White smoke on start up

[Doulou]

Hi all

I have noticed over the past weeks that I have a lot of white smoke when the engine is started from cold, however once the engine is warm it disappears. I don't think that i'm losing any coolant, but haven't really been very far in the car as I have a list of jobs to do on it. The oil seems clean with no sludge around the filler cap, and to be honest I think its driving ok, but I only have an Excel SE to compare it to!!

Is there anything obvious I should be checking?

Many thanks Paul

[Bibs]

They all do that at this time of year, don't worry

[Rich H]

Yep, tripped my paranoia too, they smoke/steam like b'stards for a bit until they warm up.

[Doulou]

Thanks for very swift reply chaps, and I am sum what reassured ,however I have a "funny smell" sorry not being very descriptive but it's the only way I can explain it, plus I have a lot more smoke than that shown in the picture

[Bibs]

White smoke is water, it will be very thick at first and that pic is taken after 5 mins of warming up.

Blue smoke would be oil and it's thicker, black smoke is unburnt fuel and leaves a lot of soot on your pipe so it's neither of them. If it's water, they all do do it but it's if it doesn't stop I'd be worried. Can you better explain the smell?

[Doulou]

It's really difficult to explain the smell, it may well be my back exhaust box, beacuse that's completely had it, it has leaks all over it. I'll keep watching it and let you know if anything else developes.

Many thanks

[Bibs]

New Exhaust Group Buy

[rogerch]

They all do that at this time of year, don't worry

Mine doesn't do that

[910Esprit]

If it smells sweet it could be antifreeze, however if your not losing any water I would not panic yet

[sid1]

My 90 SE and my 2009 vw sharan did it the same way and my wifes touran too, if its not too excessive and your car didnt need a lot of coolant, i think thats normal when its cold outside.

cheers andre

[andydclements]

Keep in mind you normally get lots of water emitted from the exhaust as steam, but it's normally so hot as to not become visible until well after the exhaust pipe, when the engine is cold you normally get more visible as the exhaust gasses are cooled by the cold exhaust. in this weather think yourself lucky you're not getting ice crystals

[Dave Freeman]

This is very interesting topic as Megan Porsche on start up in hte mornings put out so much steam you cannot see to reverse off the drive. Megans is loosing water, head gasket?. it still drives really well and if it were not for the copious amounts of steam you would be forgiven for thinking all was well. the question for me is where does it come from, it can only be a leak across the water jacket and the cylinders, there is no oil in the water or visa versa.

Dave

[Bibs]

Is the water expansion tank pressurised when you take the cap off (carefully of course) - That's an easy to spot occasional symptom of HGF.

[Dave Freeman]

And hgf is ?

If it's pressurised, when is this done. Before start up, just after starting or ?

When I normally undo the cap it is alway pressurised.

Look forward to your comments.

Dave

[fitz]

HGF - Head gasket failure.....can't help on the rest!

[lotus4s]

The header tank will pressurize pretty quickly after startup versus taking a few minutes to pressurize from hot coolant. You may even see bubbles coming up.

Edited February 8, 2011 by lotus4s

[Dave Freeman]

Well I put a post up on another thread detailing the repairs I had done on Megans Porsche. One of the issues was horendous smoke when the car was started up from cold. So much that you could not see to reverse off the drive. I asked the mechanic to check the usual stuff, cylinder pressures etc, he found no problem. Since having the car repaired - NO SMOKE, a couple of items/ repairs must have cured the problem, one was the replacement of the header tank, there was a small leak and the air has now been removed from the system. Secondly we were told that we should be using the higher octane unleaded fuel. I had been using the std stuff, and sometimes TESCO fuel. Well I was advised that the car should use the higher octaine unleaded as it burns better and to stay clear of TESCO fuel as it contains alot of impurites and should not be used. In his racing BMW car he can loose 5 - 8 BHP by using Tesco fuel.

The result is now that the car only gives off the normal amount of smoke, as seen in this post.

So if yours smokes, check header tanks, use the right fuel.

Leason learnt.

Dave

See, happy bunny.