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Hi There
In the last week or so my car has developed a smoking exhaust, white ish in colour, that does not go away after the engine has heated up for a while. I have topped up the oil and perhaps the problem started after this.
The car runs fine, and there doesnt appear to be any other problems, and the temp indicator doesnt flicker or move from the middle.
Any ideas?
Thanks
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Could just be the colder weather, you may notice other cars doing the same when the warm gases from the exhaust hit the cold air! Otherwise it is most likely to be a head gasket.
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Or the oil seals in the turbo may be on their way out. How many miles has it done, and has the oil been changed regularly? These are normally pretty durable though.
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Or the oil seals in the turbo may be on their way out. How many miles has it done, and has the oil been changed regularly? These are normally pretty durable though.
Hi There,
It has done 123K, and the oil was low when I bought it, so I topped it up with 2ltrs. Beyond that it drives fine, with no problems or gitters
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"topped up with 2 litres"
Alarm bells ringing there, either the oil was dangerously low, therefore the engine will have suffered or you have overfilled it - hence the smoke.
The other likely offender has already been mentioned - failed turbo oil seal or failed turbo bearing.
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Oh and of course condensation in the cold weather as someone else has already mentioned! If you know a friendly MOT tester get him to hook his emissions tester onto your exhaust pipe - a high hydrocarbons figure will point to an oil burning problem of some kind.
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Well, it's sat at home not moving till I take it to the garage this friday. Hopefully then its just a case of draining the oil and re-filling, perhaps replacing a few seals.
If that's the case, hoepfully not too bad then. Financialy what would you reckon?
Thanks
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If the turbo is anything like the ones I used to work on, you cannot just change the seals as the impeller has to be pulled off the impeller shaft before the bearings or seals can be changed, a reconditioned turbo would be required.
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Ok. Well I have seen those available on Ebay. What would you suggest it's going to cost be. Bit of a pain at this time of year.
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I had a recon turbo fitted to my Saab 9-5, whole job was about £750 iirc.
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The first thing to do is take it to the garage and have it checked out. Then you know where you are.
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The OP said it was" white-ish smoke". Oil burns dark grey or black. Ergo, probably not oil burning so nothing to do with oil seals, hence my original post in which I implied, but admittedly didn't state, it was water vapour :-)
Edited by Mike H on 30/11/2010 at 19:51
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The OP said it was" white-ish smoke". Oil burns dark grey or black. Ergo, probably not oil burning so nothing to do with oil seals, hence my original post in which I implied, but admittedly didn't state, it was water vapour :-)
Oil burns blue actually. Black is usually the sign of an over rich mixture. My old Montego Turbo emitted white smoke occasionally out of the exhaust and that definitely had a worn turbo(the head gasket was fine). I also spoke to a guy at a club who owned a Lotus Carlton with worn turbo's. White smoke wisping out of the exhausts.
Who know's what's wrong with OP's car. If we're lucky we may find out :-)
Edited by corax on 30/11/2010 at 20:54
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Let`s hope it`s not like the tell-tale wisps of smoke as seen just before an F1 engine lets go and the driver climbs from the cockpit engulfed in a chemical cocktail of white smoke!
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I stand corrected, corax. I always thought conventional wisdom was black/grey/blue was oil, and white was water vapour. From the facts presented by others, obviously not always so! As you say, hopefully the OP will close the story off.....
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Hi All,
It goes in tomorrow, and hasnt been driven all week. As I have only had it 1 month I have informed the dealer I purchased it from, so we can talk after the diagnosis.
Fingers xxx'd it wont cost tooo much, and is fairly easy to fix. It's a great car, so hopefully it will still go on and on.
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Well, I am pleased to say there was no probelm at all !!! Mike H was right, it was just smoke coming from the catalitic convertor, made to look worse with the cold weather !!!
Although I had over-filled the oil by half a litre !! As I had hardly driven it though, no harm done. Great car, nothing wrong with the turbo.
Always good to get it checked out though to be sure, the hours labour was well worth it.
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Glad to hear it. Make sure you only pour in small amounts of oil and check the dipstick regularly if you top it up again though!
Edited by corax on 05/12/2010 at 19:11
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