RB20DET Blowing white smoke

[Remix-]

I'm asking this on behalf of a mate with an RB20DET powered s13, when he starts the car up sometimes (usually in the morning) it has some white smoke coming out for a bit? Give the throttle a stab and more comes out! But after he drives around for a bit it's all gone and is back to its rich black smoke. I thought ring lands, turbo seals? Any ideas?

[tang0]

sounds possibly like a crack in the head gasket ....

does the white smoke have a blue tint to it, or is it totally white ...

blue tint = oil being burnt

just white = water vapour ...

just my 2p worth

I'm asking this on behalf of a mate with an RB20DET powered s13, when he starts the car up sometimes (usually in the morning) it has some white smoke coming out for a bit? Give the throttle a stab and more comes out! But after he drives around for a bit it's all gone and is back to its rich black smoke. I thought ring lands, turbo seals? Any ideas?

[Remix-]

Nah it seems totally white. Must be the cold mornings eh

[Syphon]

If it is only for a short time in the morning i would tell him to not worry, it will be moisture in the exhaust.

If it constant, its water leaking into the combustion chamber. ie headgasket, cracked head.

Id be going with the first option, dont worry about its, its normal on cold mornings

[cameron]

White smoke can also means burnt oil, which could be ringlands as you mentioned.

If it blows white smoke when he backs off the throttle after heavy load (on boost) then I'd start worring but if it only does it in the moring sounds more like moisture.

Does the smoke have a smell of any kind ?

[Wes M]

Could it be that overnight water is slowly leaking into the combustion chamber? Then after driving it for a wee while you blow out all the water.

Tang0 is right, if it has a slightly blue tint to it then its oil burning, if its just white its water. Check for an oil film in the coolant or for bubbling in the coolant caused by exhaust leak. Another thing to do is an oil change and inspect for a 'milky' effect in the oil. Those are all symptoms of a blown head gasket.

[DCIEVE]

could be turbo, but normally takes a few minutes for the turbo to warm up and burn the oil.

if its oil regardless of colour on a still day itll hang in the air, vapour pretty much disappears straight away.

[BBQ]

It will more then likely be your ring lands on your pistons, Which will be causing oil blow by. The reason it mite only be happening in the morning is when your motor is cold your pistons contract, allowing small amounts of oil.

Until the pistons heat up sealing the cylinder, stoping the excess blow by happening. Which will cause a build up of oil in your turbo. Once it becomes warm it will burn the excess oil.

[Sydneykid]

HiGTST89 a couple of quick tests will rule out the possibilities.

#1 Does the radiator water go down over time? If not then it's not a head gasket leaking water in to the combustion chambers.

#2 Check the spark plug colours? If they all are the same colour then unlikley to be rings. Unless he has really bad luck and busted all 6 at once.

Hope that helps