White Smoke?

[jamiebennett81]

started my car up the other day, and left it to idle and warm up (stationary) for about 10-15 mins while i waited for the gf to stop chatting to the neighbour

anyway upon it warming up, white smoke started coming out of the exhaust, and not a slight bit of white smoke but a fair bit!

it has recently had an oil change and I know from many years ago that from over filling an escort for an oil change this could well be the case of it smoking?

the car has BF exhaust TB and 100 cell race cat. The car was RR recently and the graph was far from smooth due to the modifications my car has and the tuner informed me that due to the sensor in the cat it is compensating for fueling because the sensor is for the standard cat and as this is a 100 cell race cat, its reading higher quanities of air flowing through, then cutting back as this is over the standard paremeter so keeps compensating then cutting back so the graph is up and down as the power rises

So I am thinking its either over fueling or they have put too much oil in for the oill change?

anyone else have an idea? my worst nightmare is a cracked turbo or manifold ££££

 

[D.K]

You aint going to likes this but white smoke used to mean head gasket, dont know about modern cars.
Check for oil in the coolent expansion tank, water in the oil filler cap and small bubbles on the dip stick.
Hope for your sake its not this

 

[jamiebennett81]

You aint going to likes this but white smoke used to mean head gasket, dont know about modern cars.
Check for oil in the coolent expansion tank, water in the oil filler cap and small bubbles on the dip stick.
Hope for your sake its not this

not too bad, I had had a main gasket replaced on my golf valver before, which was not too much bother

 

[Stubbo]

It could be your turbo oil seal leaking oil into the exhaust side

 

[jamiebennett81]

It could be your turbo oil seal leaking oil into the exhaust side

yeah that was my other thought

I will get it checked out

Thanks for the help guys, my VW specialist will be able to help further on this, I just wanted some initial thoughts

 

[Stubbo]

let us know what it is when you find out

 

[jamiebennett81]

let us know what it is when you find out

yeah will do mate

 

[jamiebennett81]

ok, update on this

phoned the VW specialist this morning, and they said it might be moisture collecting in the exhaust over night

to be honest, I dont ever have the time to let it sit and idle for that amount of time, so it was an unusual aspect for me to notice

anyway the one thing he said to try was after a long journey, leave the car to sit and idle for ten mins again and see if the white smoke appears again

if it does then there is an issue i.e. leaking oil into the exhaust housing etc.

If it does not show white smoke after a sufficient journey, then this is down to moisture in the exhaust causing this effect

I willl check for any oil in the coolant tonight etc and any other engine bay leaks

any heard of moisture in the exhaust causing white smoke when the car is warm?

 

[Leigh15]

That would cause steam rather than smoke surely?

 

[jamiebennett81]

That would cause steam rather than smoke surely?

thats what I thought

I will see anyway if it just happens upon the initial start up. Will sit in my car for ten mins tomorrow when I arrive at work and see if it carries on

 

[Willie]

There could be a chance that if you drive the car and let the system heat up then this could 'seal' and leaking part and you might not see any smoke/steam

 

[fozzybear]

have you been filling up with supermarket fuel,especially the high octane supermarket fuel,as this happened to me,was a white smoke not bluey oilburning smoke with a type of chemicaly smell and would plume when revved after sat for a few minutes.....this turned out to be the supermarket fuel i was using,after a service and fuel filter change used shell fuel and haven,t had problem since

 

[jamiebennett81]

have you been filling up with supermarket fuel,especially the high octane supermarket fuel,as this happened to me,was a white smoke not bluey oilburning smoke with a type of chemicaly smell and would plume when revved after sat for a few minutes.....this turned out to be the supermarket fuel i was using,after a service and fuel filter change used shell fuel and haven,t had problem since

cheers but no, i never touch any related supermarket fuel

I only ever use Shell Optimax

I will do the test to see if it carries on smoking from a long journey and then parked up stationary again, very odd

 

[traumapat]

does it smell? most mention oil but isnt that usually blue smoke? does it smell like oil burning?

 

[jamiebennett81]

does it smell? most mention oil but isnt that usually blue smoke? does it smell like oil burning?

dont know, was not too keen to put my nose next to the exhaust

after sitting there for a while with the car running, the smoke was certianly filling up the narrow road!

I will get my vw specialist to have a look

it needs to go up on the ramp anyway as the old charge pipe from the standard SMIC is still on and needs to be unscrewed and taken off, so a good time for any possible leaks to be looked at as well

I don't think its urgent, the car is performing fine, and I will do some checks on the engine bay tonight etc

 

[Hammy786]

dont know, was not too keen to put my nose next to the exhaust

after sitting there for a while with the car running, the smoke was certianly filling up the narrow road!

I will get my vw specialist to have a look

it needs to go up on the ramp anyway as the old charge pipe from the standard SMIC is still on and needs to be unscrewed and taken off, so a good time for any possible leaks to be looked at as well

I don't think its urgent, the car is performing fine, and I will do some checks on the engine bay tonight etc

Hey, did you manage to get to the bottom of this?
I know this is an old post but my car has a similar problem, the last couple of weeks it would keep ticking over for about 8 seconds then there was a little smoke after it started. Today there was loads of steam/white smoke coming from the exhaust, luckily I was on the way to the garage to pick up my dads car. I checked my coolant level and it was completely dry (I had just checked it the night before), so I topped it up and like 1 minute from the garage the coolant warning message came up. I have no idea what this could be but I know there is a bit of oil in the coolant tank, I checked the oil filler cap bu there's no goo, also the heater doesn't push hot air out - I'm sure its related.
The only things I can think it might be are: a cracked oil cooler, clogged pipes, clogged heater matrix or head gasket (unlikely cos the temp gauge never goes above 90 degrees.)