what are ALL the causes of random intermitant WHITE exhaust? It only happens every now and then, and SEEMS to happen under normal driving when i come to a stop, like at a light. But it only does it sometimes; very random. Im freakin cause its the same smoke that sayed "hi Tim, im your motor, and im going tits up!"

900 miles on a total rebuild. Comp #'s are good and even (one member thouth i might be coking my pistons somehow cause my comp numbers went up a bit from a few hundred miles ago). i have total seal rings (was told it can take a while for those to get seated).

What gives here!!!!!!! im gettin really fuckin freaked!! there wont be another rebuild if this is a sign of impending doom! car will have to be parted out and go bye-bye!

Tempurature maybe? Does ti do it when cold? Could be condensation burning off.

How does your A:F ratio look? maybe unburned fuel?

Does the smoke have a blueish tint? greyish? pure white?

How much smoke are we talking here?



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straight pipe? no cat? might just be water vapor
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Originally posted by turbo8u
straight pipe? no cat? might just be water vapor

Straight pipe(actually a 22" glasspack) no cat

Originally posted by Michael_97RS
Tempurature maybe? Does ti do it when cold? Could be condensation burning off. How does your A:F ratio look? maybe unburned fuel? Does the smoke have a blueish tint? greyish? pure white? How much smoke are we talking here?

outside temps are in the 60-70s i only noticed it start about 2-3 weeks ago. i am running rich, i know that. the smoke is pure white. when i get on it in boost, i get the black smoke assoc. w/ richenss.
otherwise its just white and when it happens, most of the time its just a slightly above average puff that goes away. one light it will do it, the next it wont.

Have you check the oil return line? Check for some play on the turbocharger shaft. Also, remove the turbo manifold and check if there is oil on the exhaust runners. If so, check from were it is coming. My head had the valve stem seals wear out and I could see some oil coming from the valve guide inside the exhaust runner. There was small amount of white smoke on idle too. Bougth and install the stem seals and no more white smoke came out.

Originally posted by tim97rs
what are ALL the causes of random intermitant WHITE exhaust? It only happens every now and then, and SEEMS to happen under normal driving when i come to a stop, like at a light. But it only does it sometimes; very random. Im freakin cause its the same smoke that sayed "hi Tim, im your motor, and im going tits up!" 900 miles on a total rebuild. Comp #'s are good and even (one member thouth i might be coking my pistons somehow cause my comp numbers went up a bit from a few hundred miles ago). i have total seal rings (was told it can take a while for those to get seated). What gives here!!!!!!! im gettin really fuckin freaked!! there wont be another rebuild if this is a sign of impending doom! car will have to be parted out and go bye-bye!

Are you turbo'd? When my turbo bearings were shot I'd get a little white smoke at idle and stops at traffic lights... and not all the time.

Check the turbo.

valve stem seals were new with rebuild. Head was done by very reputable shop. Turbo was brand new when installed 900 miles ago.

will check turbo in the AM. anything else?

Metal shavings from a rebuild going through your turbo will kill the bearings. You should really check it even if it is new.

well, there is a little side-to-side movement but no in-out on the shaft. The side-to-side is not what i would call a lot. the fins arent touching or anything. it feels like what my old t-25 had. granted i havent ever felt what bad bearings feel like, but...

heres something interesting i found tho... maybe the cause of my intermitant white smoke? is this normal for the s16g? i will go out on a limb and say not. oil should be nowhere but INSIDE the center of the turbo, right!!
what do you guys think?

whoa man that's not good...that turbo ain't sealing too well. i'd definitely get that fixed, within time all that oil leaking will kill your bearings. but i'm skeptical whether it's white smoke or bluish smoke, 'cause if this is the case, it should be a little bluish at the exhaust, that's the sign of oil either burning or leaking. i'd do a compression test just in case just to see that white smoke you described before could be a headgasket leak.

I think you just find the cause of that little white smoke! Under idle the oil pressure won't go through the seals, but at above idle rpm there will be a little of oil going into the turbine side. This is why when you are stopping, you can see that white smoke from the oil that is sitting there.
Now that you have the center section off, check the bearings for wear. Also, make sure the center section clamp is securly in place after assembly.

Originally posted by DarKReaLity
i'd do a compression test just in case just to see that white smoke you described before could be a headgasket leak.

i did a comp check and the numbers were good all the way across, 200-200-205-200 (they were higher than last time i checked)
If its a gasket leak, wouldn't i see some coolant/water in my oil?

The coolant and oil mixing does not always happen. Dino had 3 blown spots in his HG and they didn't mix at all. As for the white smoke out the exhaust, that is prolly just water vapor. But regardless of what it is you need to fix that turbo, and find out why that happend in the first place.

That looks like it was probably your problem. One curiousity I would have if it were mine is how a brand new turbo blew its seals? Seeing as how you just had a rebuild, one thing I would do (after any rebuild of any motor for that matter) is change the oil and check the oil filter for contaminants. On the 420A motor I would especially be looking for glass beads that inadvertantly got stuck in the oil passages during cleaning. Our head is one of those weird guys that likes to hold onto things like that. If glass beads got in the oil and blew the seal, they might have damaged bearings also, and surely would have had to have gone through the oil filter. Just a thought, I have seen this happen to engines before. If you dont find anything then Id be happy and leave it at that, if you find something, KEEP IT! That's evidence that you could use to make them build you another engine. Good luck.