white smoke on overrun

[GG33]

It seems I am getting the occaisional puff of white smoke from the left tail pipe on heavy over run, cant see it in the rear view mirror, but was told by someone following me. Oil consumption is around 1000 to 1200 miles/litre. My guess is valve guide or ring. Anyone had similar? Is it a sign of impending doom?

GG

[RM75]

I may be wrong but white smoke is usually water so maybe a gasket problem. I'd say your oil usage is high but not unheard of on these engines.

[Fly Boy]

BLUE smoke on over run is typical of valve guides, BLUE smoke on WOT is usually rings.
WHITE smoke is typical of head gasket as it is steam/water vapour NOT smoke....

Sorry to hear of your unfortunate news, hope you can fix it before it does more damage.
Check your oil to see if it is emulsified- water in oil = milky...
FB

[RiddleMcFiddle]

Get a loan for £9000 and have a 4.3 conversion!



Seriously, it means you have engine issues, on overrun most likely cause is valve guides, all early engines used low quality valve guides and are destined to fail.

[willtvr]

RiddleMcFiddle said:

Get a loan for £9000 and have a 4.3 conversion!



Seriously, it means you have engine issues, on overrun most likely cause is valve guides, all early engines used low quality valve guides and are destined to fail.

Thats as maybe but its water vapour apparently not blue oil smoke.

[RiddleMcFiddle]

true, but 'blue smoke' is often referred to as white mistakenly.

Blue oil smoke lingers around a lot more than white, so try to distinguish which one you have, blue smoke also looks white, but with a faint tint of blue in it.

[Chimpaholic]

A couple of questions.

1) How are the brakes feeling?

2) Is your brake fluid dropping?

White smoke is sometimes indicative of burning brake fluid.

When you lift off you are creating a depression on the induction side that can draw brake fluid into the cylinders if the servo/master cylinder are leaking.

Ive seen engines doing a pretty good impression of a disco fog machine when this fault gets really bad.

If your servo & master cylinder are in the early stages of demise you may just be sucking and burning a small amount of brake fluid.

In which case you are looking at a pretty cheap & simple fix, so worth a check before you condemn the engine.

[GG33]

Thanks for the replies so far. Indicators to note are the smoke is only from the left exhaust, not sure if that is the front or rear manifold, and my guess would be the smoke is blue but looks white. No sign of any issues with the coolant but I will check the brake fluid.

(I feel an LS conversion coming on)

GG

[Targarama]

Is the car FULLY warmed through? Unless it is nice and hot this could still be a whiff of condensation coming out of the pipes. It shows more at this time of year with the cooler mornings and moisture.

[GG33]

it was only noted when fully up to temp, in fact during a very spirited high speed run on the continent.

[BGB autosport]

Is it using water?

To have visible smoke you would be using more than 1L/1000miles

[Tuscanuwe]

It can be burned diff oil which is dropping on hot exhaust.
Only if you drive at exessive high speed, this means above
150mls/h!
I have had solved this with a modfied breather for diff oil!

Have a look under your car, also you can see diff oil on
number plate!

Uwe

[GG33]

Aha - yes I have noticed drips of diff oil on the garage floor

GG

[RiddleMcFiddle]

get a block test done, most garages will have the equipment and it only takes 2 mins.