White Smoke

[stimpysaurus 0]

white smoke or steam has started to come from the exhaust, my usual course of action would be to:

1.worry

2.shout at the car telling it that its a piece of s*it

3.get upset and yet ignore the problem hoping it doesnt get worse or hopefully goes away.

 

1 and 2 are already completed but i think i might try and find out the problem and fix it this time

 

this smoke has only hapened a few times in the last couple of days and appears to be when i slow down on hills! (i know i am a master of diagnosis!)

 

what checks can i do before packing it off to the garage?

theres been a small oil leak for awhile, could that make white smoke? or is it going to be water?

 

hope someone can help

Lianne

 

ps. I will try and investigate further and supply more irrelevant details if needed

[richsmells 2]

Check the header tank to see if it's using any water.

 

Burning oil usually produces blue(ish) smoke.

 

How much steam/smoke is it making? Giant plumes would indicate severe HGF, a smaller amount could indicate it's on it's way out.

 

How hot is the car when it's producing steam/smoke? Could just be condensation in the exhaust evaporating.

Edited July 23, 2009 by richsmells

[stimpysaurus 0]

Check the header tank to see if it's using any water.

 

Burning oil usually produces blue(ish) smoke.

 

How much steam/smoke is it making? Giant plumes would indicate severe HGF, a smaller amount could indicate it's on it's way out.

 

How hot is the car when it's producing steam/smoke? Could just be condensation in the exhaust evaporating.

 

it starts as a small trickle and in a few seconds a largish cloud then it goes away and hasnt appeared again in the same journey.

I checked the tempearautre guage the last couple of times and it was in the same place as always just under the line at the top. I have noticed that when i set off and it gets upto temperature it goes slightly over that line and then back down when i presume it is the fans kicking in, but i dont remember if its always done that.

 

the oil temperature has been higher than usual but i just thought that it mustn't have been working before cos the needle stayed at the bottom and now its about the 2nd line.

I've also just rememberd that the last time i topped up with oil it had trouble going down cos the filler had that mayo crap in it (i think is due to condensation?) could that get into the engine and have the same effect?

 

roughly how much would it cost to have a garage do a headgasket test thing and how much to fix it if its blown?

 

thanks for the help

[richsmells 2]

Is is using any water?

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

Slowing down on a hill is over run and is when the vacuum in the inlet manifold and intake ports are highest. Smoking at this point is a typical symptom of leaking valve stem oil seals and/or worn valve guides. Plus our 8v 205's are quite prone to this in older age. So I would guess this is your problem most likely.

[M@tt 77]

buy your self a compression tester £15 (cheaper than a gargae checking it for you!!) and check the compression across the cylinders to see if the HG is showing signs of failure

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-37442-Comss...m/dp/B0001K9TV0

 

whip all the spark plugs out (allows the engine to spin over easier) and try each cylinder in turn (~10 engine cranks or so)and make a note of the pressure registered on the compression tester. A low reading on a particular cylinder or between 2 adjacent ones indicates the HG may have gone/be on its way out.

[stimpysaurus 0]

i checked and topped up the oil and coolant yesterday and they wer a bit low but there doesnt seem to be any mixing of the two.

Is is using any water?

its hard to tell cos theres a bit of an oil/water leak anyway from the back of the engine, but that is only slight so i guess if theres a large amount of water missing in the next day or two then it might be going somewhere else?

 

Slowing down on a hill is over run and is when the vacuum in the inlet manifold and intake ports are highest. Smoking at this point is a typical symptom of leaking valve stem oil seals and/or worn valve guides. Plus our 8v 205's are quite prone to this in older age. So I would guess this is your problem most likely.

are there any other symptoms or checks that could pin point this fault so i can tell if it is headgasket or valves?

ie. will a compression test give the same results for either or anything like that?

 

I dont no if this will help, but i pulled away from a trafic lights this morning and it was slugish and gurgled then fired out a large cloud of grey smoke from the exhaust then cleared up! is this sort of intermitent clouds of smoke likely for headgasket or is that more of a constant fault?

