Smokin stang

jeremiah2

New Member
Aug 3, 2006
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Got an interesting question for yall.... i have a 91lx 5.0 and its blowing white smoke out the tails.... usually id be thinking that its a headgasket problem but i dont have milkshake and im not overheating, and its not having any problems running missing or stalling... is there anything else it could be. I searched and found some info about maybe the intake causing a problem like this.... Could a bad gasket be the issue??:shrug: :shrug:
 
That pretty much rules out fuel pressure then... I've seen a lot of guys go too rich with an adjustable FPR. Not that it couldn't still be it. Maybe once the smart guys wake up you'll get better replies.
 
White smoke is an typical indication of coolant being burned in the combustion chambers. It could be a large amount or a small amount of coolant, but that white usually = coolant...

Blue = oil
black = carbon

Have the cooling system pressure tested at the local autozone or Napa to see if it holds 16 pounds. (I think it's 16?) If there pressure doesn't hold and there are no signs of external leaks it could be a HG.
 
If you have white smoke and coolant loss you're leaking coolant into your cylinders one way or the other.

Coolant flows through the lower intake manifold where the manifold meets the heads, just like the intake ports. If the gasket failed it can be allowing water to flow from the coolant ports over to the intake ports. Also, coolant flows through the egr spacer which is directly behind the throttle body. A gasket keeps the water out of the intake tract. Again, if this gasket has failed water can leak into the upper intake and it will get sucked in with the air/fuel mixture. I would start with unhooking the EGR coolant lines and bypassing it first, to see if the smoke goes away. If it does, you found the leak, replace your throttlebody and egr spacer gaskets (not the EGR gasket itself this is different).
If not, I would suspect then it's the lower intake manifold gaskets.
That said, it's not -impossible- that you have a blown headgasket and it's only letting coolant into a cylinder without contaminating oil etc. However, cylinder pressures will also be going into the cooling system causing air bubbles that will be evident if you run the car with the rad cap off and watch.
 
sounds like an early stage of an head gasket going....the car wont over heat if the coolant isnt low in the radiator, on an eary stages...run a pressure test and pull the spark plugs out and see what color they are......if there white/ light greenish then your burning coolant.
 
stangbear427 said:
Agreed. There'd probably be some drivability issues with a headgasket though, no?


If the leak was small enough it could go virtually un-noticed? I mean other than the smoking "gun" tailpipes. My theory on the chain of events: Previous owner had the car it over heated at one point in it's life. Not to the point of failure, but pretty darn hot. The small crack develops on one gasket and over time, it's spread until finally you have a real leak... Of course, if you are the original owner than I need a new theory.
 
i would agree that either the coolant passage that goes through the intake is some how leakinginto the intak and to the cylinders or you head gasket is going. time to do a gasket swap and check head surfaces for warping. while you tear it down do some mods.