So, we bought our second mk1 vRS a month ago and have had it sat on the drive whilst a few small, mostly cosmetic jobs were done on it. I swapped the oil, fixed the noisy starter and bolted the SAI pump back together, but that was the extent of the mechanical work. It was started and run occasionally but for no more than about 5mins at a time just to keep the battery topped up.

Finally on the road yesterday and after two short 15min drives around town for a couple of errands she was sat idling on a car park pumping out plumes of white/grey smoke! A little worried, I followed my wife back home (2 miles) whilst she drove the octy so I could keep an eye on the tailpipe. Idling at traffic lights the back of the car disappeared in a cloud of white fog, off up the bypass the smoke didn't really ease but as we slowed into the drive it subsided a little however was still evident. The smell was quite strong from the tailpipe - burnt something but not sure what!

It seems odd that it began all at once. We drove the car well over a hundred miles back home when we bought it with no problems at all. Since then it's been on the drive, as mentioned above.

So, my immediate suspicion is the turbo, but would this come on so strong so suddenly?

My second thought is I've overfilled the oil (changed in a rush, 5w30 fully synth) but would this cause such symptoms? No mayo under the filler cap, however I haven't had chance to check the level as we were literally packed up and off out for the weekend.

Having not driven the car I can't give detail on how it runs, but my wife would have noticed any lumpiness and she said that the octy was driving well around town, picking it's feet up on the bypass.

The car is a 2004 on 77k with a very regular service history. I know the mk1's can steam like a good 'un from the tailpipe, but this is fairly thick, whiteish smelly smoke, or so it seems.

Any ideas??!

Many thanks,

Si

Possibly alot of condensation in the exhaust from been started for short periods. I'd personally give it a good drive and see how it goes. As long as your not loosing water/oil of course

Could be head gasket gone which is letting coolant into a cylinder. You need to get a sniff test done.

Have you checked oil level since?

You do blow it out the exhaust if its mega high

If not id suspect turbo oil seal

Thanks fellas. It seems too thick and smokey for condensation in the tailpipe, especially after it had been run for circa 30mins - it should have been up to temp by then and the condensation mostly gone. With the car stationery and idling this stuff was lingering around a little. Still worth getting it running up to temp and reporting what happens though.

Head gasket is a possibility, but again I would expect more steam than smoke, some mayo build up (potentially) and bubbles in the coolant plus lumpy running as the coolant gets into the cylinders. I need to investigate further before I can rule it out though.

The turbo sounds most likely at the minute. I've never filled a car mega high with oil, but she was jacked up on a slight incline when I changed it, so this is possible. I'll check when I get back home this evening. If it's the turbo, then so be it, but is there any real way to check without removing it, maybe oil in the system where it shouldn't be? It'll save me snapped studs and skinned knuckles if there's a quicker, simpler check I can do!

Thanks for the support chaps, much appreciated.

So, got back home earlier and I had a chance to look over the car. On level ground the oil is just upto the max mark, so no problems there.

I started it up and let it idle for around 10mins with nothing but a bit of steam floating out of the tailpipe. Took it for a run, 2 miles just at a steady 30-40mph with no signs of the white smoke.

Got back and left it idling for 15-20mins with the occasional holding of revs at around 2k to try and get some heat down the exhaust. Got upto temp on the gauge and held there fine.

The steam kept coming, fairly thick and constant, so I wonder now if this is what I saw on Friday. Today was a little breezy so it was disappearing - Friday was still so the smoke/steam lingered about and perhaps gave the impression there was more of it. No signs of bubbles in the coolant, no mayo in the oil, no sweet smell from the exhaust. I got down by the turbo, no odd sounds or smells going on, just noticed a little more whoosh in the cabin on boost when driving (compared with my last vRS).

So, maybe the smoke wasn't evident as the exhaust wasn't hot enough today, if indeed it was smoke from the hot turbo. Or maybe the smoke was excessive steam (there was LOADS of it on Friday, more than I've seen a car steam before).

Bizarre....

