White Smoke Rb20

[gts25t4door]

Well the other day i was driving back from a friends house and a water hose blew, you know the one under the inlet manifold.

So I finally got around to replacing the water hose

started great. So we let it run for a few minutes to allow the thermostat to open so we could bleed the air from the system, so after a few mins few mins white smoke bellowed out from the exhaust. Not what I wanted to see since i only had the car for about 8 weeks.

After checking compression of all 6 cylinders (each one was 150psi) and no water in the oil, we come to the conclusion that the turbo was cooked. So we ripped it out and sure enough we are sure that the oil seal is gone in it as it is dry on the exhaust side but very very oily on the dump pipe side.

So I managed to get my hands on a Disco Potato from a friend who had recently upgraded his engine to a neo, and I installed it. Well now it continues to blow the same white smoke and talking to a mechanic friend he seems to think that is looks like a coolant smoke and not an oil smoke. So my question is what exactly could the problem be as the compression and the oil are good.

Thanks in advance guys.

Chris

[TTT]

head gasket.

there are proper fixes and cheap fixes.

[Bsa]

Pull the exhaust off as there will be oil resadue in the mufflers. The pull of part is to conferm the oil I would check the cat first. Comp test sounds good so hg could be ok but like gtst said still a option. Let the car idle for a while with exhaust off and see if there is smoke

[TTT]

if it's oil in the exhaust, it will eventually burn off... but that smoke has a blue tinge to it.

if it's white and is more like steam (ie it dissapears quickly once out of the car) then it's coolant/water being burnt off.

I'd suggest by checking the coolant level, then going for a drive and keeping an eye on the temp.

say 40 minutes or so.

if it's left over oil in the exhaust, it will have burnt it off by then.

if it's coolant/water, it will keep doing it.

once it's cooled down, check the coolant level in the radiator again.

if it's less, then theres your problem.

***Opinion below***

Here's the thing right.

RB20 is not worth rebuilding.

therefore, it's not worth pulling the head off.

it's also no worth putting an RB20 back in if you are removing the engine.

so, here is what I did.

10L of distilled water.

1 bottle of Car-go Seal-up

Drop all the coolant in the radiator (instructions are available on this forum)

fill radiator with tap water - go for drive till operating temp

let it cool down

drop the water again

Fill with distilled water.

bleed system off (instructions on this forum)

top up as required.

Shake up bottle of seal-up

put it in the radiator.

cap on

drive for 40 minutes (personally I left it in there)

If it was steam out the exhaust (white) then it will dissapear within those 40 minutes.

when you have time, dump the distilled water and seal-up stuff

fill with nulon coolant and bleed as per normal.

problem fixed (probably temporarily)

In the end, you will eventually fork out for an RB25 or greater conversion.

It's been just over 700kms for me so far.

I'm about to dump the radiator stuff out of mine over this holiday period and put new coolant in.

I know it seems like a long process, but it's piss easy.

/myopinion

[Bsa]

if it's oil in the exhaust, it will eventually burn off... but that smoke has a blue tinge to it.

if it's white and is more like steam (ie it dissapears quickly once out of the car) then it's coolant/water being burnt off.

I'd suggest by checking the coolant level, then going for a drive and keeping an eye on the temp.

say 40 minutes or so.

if it's left over oil in the exhaust, it will have burnt it off by then.

if it's coolant/water, it will keep doing it.

once it's cooled down, check the coolant level in the radiator again.

if it's less, then theres your problem.

***Opinion below***

Here's the thing right.

RB20 is not worth rebuilding.

therefore, it's not worth pulling the head off.

it's also no worth putting an RB20 back in if you are removing the engine.

so, here is what I did.

10L of distilled water.

1 bottle of Car-go Seal-up

Drop all the coolant in the radiator (instructions are available on this forum)

fill radiator with tap water - go for drive till operating temp

let it cool down

drop the water again

Fill with distilled water.

bleed system off (instructions on this forum)

top up as required.

Shake up bottle of seal-up

put it in the radiator.

cap on

drive for 40 minutes (personally I left it in there)

If it was steam out the exhaust (white) then it will dissapear within those 40 minutes.

when you have time, dump the distilled water and seal-up stuff

fill with nulon coolant and bleed as per normal.

problem fixed (probably temporarily)

In the end, you will eventually fork out for an RB25 or greater conversion.

It's been just over 700kms for me so far.

I'm about to dump the radiator stuff out of mine over this holiday period and put new coolant in.

I know it seems like a long process, but it's piss easy.

/myopinion

thats the go

[gts25t4door]

Cheers guys, the engine is in an S13 Silvia so a 25 conversion is not really an option so I will be stuck with the RB20det. I was thinking about putting in the stop leak but I thought if I want to do it properly I would get it done right and I dont really want the stuff going through the block if I am going to keep the block, as I have heard of it blocking up water jackets.

I sort of knew the outcome but just wanted to hear it confirmed.

I think I will give it a go changing it, who knows if it goes pare shaped its only $600 for a replacement engine.

Thanks again guys.

Chris

[Bsa]

Just pull the head off deck the head and new gasket done but that is last resort check the exhaust

[TTT]

Just so you know - seal-up is not like chemiweld in terms of clogging up water galleries etc.