White smoke at startup... but no leaks?
 

White Smoke @ startup...

Okay, I thought it was the coolant seals but it doesn't smell sweet... smells almost like gas. I know the coolant smell, doesn't smell like that at all. In fact, after taking a few whiffs of the smoke to get a good idea of what it smells like, I started to get a little high, lol.

So I crank her up and out comes the smoke clouds, maybe for a minute to three minutes... I can't figure out what the hell it could be.

I know when I was driving her somewhat hard to see if she'd leak the pressure gauge was rising and was about 1 1/2 lines from 120, the max, this was around 4-5 RPM.

I have a NippoDenso fuel pump, and stock injectors, could that be making me run rich and thus creating the puffs of smoke at the startup?

Any input would be great, thanks!

whoops

what color smoke?

Sorry... WHITE SMOKE.

and its not condensation from being cold?

A little smoke on startup is common. It could be condensation, a little oil that pools up in the intake tract (From turbos blowing a little oil) or, of course the coolant seals. If the smoke is white, and you're unsure of the smell... Let the car cool completely. Maybe overnight... Before you start it up, take off thefiller cap, start the car and inspect the coolant in the neck. If there is bubbles (like soda) chances are the smoke is coolant and you need a rebuild.. If not, take a second smell.. Probably oil from the intake tract. :)

I don't know if oil could make THIS MUCH smoke, lol, but never know I guess. I will check this out and see what's up. Thanks.

Also, it could be condensation, but it's a lot of smoke like I said. I will have to do the champagne bubble test to be sure I guess.

I forgot to mention another thing... I drained all of the coolant out and flushed it multiple times, (4-5 times) with hose water. I added distilled water and now shes running on water completely. I did this about two days ago and it's ran on water only ever since. It doesn't get anywhere near freezing here where I live so running on water seems fine.

3 minutes is quite a while. Does this happen all the time or is this a one time thing?

Happened a few times actually... and it varies how much smoke and how long each time, it's odd.

Driven it since the smoke happened?

No extra engine noise? Hummm how do I explain that?

There is the occassional clunking from the chasis and squeeking from the hatch and hood, but no sounds really. I do know I need a new air pump, it's pretty worn, maybe it makes some kinds of sounds but I never caught any, don't think it could effect the smoke though.

Unless you smell coolant, it is not leaking into the combustion chamber. But you are running just water, so it will be a little harder to notice.

My advice would be to flush the coolant system and replace it with 50/50 coolant/water and then see whether it is leaking coolant.

With coolant seals, it is both leaking and noticeable or not. It is very easy to detect whether you have coolant seal failure. Your temps will be harder to maintain, the car overheats and upon start-up your car emits white smoke that has an undeniably coolant odor to it.

Garrett

smoke at start up...
 

i have the exact same problem but mine is a distinct smell of fuel. I do have a nasty oil leak and after the car warms up, it quits smoking and does just fine. I replaced the pre cat with a downpipe and the main cat with a piece of crap aftermarket hi-flow cat. My tube from the smog pump broke off and since then, the car has had this problem. Am planning a trip to my favorite tuner in Feb to get "the beast" back on the right track.

I think mine is definitely oil or fuel. No bubbles in the filler at startup, but the smell doesn't smell like coolant. I do have a downpipe so I don't know what it may be.

Also, how do you make coolant into exact amounts?

You guys could smell fuel in the smoke due to fuel dilusion in the oil... If the oil is diluted with fuel, and its getting in the combustion chamber somehow (Not hard), that's why you smell fuel.

To make coolant in exact amounts, tnblkbelt, you take one container and fill it up to a marked point with water. You dispense that into a larger container. Then you take the same smaller container and fill it up to the same marked point with coolant. Thus you have a 50/50 set-up. To do any other increments you will have to get a container that has measured marks on it and do the math from the measured marks. If you don’t do this with a measured container then just use your common sense as to when the levels are 60/40 and so on.

Garrett

If it was oil in the intake tract/turbos, you'd see more smoke behind you when you start getting on the throttle hard. If you don't see any bubbles in the filler neck on start-up, chances are fairly good that it's just condensation in the exhaust that's burning off. If the clouds of steam are big enough to kill off every mosquito in the vicinity and last for longer than a few minutes, then you've probably got a problem.

This is interesting because I have simular problem on my engine. I know what a engine with blown coolent seals should act like since I have had two, but my current engine just smokes on start up and I cant tell if it is coolent or not. The temps stay perfect at 185 and no coolent is being forced into the resovoir. I honestly can not figure out what it could be. I know on the engines that lost the coolent seals that is would be a thick white could that would not clear up, and that the temperatures would continue to rise. My current engine has none of those. I just find it interesting that I can not pinpoint what is causing it to smoke.

I am having serious smoke problems also. I know it is oil related. I thought it might be an oil seal in the turbos but it doesnt smoke any worse under boost. The car runs perfect and temps are steady. I am going to look for the culprit tonight. Only 3000 on a new motor and i just set it up non-sequential. I also have a pretty good oil leak which i am trying to pinpoint. Looks to be around the turbos. The car is fully modded w/ pettit unlimited and stock injectors running 10 pounds of boost.

I had this same problem not too long ago. After sitting for about a week due to hard rain, I started it up and she smoked a crazy amount, to the point where people thought something was on fire. I let it run for about 3 minutes hoping to see it stop (no ideling problems and the white smoke smelled like oil and gas). I shut her down after the three minutes and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Finally I turned her back on and the same thing. So I decided to just drive it and see what happens. After about 3 miles to the interstate I opened it up and drove at about 70mph for about another 3 miles and exited to a stop and all smoke was gone. I never could figure out what the hell caused that but I could only think off some contributing factors.

1.)Excessive rain (no flooding though), maybe condensation bulid-up

2.)I had added oil to top her off before the car sat for the week and maybe added too much????

The car has 81K miles on original engine. No computer upgrades, just the safe bolt-on upgrades.

Cam at pettit has driven it since and has noticed zero engine or turbo problems, nor any leaks and claims still runs very strong. It smokes slightly in the mornings for about 1 minute and then the smoke subsides. I never did a compression test because no physical problems and she still runs strong. Not sure what ever happened that day but I can say there was a shit load of smoke!

What do you all think and recommend?

dont' run all water.

that's is very bad.

If you dont' have coolant problems you'll have them alot faster and worse.

your coolant passages are belong to rust.

Sesshoumaru: It shouldn't rust since I'm on distilled water, it contains no sodium and doesn't cause rust, but still I am planning to add coolant soon even though I don't really need it here in California.

I think mine might be related to oil as well. My turbos leak oil, and I can't figure out whether it's an external or internal leak, MOST LIKELY external, considering they are brand new 2001 RZ turbos. This leak is only minor.

My symptoms sound very much like the rest of yours, it could be condensation, but can't be condensation totally, there is a distinct smell in there, nothing like what condensation would smell like. Mine also warms up and doesn't smoke anymore, besides, condensation wouldn't be smoking for so long.

jdhuegel1: I think you may be on to something... maybe I will get this checked out by a professional shop nearby and see what they have to say.

So far we know:

- White smoke for 2 minutes +, similar amounts to that of a blown coolant seal.
- Does not smell like coolant.
- Is non-existent after car is warm.

What it might be:

- A mixture of oil/fuel in the combustion chamber as suggested by jdhuegel1 (problem?)
- Turbos leaking oil internally.

even distilled will rust

it will oxidize slower though due to the fewer radical electron charges found in the impurities.