Hi all. I wanted to see if I'm a bit paranoid or if I have an issue. About 3 weeks ago I noticed my coolant was on the minimum line after not touching it for years which seemed somewhat normal. So I topped it off to the max line. Coolant is now above the max line a bit after driving it a bit more.

I noticed that I'm getting a bit of white smoke from the engine. Oil color doesn't look milky, no signs of overheating, and car seems fine. Also, I had a leak-down test about 5k miles ago and the results showed the engine was healthy. Lastly, I changed the spark plugs today as a maintenance item. I'm considering having a shop take a look at it to see if there's an issue.

Here's a video of the car after being warmed up for about 5-10 minutes with the temp being around 55-60F - .

Also, here's a close up of one of the exhaust tips and there seemingly being some condensation/water:


Let me know what you all think! Thanks.

 

Another thing I'm going to check tomorrow is the PCV valve. Not sure it's ever been cleaned and it definitely hasn't been replaced in the 12+ years I've owned it. Perhaps this is part of the issue.

 

Just water vapor if it were coolant the smoke would be thicker/whiter and not dissipate so quickly.

 

True. Cleaned the PCV valve today. After doing that and the plugs, seems to be running better. Will keep an eye on it and keep you all posted. Thanks!

 

So it appears the white smoke is a bit more prominent now at idle. I actually started throwing a P20A0 about 2 weeks ago and one of the culprits is due to faulty PCV valve. I put about 50 miles on the car since I last cleared the DTC but the white smoke is still a problem. Kind of at a loss as to whether this is some sort of oil blow back, turbo issue, and/or head gasket issue. Coolant level and oil seems fine. No signs of over heating either.

Anyone have any ideas? If I can't figure this out soon, I'm likely going to send it somewhere as I just don't have the tools or time to fuss with this thing unfortunately.

 

You can test the coolant system with one of those combustion gas testers.

 

Did you replace the PCV valve?

 

Yup! Thinking I have a bad turbo or an issue with my oil feed line. Going to have someone check it out.

 

I have seen the oil drain tube clog as well. But you have to pull the turbo to check that.

 

I had the car trailered to Moore Automotive in Virginia as I don't have the time to fuss with the car. Will keep you all posted on what the issue is.

 

So Moore took a look and the news doesn't sound great at this point. Compression numbers were good but leak down test was not. After further inspection, they found some metal contaminants in cylinder 4. They're trying to determine if this came from the turbine housing, intercooler, or something else. Pretty frustrated as I was expecting a bad turbo and this is starting to turn into a new engine build AND potentially a new turbo. I suppose you have to pay to play and after 13 years and 60k miles, most of which were modified, my day has come.