 

Im just trying to think of all possibilities at the minute just to get my head around the possible expensive repairs it could need!

my last cars' engine problems lost me £800 cos either the wrong thing was fixed or there was more than one fault, either way that car is still dead so i just want to be really careful and make sure im doing the right thing this time.

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

Other symptoms of valve stem oil seals are a big cloud of sh1t coming out if the car is left for 10 min or so after a run, and then restarted when hot.

 

To do them means the head coming off anyhow, so not a bad time to have it skimmed and fit a new gasket and seals.

[stimpysaurus 0]

Other symptoms of valve stem oil seals are a big cloud of sh1t coming out if the car is left for 10 min or so after a run, and then restarted when hot.

 

To do them means the head coming off anyhow, so not a bad time to have it skimmed and fit a new gasket and seals.

haha i might try that when the nasty neighbours are out doing their gardening!

 

any ideas on what to expect pricewise to have all that stuff sorted?

im wondering what sort of difference in costs it would be to stick another engine in cos its definitly not in very good condition anyway with 140k on the clock and oil/water leaking from practically everywhere plus a bodged attempt at fixing a crack....

[Tom Fenton 1,548]

Can't help you on labour cost sorry, I do all my own work.

 

However I'm not a big fan of just swapping engines, better the devil you know IMO, as any 205 GTI engine is now at least 16 years old, so unless they have had work, will need the exact same things as yours probably needs.

[stimpysaurus 0]

Can't help you on labour cost sorry, I do all my own work.

 

However I'm not a big fan of just swapping engines, better the devil you know IMO, as any 205 GTI engine is now at least 16 years old, so unless they have had work, will need the exact same things as yours probably needs.

yeah i see ur point. Is it the sort of problem which gets worse quickly and then the car breaks down or the sort of problem that you can ignore for awhile

 

at the minute i use and need the car daily but am hopefully moving house actually into a town sometime soon! then i probaly wont use the car as often and can use the bus etc and maybe experiment with pullling everything apart

if it will hold on that long....

[mercury 0]

hi guys sorry for the noob question. But what is "HG"?

[Sandy 191]

Head Gasket

[mercury 0]

Head Gasket

 

thanks mate.

[stimpysaurus 0]

checked the coolant and oil again today. the coolant has dropped quite a bit but both look normal and not like theyre mixing.

the smoke did happen when i parked up and it smelt like antifreeze i think (im not very good at comparing things cos i forget too quickly)

so its starting to sound like most probably headgasket failure

 

can anyone enlighten me on the tests which the garage can do,

Ive heard ppl mention chemical and compression tests but what do they tell you and which should i be asking for (or both?)

[SurGie 54]

Chemical tests is the best way, i tried the other ways and no results.

 

They put a sealed thing with chemicals on top of the water tank, it reacts when there is gases going through the

water system via broken head gasket, whilst engine is running, the chemicals will change colour if the gases are present.

 

This is what i did with my old MI16, worth doing for the price of it to make sure you get the problem diagnosed properly.

 

Glad my PM helped you out

[stimpysaurus 0]

Chemical tests is the best way, i tried the other ways and no results.

 

They put a sealed thing with chemicals on top of the water tank, it reacts when there is gases going through the

water system via broken head gasket, whilst engine is running, the chemicals will change colour if the gases are present.

 

This is what i did with my old MI16, worth doing for the price of it to make sure you get the problem diagnosed properly.

 

Glad my PM helped you out

thanks for that, i did intend to send you a reply of thanks but didnt get round to it, just like anyone that ever bought me a birthday present!

 

will the test give the same results if theres an external leak or does it only show internal leaks?

 

this is slightly off topic but how do i check and change spark plugs? iv never looked at them and iv had the car over a year and i just remember the slugishness of my corsa being down to spark plugs, so i think for the effort its just worth a check.

[SurGie 54]

You could either do a search for spark plugs or check out the Haynes manual.

 

The chemical test wont tell you if there are leaks going outside engine, only leaks of gases inside

through the water system which then releases gases to the chemical tester.

 

The sluggishness could be a number of things, worth checking the spark plugs though.