Hi. This morning I had to bring my other car into service and my GF was following behind me to the dealer. She noticed some white smoke from the exhaust when taking off from a stop. Normal take off, not launch. She said it goes away after 1st gear. She also notices black smoke when I punch it on the freeway which I know is normal.

Now, I checked my oil. No sign of coolant in it. No smell of coolant. oil looks fine. No smoke under hood.

She does not drive stick so I had her rev it in neutral up to 5500 and I stook behind. No white smoke, just typical soot stuff and smell due to my Helix cat.

Searched and cannot come up with anything. I dont race it or overboost, so I cannot see a head gasket going. Car runs fine and pulls hard and idles fine.

Any ideas? Thanks.

 

Combination of running slightly rich and hi flow cat? That's what I would guess. I get the same thing too with 3" turbo back exhaust and hi flow cat.

 

Thanks. But what's the whitish? I know on cold start up the condensation makes the exhaust smoke white, but this is after the car has been run for a while.

I wish I could see it myself to confirm.

 

Whitish is oil burning out the exhaust system like black is fuel. YOu have oil blowing by the pistons or your valve seals are wearing out. Basically, it's a sign of a worn out motor. Run it hard a lot?

 

What were the temps outside when the white smoke was coming out? I wouldn't worry too much about it if you are not consuming any oil.

 

No oil consumption and only 6700 miles. Not tracked or dragged, just flogged in gears 2 3 and 4 every now and then at 20 PSI. Never had oil consumption problems and did 4 oil changes over the past year.

Worn out motor? Wow, I hope not after 6700 miles.

 

Temp was about 55 degrees, not very cold.

 

i wouldnt sweat it. mine seems to have white smoke out the tail as well, looks like it does when you first start the car, but it happens way after it is/or should be warm. it doesnt get to cold where i live, and it gets put in the garage at night. i worried the first time i saw it, but it was a while ago and nothing gives yet.

 

No drivability issues and it idles fine.

My GF explained it in more detail to me. It's more confusing. Says it happened when accelerating off from a stop, BUT NOT ALL THE TIME. Like little puffs of whitish smoke that lasts she said through the RPM band of at least 1st gear.

But no signs of it at cruising speed. I punched it in 3rd and 4th and she said a puff of black smoke was seen. I know that's normal for a turbo car to run a little rich up top.

I'm flashed and custom street tuned and was at a 11:1 A/F, but that was before the high flow cat.

I have no soot on the rear bumper either, just inside the exhaust tip.

I'm hoping to have a fellow Evo bud meet up with me tomorrow and he can see what it looks like and maybe we'll switch cars and i can see firsthand.

 

Cat converts exhaust gas into CO2 and H2O. So early morning you'll see white smoke (vapor) and water coming out of the exhaust tip.

 

I noticed this on my buddies Evo a while back after he got street tuned at the DSM shootout. Seems like it was happening when he let off the throttle as he was slowing down though. It would be like just a little puff of smoke pop out and go away.

 

Well, this is what I've learned in general:

Black is fuel
White is water
Blue is oil

 

I've ruled out condensation since the car was driven over an hour and the smoke was seen. I was not even cold here and none of the other cars on the road were smoking like you see on a cold winter morning and everone leaving their house with a cold car.

I cannot see it being coolant as there is no smell, oil has no signs of water in it, coolant level is full and has not changed or needed to be topped off since the car was new, and if I was burning coolant, wouldn't the white smoke be more pronounced? I can sit in N and rev the hell out of it and no smoke.

I went for a drive and boosted 20 pounds in every gear and was watching my mirror and no visable signs of smoke. I just can't figure out what she saw and she said it was on a few occassions a puff of white smoke was seen on take off.

 

this isnt totally correct. white can be lean from what ive experienced. but a small amount of white smoke at innitial or early WOT application will somewhat clean out the system and it should go away. black is almost always too rich... or just alot of fuel being thrown in the motor. a whitish-purple or whitish-blue smoke is oil.

oil smoke is not just caused from a worn out motor. if your turbo has bad seals they leak and your turbo blows oil into the motor. when you hvae oil in the smoke from a turbocharged car is ussually from the turbo. when oil burns in the motor it burns when you are off the throttle. when you are accelerating it rarely burns and accumulates in the cylinders.

 

The only other place water can go out the exhaust is through the turbo. I'm not very familiar w/ how the water and oil passages are separated inside the turbo's center cartridge.

BTW, who's flash do you have?