ian

I went for a mountain drive with the 951 today it was great fun the car is handling great and it is really sticking to the road and the power from the vitesse kit is amazing, I was there with BMW guys and all of them were impressed with the little 2.5.

Anyway, I started it up after a lunch stop and I noticed some white smoke in the exhaust, it went away when the car got warm, but could this be a leaking head gasket? I'm thinking the head studs should have been replaced last time I went into the motor and thats what could have caused this....

But could it be anything else or am I correct in thinking this is my HG getting ready to fail again....

keith

Are you sure it was white (like coolant), or perhaps more like oil (as in turbo blowby)?

pk951

I would check that again to make sure. could be only blowby. the Garrett turbos have a habit of blowby. just look at tony g's turbo to much oil pressure for that Garrett's,so you get a little blowby.

ian

you can have a look if you want to double check it, but i'm very sure it is white, it is not blue, or black in tint, just white.... I started it up a min ago, to see if it was still the same way, and sure enough after sitting at idle for min the white smoke stated to come out, not a lot of it mind you, just a little....

evil 944t

Ian,
Is it a puff at start up or does it start and puff till it warms up?
Dave

David Floyd

Any liquid spewing out the exhaust ?

Coolant level dropping ?

ian

Coolant level dropped a little, but no liquid coming out the tail pipe...

And it seems to go away when the car gets hot, but for example I left it at idle for a few min in the driveway and the white smoke kept comming.

Perry 951

All you can do is watch you coolant level. If it continues to go down, you have a problem.

Bill

White exhaust smoke = water in the combustion chamber.

If the head gasket is blown, unless it is a very small leak, there are several inticators. You will see milky oil, or milky coolant. You will have lower compression on the bad cylinder. You can put a exhaust gas sensor into the radiator and snif hydrocarbons. After the car has sat, you can pull the spark plugs and crank the motor to see if water spits out.

When any of these indicators surface, time for a head gasket.

Edman951

Did you check your oil for signs of mixing?
And does the exhaust smell like burnt coollant?

User 41221

A quick and easy check is to run the car and then let it sit over night and pull the spark plugs in the morning. If its your headgasket, you will probably be able to smell coolant in one or more of the cylinders... also, you will probably have one or two VERY clean spark plugs.

Regards,

David Salama

Ian,

It may not be the headgasket. My car has always had white smoke at idle after the cars idles for a few minutes. When the car is hot, it goes away. I believe it is the 55# injectors dumping more gas than can be burned at idle?? When I put the stock injectors back in, the white smoke went away. I know its suppose to be black, but it is definitely not the headgasket. My coolant level has not changed at all in many months. I suppose it could have also been from the Garrett hybrid turbo at idle as well. I installed a restrictor to the oil intake into the turbo which did not correct the problem. Anyway, I have learned to live with it, and when I want it to go away, I spool the turbo a few times. Think twice before tearing apart your engine again.

ian

Dave,

thanks for the voice of reason, I'm going to watch my oil / coolant and see if I can see anything going on, if I see the milky oil then I'll dive in there, or if I have a lot of coolant loss.

The car is running well and I would hate to tear her down, but we will see what the next could weeks bring...

First thing first, I need to move to my new house this weekend.... then I'll start to tackle the car....

MHT

if it is a headgasket leaking while the engine is off, it will eventually get to the point where you have a missfire untill the coolant has burned off. At this point I would suggest repairing it ASAP. Again if it is a HG then it will get progressivly worse. If you use the car on the track you can expect it to let go next session.

Dave951M

For peace of mind, do a compression check. I'm with Salama on this one. You may have no problem at all, just a side effect of the turbo and larger injectors. I would think that if it was failing, you'd see that all the time.