Heavy white smoke on hard acceleration

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Fastcat

Founding Member

Mar 5, 2002

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St. Louis

Jul 26, 2004

#1

• Jul 26, 2004

• #1

After my car warms up and is driving for a while a slight steady mist of white smoke comes fromt he tailpipes, you can barely see it unless your paying attention. Then if I drive hard or hit the gas hard I can see a BIG cloud of smoke in my rearveiw mirror and when I slow down the smoke is still thick and coming out alot, but after about 30secs or so the smoke gets thinner but instead of it being a light mist you can really see it. The car runs and drives great w/ the exception of that and when the engine starts to idle very low and surge (that only happens when the engine is warm). The car never overheated, as a matter of fact, the car has never ran hot, and it runs fine so Im guessing the head gaskets are good. Could it be because I dont have any oxygen sensors hooked up?

 

J

Js5ohLX

Member

Apr 5, 2004

287

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16

Ohio

Jul 26, 2004

#2

• Jul 26, 2004

• #2

White smoke = Blown Head gasket, sorry about your luck.

 

F

Fastcat

Founding Member

Mar 5, 2002

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St. Louis

Jul 26, 2004

#3

• Jul 26, 2004

• #3

So why doesnt it overheat?

 

MahFiVeOh

Founding Member

Apr 26, 2002

531

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49

Ontario, Canada

Jul 26, 2004

#4

• Jul 26, 2004

• #4

If its white fluffy smoke its prob a head gasket like Js5ohLX said. Mine did the same, i think the smoke kind of smelled sweet too i may be wrong

 

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Fastcat

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Mar 5, 2002

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St. Louis

Jul 26, 2004

#5

• Jul 26, 2004

• #5

it isnt fluffy smoke, lol. I know what you mean, like white smoke you cant see through... it isnt like that, just kind of thick..... Ever see those top fuel drasgters..... the smoke looks like the smoke that comes from their headers

 

F

Fastcat

Founding Member

Mar 5, 2002

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St. Louis

Jul 27, 2004

#6

• Jul 27, 2004

• #6

I believe you guys are right. I started the car, revved the engine till I seen white smoke and then smelt it... It had a sweet smell to it... It kinda made my mouth water! I took the rad. cap off and seen that I was kind of low on coolant. So I revved it up and down slightly from under the hood looking at the coolant. After about 10min of running, I seen a slight white foam in the fluid. I stop revving the engine, then theT-stat opened and bubbles started to come from the coolant and the white smoke started to come out of the tailpipes noticeablly w/o me revving the engine.

So since my HG or blown or leaking, why doesnt the car overheat? Since the smoke isnt fluffy, could that because I have mostly water in my radiator?

 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master

Apr 10, 2002

9,039

6

79

Charlotte, NC

Jul 27, 2004

#7

• Jul 27, 2004

• #7

Keep driving it that way -- it will overheat for you shortly. If you smell the antifreeze and you've got vapor behind the car, you shouldn't drive it anymore til you can get it fixed -- you're just asking to hurt it worse. It could be a head gasket; it could also be a cracked component. If you run a cranking compression test or leak down tests, that may tell you exactly where the problem is.

 

F

Fastcat

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Mar 5, 2002

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St. Louis

Jul 27, 2004

#8

• Jul 27, 2004

• #8

I tried running an compression test but the thing wouldnt work.... I havent been driving it since it started smoking and I dont plan on doing it till its fixed. IM gonna just take the heads off and replace the gaskets and the heads. I have st of E7s siting in my garage anywas.

 

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Fastcat

Founding Member

Mar 5, 2002

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St. Louis

Aug 8, 2004

#9

• Aug 8, 2004

• #9

OK guys, I changed the HGs (havent put the car completely back together yet though. I took off the old gaskets and didnt see any points where it could be leaking or blown. Could it be so small I cant see it, or is this normal for a leaking HG?

Oh yea, Im not putting the original heads back on, I have a set of good stock heads sitting in my garage. So changing the HGs and heads SHOULD fix my problem fit?

 

IndyBlk5.0

New Member

Nov 24, 2003

1,122

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New Whiteland, IN

Aug 8, 2004

#10

• Aug 8, 2004

• #10

Was any part of the cylinder wall or head white?
My block ended up needing to be decked when my car blew the head gaskets. I hope this isnt your case.

 

Gearbanger 101

Straight Outta Locash

20+ Year Stangneter

Aug 10, 2002

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Ontario, Canada

Aug 8, 2004

#11

• Aug 8, 2004

• #11

Did you think to check for bubbles in the rad while you were doing your leak test?

 

F

Fastcat

Founding Member

Mar 5, 2002

582

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St. Louis

Aug 8, 2004

#12

• Aug 8, 2004

• #12

Nothing was white. All of my pistons had a black carbon build up BUT 1. That piston had NO carbon on it at all and was shiny looking (well not shinny but very clean compared tot he othes). And all my spark plus looked new execpt for that cylinder with the "shiny" piston... and the plug was black on the end.

Gearbanger, I checked for bubbles in the radiator (and I had some) but I wasnt doing a leak test though.

 

dvs bullet

New Member

Feb 20, 2004

326

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Ontario, Canada

Aug 8, 2004

#13

• Aug 8, 2004

• #13

Fastcat said:

Nothing was white. All of my pistons had a black carbon build up BUT 1. That piston had NO carbon on it at all and was shiny looking (well not shinny but very clean compared tot he othes). And all my spark plus looked new execpt for that cylinder with the "shiny" piston... and the plug was black on the end.

Sounds like you found your leaking cylinder

Click to expand...

 

Gearbanger 101

Straight Outta Locash

20+ Year Stangneter

Aug 10, 2002

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Ontario, Canada

Aug 8, 2004

#14

• Aug 8, 2004

• #14

You may want to have your heads milled slightly before putting them back on (.010) just to ensure they're square. You can do it while they're still assembled. While you've got them off the car, it wouldn't hurt to relap the valves and install new valve seals too. It's inexpensive and can only help.

 

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Fastcat

Founding Member

Mar 5, 2002

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St. Louis

Aug 16, 2004

#15

• Aug 16, 2004

• #15

I finished putting my engine all the way back together finally, but when I rev the engine up high, white smoke is still coming out of the tailpipes, ive but on a different set of heads and intake... Could it be too much fuel (Im still running Speed density w/o O2 sensors)?

 

T

tjm73

Founding Member

Aug 3, 2000

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Rush, NY

Aug 16, 2004

#16

• Aug 16, 2004

• #16

If it's white you have a coolant leak into the combusion chamber someplace. If it's actually kinda got a little bit of bluish tint, it's oil you're burning.

 

G

GoldenEye

New Member

Jun 29, 2004

43

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Orange County, California

Aug 16, 2004

#17

• Aug 16, 2004

• #17

It could be fuel. Pull the dipstick and smell the oil. Does it smell like fuel? If so, check the injector that was near that shiny cylinder, and also oull the hose off your FPR and see if gas is in there. Also, check and see if you have any shorts in the 10 pin connector. I had a wiring fault behind the intake that was causing the car to run very, very rich. It was so rich I had condensation coming out of the tail pipes, along with white smoke.

 

Michael Yount

Mustang Master

Apr 10, 2002

9,039

6

79

Charlotte, NC

Aug 16, 2004

#18

• Aug 16, 2004

• #18

I was gonna suggest checking a/f ratio -slightly rich often looks whitish/gray. The richer it gets however, the blacker the smoke becomes.

Is it smoke or vapor? White vapor is clearly coolant getting into the combustion chamber somehow -- your buddy can usually smell the antifreeze (sweet smell) if someone drives behind you.