Billowing white smoke from PH1 172. Please Help ASAP

[caister]

Hi Ive had my PH1 172 for just over 2 weeks now its been running perfect and is in great condition apart from the steering wheel!! Its had a brand new MOT and has been averaging 36mpg. and up until today has been 100% ok.

Anyway today I set about giving it a real thorough clean inside and out. I cleaned the engine bay with Autoglym machine cleaner and then sprayed it with Autoglym rubber and nylon conditioner.

I started the engine to warm it up to get the interior dry. The car struggled to idle and then stalled. I started it up again then at the end of the drive i noticed that the Emissions light was flashing then it stayed permentantly on. I took the car for a drive and billowing white smoke comes out of the exhaust and of course the emissions light stays on. It doesn't seem to have lost any coolant or oil.

Could I have got something wet when I cleaned the engine that has caused this to happen? So far i have reset the ECU which has not helped. it's started to get dark now so ive given up until tomorrow so some ideas of fixes would be great!!!

Ive also noticed today that the cat has now got a small hole in it.

Hope somebody has some ideas

 

[Russ.]

sounds like the car is running on 3 cylinders, youve prob got some moisture in your plugs/leads like your say. i had this after cleaning my old 1.2 clios engine.

Get your girlfriends/mothers/your hairdryer out, and pull the leads out 1 by 1, dry the lead with some kitchen roll/hairdryer and put it back in the cylinder and see if it comes out wet, if it does repeat drying the lead of till it no longer comes out wet/damp.

Do this for all 4 plugs and see how it runs, the engine light should go off after a while of running right, if not get a family member with aa cover to call them and theyll reset the fault light for free.

 

[caister]

Thanks russ9898 i'll give it a go in the morning. I'm talking a serious (can't see much behind you) amount of smoke though I just hope that something major hasn't failed.

 

[Russ.]

yeah, mine smoked alot as well and had next to no go whatsoever. i mean getting to 30 was a chore.

Fingers crossed for you mate.

 

[caister]

yeah definately have my fingers crossed!! The car seems to drive reasonably normally which is the odd thing

 

[ditz]

yeah definately have my fingers crossed!! The car seems to drive reasonably normally which is the odd thing

have you filled the exhaust with water.
you say this car runs ok? if so - take it for a blast down the carrige way i bet it will clear.

 

[caister]

yeah definately have my fingers crossed!! The car seems to drive reasonably normally which is the odd thing

have you filled the exhaust with water.
you say this car runs ok? if so - take it for a blast down the carrige way i bet it will clear.

How could water have got into the exhaust though surely it should be sealed?

 

[ditz]

have you filled the exhaust with water.
you say this car runs ok? if so - take it for a blast down the carrige way i bet it will clear.

How could water have got into the exhaust though surely it should be sealed?

through the backbox?
sounds stupid but i've seen it happen before
water sits in it and the second it warms up you get loads of white steam
it wont have gone down the inlet as the engine would have just hydraulicd and locked up if that were the case probably bent a rod.
theres no component in the engine bay that you can damage that would cause smoke out the back. even if you were running on 2 it wouldnt really steam, and you cant do a headgasket just by cleaning.

 

[mattjk]

As mentioned above i would make sure that the leads and coilpack/s are dry and the cabling going to it. White smoke could possibly be a water build up take it for a rag when the engines running okay and see what happens.

I dont know how you have managed to blow in hole in your cat did it backfire at all?

Are you missing any coolant or any other fluids?

 

[caister]

The white smoke smells of petrol/oil and only appears when the engine is under load. There is no smoke when idling. I'm really stumped by what it could be apart from the ignition leads etc.

If the engine had]s hydrolocked would it be running like this? I suppose it could be possible that one of the inlet gaskets has a leak and has sucked in some water??

 

[caister]

I dont know how you have managed to blow in hole in your cat did it backfire at all?

Are you missing any coolant or any other fluids?

I dont seem to be missing any fluids. It may have backfired when it orignally stalled would a backfire have been noticable? Thanks

 

[ditz]

The white smoke smells of petrol/oil and only appears when the engine is under load. There is no smoke when idling. I'm really stumped by what it could be apart from the ignition leads etc.

