I've been driving my fd the last few weeks with no major problems. Only when the car hasn't had sufficient time to cool down that is hesitates to re-start. My guess is vapor lock. Anyway, I didn't drive it for a week and today I went to start her up and lots of white smoke pours out of the exhaust. It's not sweet smelling or humid. Just dry white smoke. So I doubt it's a coolant seal. Also, I lifted up the hood and the same smoke comes out from what i'm guessing is the turbos or somewhere nearby. Hard to tell. Also, when the car starts, I hear a rattle or clunk for a second--nothing loud but noticable. Anyone have any ideas? BTW, the engine has 60k on the dot. Thanks in advance.

 

from what i read the white smoke on startup is fairly normal if it isnt blueish(oil) or sweet smelling(coolant) and what kind of clunk/rattle are we talking about. Where does it seem to be coming from, could be sumthing as easy as a loose exhaust

 

If there is no antifreeze in the radiator it won't smell sweet. With straight water you will only see the water vapor and it will have no smell.

 

A little cloud at start up can be fairly normal, but when it's HUGE, you're toast!
As far as the clunking goes, check that your motor mounts are tight to the sub-frame.
How many miles on the engine?

 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the smoke does not stop. I thought it would go away after warming it up but no success. It will just continue until I smoke up my entire street. I'm not kidding. The motor has 60k and has every fluid topped off. It can't be coolant because the smoke is not humid. I'm thinking one of the turbos is busted. Anyone have any other ideas? Thanks again.

 

So your saying that that white smoke doesn't stop, ever? With the hard start, lots of white smoke, sounds like bad news to me. When my O-rings started to go it did this same thing. It started small then got bigger as the O-ring got worse. Do a leak down test on your coolant system, if the pressure bleads out then you've got problems.

Frank

 

Does the smoke "ever" stop? Even when the car is warmed up, does it continue to smoke?

If the smoke never stops even with the engine warm, it's either your turbos or an oil problem (OMP, oil seals, etc).

If the smoke stops when the car is finally warm, then it's a chance it's your coolant seals.

 

I'm gonna borrow a coolant system pressurizer and find out if a seal is busted. I'm hoping it's one of the turbos. I have a warranty that will cover them. Either way i'm saving cash for a complete overhaul with a streetport and new turbos, maybe some stage 3 BNRs. Thanks everyone for the advice. Kinda knew I had it comming.

Oh BTW, if it was a turbo, OMP, or oil seal leak, wouldn't the smoke be blue?

 

Yep, not white.

 

Dollars to doughnuts it's your O-rings, soon to be followed by the dreaded "low coolant buzzer"
10 to 1 you overflow dipstick is brackish too (grimy, blackish). Pressure test and let us know. Hopefully I'm wrong.
BTW, have you overheated lately? 60k seems early but it can happen I suppose.

Frank

 

No overheats on my part. Previous owner, maybe. Yes, coolant seals are toast. Rebuild is in the near future. Oh well, at least I now have an excuse to port the sucker.