What Causes White Smoke?

[toy515]

Hey i have a recently built rb26 with hks gtss turbos they apear to be in really good condition before put in car and iv recently found a little bit of water in my intercooler from the rain, could the water in the intercooler cause the engine to blow white smoke? there is no oil in the intercooler pipping so i was thinking that the turbos are fine?

[Beer Baron]

yes condensation can cause white smoke. though it could be oil burning too. which is not good...

[tridentt150v]

Water is usually white white, oil is a blue white [if that makes any sense??]

[NYTSKY]

Smoking tyres emit white smoke, could be that

[Pattygtst]

white is usually a sign of burning oil. Not good at all

[cuppas]

i was under the impression that white is coolant.

[SSHatch]

Oil smoke is usually blue coloured.

Water or coolant is white...

What I dont understand is how it managed to rain inside your cooler...

Thats some pretty damn heavy rain to get in there.

[STATUS]

turbo's i reckon.

[EVL-R33]

ive had a similar problem without the white smoke, water got in my cooler when i drove over a huge puddle at 80km/h with the throttle open (didnt think it would have been that deep), and water got into my open pod through the turbo and down the cooler.. my car ran like shit (hydrolocked) until i took my cooler off and drained the water out...

Edited December 4, 2008 by EVL-R33

[D_Stirls]

Oil is white, sometimes with a very faint light blue tinge.

The white "smoke" that people talk about with Water and Coolant is Steam not smoke, and if you can't tell the difference between steam and smoke than I can't help you.

Fuel Smoke is Black, once again with a dark blue tinge but it's more pronounced with the fuel. This is the smoke that you see under power.

Also a lot of people get worried when they see white steam (not smoke) from their exhaust in the mornings. Don't worry about this it's just condensation and once the exhaust heats up your won't see it.

Edited December 4, 2008 by D_Stirls

[mid life crisis]

is then car a auto ? i had a nissan patrol that was auto that had a rooted modulator valve was sucking trans fluid into the inlet manifold .

man that was blowing white smoke like you would not believe

[SSHatch]

Must throw this one in the old memory banks then...

All those cars that come into the workshop belching blue smoke and stinking of burnt oil aren't in fact burning oil...

Wish I had of know this important information all those years ago instead of believing the misleading info I was given.

I feel cheated, over 15 years of misinformed info that's probably cost thousands upon thousands in repairs that were not necessary.

[EVL-R33]

Must throw this one in the old memory banks then...

All those cars that come into the workshop belching blue smoke and stinking of burnt oil aren't in fact burning oil...

Wish I had of know this important information all those years ago instead of believing the misleading info I was given.

I feel cheated, over 15 years of misinformed info that's probably cost thousands upon thousands in repairs that were not necessary.

hmmmm.... im never taking my car to your shop then... lol

[our12]

hmmmm.... im never taking my car to your shop then... lol

Reading this post about white smoke made me think of something a lot of people may not know. That is if your brake master cylinder has to be topped up regularly and there is no obvious leak it may be your brake booster. As the booster is powered by vacuum from the intake manifold the vacuum tank can leak internally and brake fluid is sucked into the inlet manifold-the result is white smoke.

[SSHatch]

hmmmm.... im never taking my car to your shop then... lol

Good!!!

Cause I cant stand customers who think they know it all and want to argue the point when they are given advice by a mechanic. If you know it all thenb so be it, but please dont pass on your misinformed information to others who dont know any better...

If you dont believe me then do a quick google search

Hang on, here is some I prepared earlier...

Clicky Here for Blue Smoke... and Here for White Smoke...

[D_Stirls]

Well maybe I'm colour blind but to me this is white (well it more white than blue), and it is oil smoke. Can't find any picture of fuel smoke but it's dark, but since I can't tell colours I might not be able to tell shades either so maybe fuel fuel smoke is light.

Edited December 5, 2008 by D_Stirls

[SSHatch]

Your picture dont work...

and I give up.

No point trying to help sometimes as everybody else knows better.

[toddlls]

Your picture dont work...

and I give up.

No point trying to help sometimes as everybody else knows better.

If there is no loss of coolant or oil then condensation maybe a factor. I've blown headgaskets on cars and the result was a lot of white smoke, rough idle, water(coolant) useage and the oil turning to water sodden gunge.

But to add to what comment the quoted user above has typed, there is no better advice than from a specialist in the field, however, said user shouldn't take it to heart if there is other advice which may not be as he/she has quoted.

As there are plenty of experts(qualified mechanics)out there who have given me plenty of bum steers when it came to analysing an issue I had encountered i.e 3 mechanics didn't pick a headgasket issue and it was an exhaust fitter that noticed water in the tailpipe and told me to check the headgasket.

So my 2c is listen to all advice then by process of elimination track the issue you have

[BRUNSKIGTST]

also could mean ur head gasket is no good lol do a compression test to find out and see where u got a leak from some where, but as tod said white smoke could mean u blown a head gasket lol you wont know unless u test it or take it to mechanic to test it but sounds u should rebuild