If the engine had]s hydrolocked would it be running like this? I suppose it could be possible that one of the inlet gaskets has a leak and has sucked in some water??

no its not really a possibilty if it had an airleak it would have ran crap before and it wouldnt be enough of a leak to do any damage to hydraulic it you would need to pour water in to the inlet, and no it wouldnt be running like you have described.
if you say it smells of petrol i guess it could be missfiring due to dampness but it wouldnt smoke.
i still say take it for a blast and see if it clears

 

[caister]

I took it for a blast before I posted this thread and did about two miles but the smoke didnt seem to be getting any better.

To me it looks like a failed head gasket but i can't see how it would just totally go without any warning.

 

[W17GLE]

mine has done this about three times now only once has the engine management light has come on stayed on for two days then disappeared. it only happens when its wet. each time i have just driven it and its been alright after a while. the first time it happened i got it towed home by green flag and didn't drive it for two days fearing the worst but when i resated it the car was fine lol. as stated above its likely to be water getting into the plugs or something like that.

 

[caister]

mine has done this about three times now only once has the engine management light has come on stayed on for two days then disappeared. it only happens when its wet. each time i have just driven it and its been alright after a while. the first time it happened i got it towed home by green flag and didn't drive it for two days fearing the worst but when i resated it the car was fine lol. as stated above its likely to be water getting into the plugs or something like that.

I sure hope so! What did you get wet for this to happen?

 

[W17GLE]

my original post from the first time

http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?t=194486

last time it happened i was on the motorway with heavy rain and lots of spray

 

[caister]

cool thanks for the link sounds exactly like what im seeing hopefully that is the problem. if anyone has any other suggestions let me know if not ill let you all know the outcome thanks for the help guys

 

[W17GLE]

that link was about a year ago and i've not had had any work done since (standard servicing done obviously). hope your's is the same as mine. i was so worried the first time it happened.

 

[caister]

I'm really worried i can see a sleepless night coming on!!! thanks allot for the advice

 

[caister]

Hi thanks for everyones help the problem was exactly what everybody said it was one of the spark plug holes was full of water.

The car runs perfectly now and I've given it a few blast's but I can't get the emissions light to go off does this suggest there could still be a problem?

Thanks again

 

[mattjk]

You will need a falt code reader to get it reset probs about 20 quid off ebay etc.. It may turn itself off anyway in the end

 

[SBV116]

Probably needs resetting mate because its logged a fault, you could try disconnecting your battery for 20 mins, may nned a diagnostic reset though!

 

[Russ.]

glad to hear you sorted it mate.

if you or a friend/family member have aa cover then give them a bell and they will reset the fault code for free. explain the situation to the aa man, make him a brew and he will be chuffed no doubt, nice cushy job and a brew, you get your light reset for free. win win!

 

[sexyV6]

One tip, if you do disconect the battery make shure you have the radio code first. And better to leave it for an hour

 

[caister]

I dont anyone with AA cover so ive just ordered a code reader off of the bay. I got the same model that K-tec sell for about half the price so it a win win!!!

 

[mattjk]

I dont anyone with AA cover so ive just ordered a code reader off of the bay. I got the same model that K-tec sell for about half the price so it a win win!!!

Its a useful tool to have actually, make sure you got the right model though if i recall correctly its a U380

I need one to reset my engine light on the dash due to my cat. Not sure wheather to get this or the RStuner though really

 

[Russell Etherington]

Hi glad you fixed your problem, justed logged on to page, i have a cat for a 172 if yours is no good, pics of my race v6 &172 -( which cat came off )on clio page.

 

[caister]

Hi glad you fixed your problem, justed logged on to page, i have a cat for a 172 if yours is no good, pics of my race v6 &172 -( which cat came off )on clio page.

Hi thanks for that but I came across a post on here that was pointing towards a new one on ebay so i snapped that up as it was only £99.99. Thanks again

 

[Gaz197]

white smoke is usually a sign of a headgasket in my experience. Could you have got water in the air intake? I think personally i'd change air filter and plugs and see what happens

 

[Gaz197]

sorry, just seen its been fixed.

 

[caister]

sorry, just seen its been fixed.

No problem. I assume the smoke was being caused by the unburnt fuel from the non firing cylinder being vaporised as it went down the exhaust.