She\'s Alive, but has she now got a bad habit.

[Big Stu]

My car has been flooded for about 3 weeks, but thanks to advise from MRC i have managed to get her going again.

I did not even have to remove the sparkplugs which was a godsend considering the hastle involved in that. After reading a thread about removing the Egi fuse and turning the engine over with your foot flat on the floor. After about 10 minutes of effort, and a set of jump leads to keep the power up i have started my car.

Massive plume of white smoke for about 10 seconds then fine.

BUT:

and this is where my complete lack of technical ability lets me down. I kept the revs quite high on startup ( about 3000 RPM), as i got a litte enthused by the engine going. I had some smoke coming out of the engine bay from below my induction kit which concerned me so i shut her off.

So my question is: Is this smoke likely to be a bi product of having a flooded engine sitting there for the best part of a month?, or have i not let the turbo\'s warm up before spooling them too fast??

What do you guys think?? Problem, or just needs warming up and taking out for a blast??

[andrewrx7]

The AWS system on standard cars would rev the engine upto about 2500-3000 for 15 secs before resettling the revs to fast idle (1200-1500 ish). So I\'d hazard a guess that having the revs at 3k is not a problem.

As for the smoke - no idea! Thats helpful isn\'t it! Perhaps you have a tiny leak in a gasket somewhere that you don\'t notice when it is running normally, but with the intense smoke, you can simply see it?

[Big Stu]

Ive never had an issue in this area before. But then i havent had a flooded engine for 3-4 weeks before either.

However i do have a small oil leak in the seals around the engine sump and engine bolts which are going to be sorted by Dragon Shortly. ( when i get round to calling Ross anyway).

I think ill take it out for a mild blast to warm it all up and then take it from there.

Cheers

Stu.
(p.s. glad about the 3000 rpm limit. would have been really ****ed of if i had damaged something.)

[Donato]

The smoke could be dampness drying off, or a little oil burning off, if your coolant levels and oil levels are ok take it for a run but dont go crazy then let it cool and re check. That way you wont be pushing it if there is a problem, sounds like a build up of moisture maybe, was it parked outside when you were not driving it?

Hope this helps

Cheers

Donato

[Big Stu]

Cheers Donato,

The car has been garaged the whole time, but i have had numerous atempts to restart her so i guess all sorts could have been sloshing about under the hood.

Im gonna take her gently out tommorrow night after work and go from there. All my levels look good but i think im going to give her the once over this week.

Cheers

Stu

[Initial-D]

Mine has the exact same thing with some smoke coming from down by the manifold area on a cold start. After going out for a drive all is good. I think as said before it\'s the moisture on the engine as it only lasts a few mins at most.

Does look kinda mad when you start the car and theres smoke coming out from the bonnet vents lol!:D

[Big Stu]

Yep. It is the 1st time it has happened. Although this was the 1st time i started her with the bonnet up, os this may have occoured before but i could not see it.

Hopefully all will be sorted this week. Plus i am qute happy that my flooding problem is sorted. I think a really good tip is to get a set of jumpleads and link the FD up to a gut bucket diesel. The battery really runs down when you constantly turn over the engine.

The jumps make a massive difference.

I let everyone know the outcome.

Also: i have put my ( carlos\'s ) numberplate make on the car this weekend. So im now road legal. I looked into getting a stick on plate, but for 3.50 worth of bits from Focus the number plate is happily back on.

[Big Stu]

Hiya Guys,

I finally got some time and weather this weekend to take my FD out for a good blast. I started her up and the smoke came again from the engine bay.

I took her out for 10 miles or so pulled over in a laybay popped the bonnet and:

No more smoke so i guess it must have been condensation. All looks clear now and the car is running great.

Had a little play with a Scooby Sti ( one of the new ones), and then some fool tried to race me in a mini cooper S.

Top quality weekend.

Stu

[Donato]

Im glad it wasnt anymore sinister than moisture mate.

I had some chav in a pug 106 trying to have a go yesterday... :rollin

[Big Stu]

Ive got to admit that the mini cooper S did very well. But just didnt want to play past 3 figures.

I did have some guy in a saxo VTR having a little go but that was far to boring. He was a spec by the time i hit 70ish.

And im very glad that my car is cool. I wont be starting her and switching straight off again. Lesson Well and Truly learned.

[andrewrx7]

Good to hear the "smoke" was apparently steam!

I must admit, whenever I get the car moved out of the garage, I always run it for a couple of minutes on the drive, until at least the idle smooths out, which (rightly or wrongly) suggests to me that the chambers are cleaned up and excess fuel from the start-up has been got rid of. Doing this takes 2 mins, and I\'ve never had a flooding or re-starting problem.

It is fun putting the "chavs" in their place occasionally! A couple of months ago, XR2 (turbo or not, not sure) comes scampering up behind me, I take a turning off on a roundabout, sit in 2nd gear on the inside lane of the dual carridge way.....and yes, they go for the over take. I\'m of course just waiting.....they get level.....foot hits the floor.......he he he he............why do they bother, maybe they enjoy the humiliation in front of their mates??:rollin

[gsb876]

Good to hear its ok Stu, now get some quality driving done

[Big Stu]

Im building up to it now. This weekend has got to be the 1st time that the weather looked good and i wasnt busy off doing other stuff. I managed 50 miles just flying around peterborough and spalding which was very cool. Plus i spent some time learning the limits of the car.

Cant wait till the next weekend with good weather then ill be out and about again. I always said i wouldnt drive too fast but it is so much fun to blow away the usual 1.6 litre crap that have big idea\'s. However i only do this on the dual carriageways around the city and not on built up area\'s.

[Initial-D]

Nice to hear your loving the FD! The weather wasn\'t bad on Sat until the downpour at 4pm halfway thru a car cleaning session doh:(

[carlos]

sob sob sob .... carlos is kicking himself at this point...... misses the rex.... sob sob