Next step is to run it a couple of days this week and observe. I'll let you all know the outcome!

Thanks again,

Si

Hmm. Maybe I have a little more experience in this area than you or something (having bought / fiddled with / killed many cars over the years lol) but I can recognise the difference between water / coolant steam and oil burning smoke quite easily. But it sounds like you're not sure what it is that you're getting?

 

Steam from coolant getting into the engine (from head gasket, or worse cracked head / bores) is quite 'light' - that is to say, although it looks very foggy and dramatic especially in huge clouds - so it dissipates quite quickly. It is also usually very white in colour, and if you get your face into it, it doesn't really smell or taste of much. If the cloud rises into the air and disappears quite quickly, then it is probably steam.

 

Smoke from oil burning (from rings, valve guides or turbo problems) is quite different. It is a much 'heavier' smoke than steam, and it doesn't dissipate as well. So a cloud of it will carry on rising into the sky for quite a long time before it disappears. It also often has a more 'blue / grey' tinge to its colour. Finally if you can get your face into it, it has quite a nasty 'burnt / sweet' smell and taste to it kinda thing? It's a very dfferent smell to water steam. I would also expect to start to see a fine mist of oil collecting around the inside of the end of the tailpipe too.

 

Difficult to explain on a forum with just words anyway, but I hope you get the gist of it. As you say, I guess the next obvious thing is to keep an eye on levels. Either the oil or the water levels will eventually drop obviously, so then you will know more definitively where to look.

 

Just to confuse matters, there is a third option, although quite rare - but if you get a particular type of failure of the brake master cylinder servo, then sometimes brake fluid can travel down the vacuum pipe into the inlet manifold, and be burnt off the same way. So, worth a quick once over too!

 

Hope this helps and you get to the bottom of it. Let us know how you get on my friend!

I had a fair bit of smoke coming from my zaust a few months ago... dumped a bottle of this in it and it all went away:

 

http://www.halfords.com/motoring-travel/engine-oils-fluids/fuel-oil-additives/wynns-stop-smoke-oil-treatment-325ml

 

 

Might be worth doing an oil change at the same time like I did. Not had any problems since

Thanks for all of your help and suggestions fellas.

I took a chance earlier in the week and decided to start running the octy to work (150 miles round trip) with my old MR2 on standby should the worst become apparent. So we're about 500 miles in since the problem occurred.

Thankfully there's nothing odd to report! Even the normal steaming on startup has subsided (maybe the weather perhaps). There hasn't been any trace of the white cloud that enveloped the car last week and she's running brilliantly.

So, although I'd rather be safe than sorry, it seems a lot of fuss over nothing. I can only conclude it was water accumulated in the exhaust system over the month it was sat still on the drive that went up in a cloud once the car had finally got up to temp. Biggest, thickest cloud of steam I've ever seen though!

Anyway, thanks again for all of your suggestions, it's great to get ideas from the community as there's always the chance somebody knows about what you wouldn't normally suspect. Very much appreciated :-) I hope and intend to return the favour.

Simon

Eh up Simon,

 

Glad we could help - it's a great community on here - and I am happy that it seems to be sorted!

 

Yeah, as you say, might just have been an accumulation of moisture in the exhaust after all! It doesn't take a lot of water to create huge clouds of steam.

 

I had similar once - I used to go abroad with a load of mates on superbikes every year. One year, not long before we left, I fitted a new four into one exhaust system to my bike. When we got to Spain, the heavans opened on a motorway. Shortly after, my friends began waving wildly at me to pull over.

 

Turns out my bike was spewing huge clouds of white smoke. It was still doing it once we stopped. I jumped to the conclusion that something horrendous had happened in the engine - however it was idling fine, no sinister noises, not overheating and had good oil pressure.

 

We eventually realised that the surface water on the road was being flicked up by the front tyre, onto one of the joints of the exhaust collector. It's a pretty tight joint - however just enough water was seeping in to create a monsterous smoke screen behind! We sealed it with a bit of exhaust putty and job was jobbed as they say