Valve Lash?

Piston

Founding Member
Aug 1, 2001
215
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Chicago Suburbs
Out of Ideas...ready to put a stick of dynamite in the gas tank.

I'm just about to give up on my car. I can't seem to figure out why there is smoke coming outta my drivers side tail pipe. Some does come from the passenger but prolly only what it picks up from the H-Pipe. The car runs good and strong. With the exeption of smelling rich with white smoke. Could this be something with valve lash? Or would that just be crazy talk? Everyone, who has seen the car thinks the smoke is mostly fuel cause of how rich the car is running. Anyway any opinions appreciated as I'm beyond frustrated at the moment. :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang:

any help will be appreciated.
 
I've also been working on this car... The white smoke which smells horribly of fuel is concentrated from the drivers side of the exhaust. The car has an H pipe on it, no cats, so the smoke does cross over to the pass side as well but not as much. When the car is really acting up, it blows so much fuel laden exhaust out the drivers side pipe that the gas actually puddles on the ground under the car.

We've checked all the vac, all the spark plugs (replaced 4 to test which plug fouled the most on the drivers side), replaced an injector we thought might have been stuck open...

But no, the damn car still blows white smoke - and sometimes WAY worse than others. Crazy part is, it seems to run just fine... :shrug:

Current thoughts for problems are:

* fuel pressure regulator
* failed / failing MAF
* lower intake gaskets
* failing / weak wires
* jacked up O2 sensor (unlikely IMO)
* computer reading A/F value wrong somehow (this is where I get lost)
* the Anderson PMS box lost its little mind (stretching here)

As for the head gasket idea, I dont see how that could cause the engine to run rich... but it is a cause that could have one side smoke (oil or water). This smoke is completely fuel. Enough to make you choke and cause your eyes to water...

-Eagle
 
gas in a puddle from the exhaust:rolleyes: I would check to make 100% sure its gass. my guess is its water. could be an intake or head gasket. Was it the #4 plug that was fouled?? gass out the exhaust sounds extreme!!! chris
 
I have no clue what is going on. Any any ideas can be helpful. I don't know if this will help or not this happened outta the blue after I hit the brakes hard. Was testing a new brake setup.

To clarify, we upgraded to the Brembo brakes all the way around. On the test drive, the first hard brake jam, the smoke appeared - and BAD. Same deal tho, smelled of fuel, not like coolant burning. Fuel pressure gauge underhood read correct @ ~42psi. Checked the check valve on the booster, its working fine.
 
gas in a puddle from the exhaust:rolleyes: I would check to make 100% sure its gass. my guess is its water. could be an intake or head gasket. Was it the #4 plug that was fouled?? gass out the exhaust sounds extreme!!! chris

Its gas dude, no joke. Next time I'm going to light that puddle on fire to prove it once and for all. It wreaks of fuel.

#5 was fouled last we looked.

-Eagle
 
Andrerson requested it to be set where it is, probably something to do with the N91 cam shaft. :D Also, we just got done replacing #5 injector. Nothing changed.

-Eagle
 
I always thought blue smoke was fuel cause back in the day hot rods would blow blue smoke if running rich. If anybody figures out how to get pistons car running right let me know too. I have same issue and yes there is a puddle of fuel on the ground while idling.
 
Check the pulse width for #5 injector, and all injectors.
This may be and electrical issue, short maybe?
Get under the hood with a bright light and look over the entire harness, get an ohmmeter check for shorts.
This might explain why it happened when braking hard.
Good luck
 
Ok... I gave up on chasing **** and assumed it has to be a gasket... so I tore the motor apart. Well I started at least. So far just got the upper/lower intake off and the gaskets look solid there. So I should be able to rule that out. Not that anyone was saying it was that but still i'm frustrated to hell. Plus i will be able to see the pistons up close and personal to see what the deal with them is.
 
If you can't do a leak down test, put all the driver side injectors onto the passenger and see if the problem moves to the other side? If it does then it's the injectors for sure lol

Did you guys check to see if the intake is tight (no leaks)?
 
I know it's not raw gas puddling up out of the tailpipes. It's simply water from condensation. I guess our brand new 07 Tahoe is messed up since it puddles liquid out of the tailpipe that smells like fuel......lol Think for a minute guys, it can't be raw gas because if it was running that rich and for some reason it wasn't burning it in the combustion chamber then it would ignite in the header collector due to the other cylinders creating so much heat. I would suggest doing a compression test to make sure the engine is healthy first. Put in a new set of plugs if the test comes back with more than 100psi of compression per cylinder. Then do a little driving and check all the plugs. Go over all wire connections. If you have a Anderson PMS on the car then it should help you diagnose the problem if you also bought the Wideband that Rick Anderson suggests EVERYONE buy when they purchase the PMS. Do those checks, call Rick if all that fails.