steam? I'd be working out which fluid level is dropping and go from there, but this may be difficult without having the epa come over. What happens if you leave the rad cap off so there is no coolant pressure, if it still does it, that would rule out coolant. Whats the fuel in the tank like, has it got oil in it? head gasket blown to an oil gallery under pressure with a hairline crack to a cylinder? All spark plugs look the same?

What happens if you disconnect the coilpacks, crank it for ages and then look at the plugs, if youre luck you may suck whatever it is in there and without burning it you may be able to identify what it is and then where it came from. Whats the old fuel rail look like inside, all clean?

 

[Jonson]

Awesome ideas, I love it. I haven't checked the CAT yet but your right scottie, the monolith could be soaked in oil from when the turbo was leaking. Explains the white smoke as the oil isn't getting as hot as it would be if it is burnt in the chamber resulting in blue smoke.
Steve: All levels are good, nothing out of the ordinary. Rail was clean, injectors were a lil dirty but thats to be expected.
Dawso and scottie:: No visible signs of oil, but will see when I dop the cat.
Steve P: Yes....except its not oil combustion oil smoke. It is distinctly white
Andrew: That was what I was thinking but I cannot fin any sort of vacuum line/valve/tube that goes to or from the engine.

Thanks for your help pimps, keep it coming.

 

[unclepaulie]

had the car recently had 'subaru upper engine cleaner' put through it? perhaps it wasnt done correctly?

if not, i'd drop the cat back and cat off, see if the smoke is still white.

 

[naughtika]

only thing I can suggest is the vacuum line that goes to the power steering fluid lines.. could the solenoind/thingy be buggered?

 

[pu-11-me]

Awesome ideas, I love it. I haven't checked the CAT yet but your right scottie, the monolith could be soaked in oil from when the turbo was leaking. Explains the white smoke as the oil isn't getting as hot as it would be if it is burnt in the chamber resulting in blue smoke.
Steve: All levels are good, nothing out of the ordinary. Rail was clean, injectors were a lil dirty but thats to be expected.
Dawso and scottie:: No visible signs of oil, but will see when I dop the cat.
Steve P: Yes....except its not oil combustion oil smoke. It is distinctly white
Andrew: That was what I was thinking but I cannot fin any sort of vacuum line/valve/tube that goes to or from the engine.

Thanks for your help pimps, keep it coming.

Whoops, Scottie already posted what I thought it was lol..... Sorry Scottie!

 

[Jonson]

Paulie, I've been the only one working on it for the last 40,000k's, and the owner is a don't pop the bonnet kinda guy
Christian, nice, will check it out.

 

[TME_Steve]

if it does it straight away from cold I doubt it would be something in the exhaust....

 

[teppei]

that's exactly exactly what's happening on my car. When the car starts in cold, white smoke (not really thick) coming out from the exhaust. not the smell from oil, and definately not steam, cus it won't go away easy. it kinda smells like burning plastic or something i really don't know.
but after it's been warmed up for about 15 mins, it's back to normal. everything runs fine.
Oh, sometimes when i floor the throttle, in high rev for about 10 sec, the smell 'occasionally' comes back.
that ONLY happens when start in cold.

 

[naughtika]

that's exactly exactly what's happening on my car. When the car starts in cold, white smoke (not really thick) coming out from the exhaust. not the smell from oil, and definately not steam, cus it won't go away easy. it kinda smells like burning plastic or something i really don't know.
but after it's been warmed up for about 15 mins, it's back to normal. everything runs fine.
Oh, sometimes when i floor the throttle, in high rev for about 10 sec, the smell 'occasionally' comes back.
that ONLY happens when start in cold.

similar to the smell and smoke im getting.. but usually when I turn the a/c on when the engine's still cold

 

[TME_Steve]

That sounds like valve stems a bit....

 

[naughtika]

That sounds like valve stems a bit....

yeah, same as what my dad said.. sigh..

 

[king_panther]

So has anyone else besides me actually had the valve stem seals replaces on their engines?