white smoke from exhaust

[JonniP]

ok long story short.
car overheated - radiator fan packed up and my water temp guage - while it appears to work it doesnt seem to go past halfway meaning i didnt catch it until i saw the warning light.

pulled over as soon as i could which unfortunately wasnt immediately and the lid on the expansion tank blew and coolant went everywhere.

now i have replaced the fan motor and thats working, i have refilled my coolant and it hasnt gone down but i am getting white smoke out the exhaust after the car is fully warmed up.

can people please tell me what i need to check to diagnose what is wrong. thanks

Jonni

 

[mikekean]

Well white smoke is usually water entering the combustion chamber wich results in white smoke (steam) coming out of the exhaust. So it is likely that the headgasket has been damaged as a result of overheating.

 

[JonniP]

if this was happening wouldnt my coolant level drop? sorry to ask whats probably a dumb question

 

[mikekean]

Well it probably will be dropping but not enough at the moment to instantly notice it. Are you 100% sure the car was warm when you noticed it? It could just built up moisture in the exhaust. Just keep an eye on the levels and how much smoke is coming out, if it gets worse than its most likely the head gasket

 

[JonniP]

yes it was warm just driven about 1 hour - part of which on the motorway...not looking forward to doing a headgasket now lol

 

[jaleach]

Are head gaskets hard to do? Mine has a tendency to put out a lot of white exhaust under heavy acceleration (read: absolutely flooring it).

That side, my exhaust is also a little one-sided - (it's a 182) - one pipe puts out more puff [technical term] than the other

 

[jaleach]

Are head gaskets hard to do? Mine has a tendency to put out a lot of white exhaust under heavy acceleration (read: absolutely flooring it).

That side, my exhaust is also a little one-sided - (it's a 182) - one pipe puts out more puff [technical term] than the other

 

[bing_17]

Well, from whats you've just said above... I wouldn't try doing your head gasket.. It does involve a fair bit of stripping down, and the tool for the cambelt.
And if you're doing it because the cars boiled over then theres a chance that the heads warped and will need skimming... Which means strippring it down (cams,valves) the lot out.
Stick to someone that knows what theyre doing.. I've heard good things about Fred and his garage.

 

[ali-ham]

just thot i'd add something here, i notice that my exhaust holds a lot of moisture, if i shake the rear silencers i can hear water inside. When i floor it i notice that theres a lot of steam and water come out the exhaust, so much so that water gathers on the rear window and people behind me get covered in water in water. i drilled a hole in my silencer and a load of water ran out. welded it up again and now notice its doin it again. I never loose any coolant and everything runs fine. Any one else noticed this same problem.???

 

[mikekean]

just thot i'd add something here, i notice that my exhaust holds a lot of moisture, if i shake the rear silencers i can hear water inside. When i floor it i notice that theres a lot of steam and water come out the exhaust, so much so that water gathers on the rear window and people behind me get covered in water in water. i drilled a hole in my silencer and a load of water ran out. welded it up again and now notice its doin it again. I never loose any coolant and everything runs fine. Any one else noticed this same problem.???

Do you use the car for alot of short journeys? could be that the exhaust never gets hot enough to evaporate the condensation in the exhaust.

 

[ali-ham]

Do you use the car for alot of short journeys? could be that the exhaust never gets hot enough to evaporate the condensation in the exhaust.

Yea, mostly for short journeys, only 1 or 2 mile trips. when i think about it that makes sense!! LOL!! i'll have to take it out for longer runs sometimes.