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White smoke at idle

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Old Mar 23, 2008 | 01:20 PM
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White smoke at idle

I finally got the idle fixed on my car and now it idles at like 750-800 with white smoke? It doesn't smell sweet like coolant, so maybe its running rich? Is there any other things that could be causing It? It used to idle without white smoke so I don't know what to do? Is It possible when I was adjusting the tps for wot that an injector got stuck or something? I have 1200s because I've heard that they don't stick as much as the 1300s.
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Old Mar 23, 2008 | 01:27 PM
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condensation builds up in the exhaust. i am sure thats all it is
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Old Mar 23, 2008 | 04:22 PM
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So run it up to about 6k and it should clear it out?
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Old Mar 23, 2008 | 06:02 PM
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Again, white "smoke" is just normal water from the combustion process condensing. When it is very cold out, you may see it the entire time you drive. As the ambient warms up or humidity drops, you will see less condensation/steam as the exhaust systen heats up. Unless you arer losing coolant, it's nothing to worry about.

"Running it to 6K" may warm the exhaust system enough so you can't see it for a while, but while the engine is cold, this is not a great idea.

Dave
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Old Mar 23, 2008 | 06:17 PM
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From: Hershey PA
Originally Posted by M14socom
So run it up to about 6k and it should clear it out?
No just drive it for a couple of miles.

I find that if I let it idle it will take several minutes. If I just drive away and not push it, it will warm up in a fraction of the time.

dave
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Old Jul 5, 2008 | 12:35 PM
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Its 100 degrees out and I still get white smoke at idle. Not loosing coolant but, I need to go get it tuned fairly soon. Any ideas of why it would do this?
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Old Jul 5, 2008 | 01:02 PM
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If the ambient temp is 100 degrees and you're still seeing smoke, or white smoke.

You're burning coolant.
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Old Jul 5, 2008 | 02:52 PM
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Sometimes blue oil smoke looks white, don't know why. If it's coolant, you should see it dissipate in the air like water vapor (which is what it is). If it's oil smoke, it will stay smoky for a while before it's blown away. Put a small mirror behind the exhaust pipe. If it mists up and then evaporates, it's coolant. If the smoke film stays, it's oil.
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Old Jul 5, 2008 | 06:33 PM
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From: Oklahoma
Ok, so what do I do if it's oil?
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Old Jul 5, 2008 | 08:29 PM
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i would recommend you looking the engine bay over. look at all the lines, smell for oil/burning or not... steam, etc... if you don't find anything, you might want to start looking at ways to identify internal engine coolant leaks (like champ. bubbles, etc..)
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Old Jul 6, 2008 | 04:35 PM
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not sure if this might help or not, but my fd was blowing white smoke at startup, and I was having troubling with it idling at stoplights, would go down low and try to stall, anyways i changed the spark plugs and it was fine for a bit but started to do it again, and then i realized that the secondary twin was leaking oil, i think for quite awhile (no boost gauge, all stock), so I havent replaced them yet but it seems my idle issue was because the turbos were blowing oil into the intake and possibly fowling, if thats how you spell it, the spark plugs, so to sum it all up, check the twins, and sorry if im somewhat off, its just a theory right now
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