White Smoke on Startup

[BlitzBoy]

Guys last week my car started to make a lots of white smoke on startup, after a minute it will disappear and no smoke at all and it will run fine, it also started to have startup problems ie one rotor for a minute as well. I have cured the one rotor startup problem with new set of plugs and it startsup first time on the key, BUT I still get the white smoke for a minute!! its looks like a huge cloud on a cold day and get some strange looks from my neigbours! any ideas what could be wrong???

[iaint]

I hate to say this but that does sound like some water seepage into the rotor housing.  Early(ish) stages of water seal failure.

When things get worse you\'ll experience coolant problems as the combustion pressure begins to get through to the coolant system.

It\'s worth getting it looked at by one of the engine builders (wgt, carl, rx-motors, re:worx, etc) but probably won\'t show up on a compression test.

Pressure testing the coolant system with the plugs out may show this up as there will be water coming out of the holes but in doing that you will have finished off the seal and need it replacing.

Mine coped for around 4 months of daily usage with dodgy seals but eventually I got it rebuild before it failed completely! (still cost an arm and a leg though)

Seems to be a lot of this going round recently.  Wonder if the cold weather has some effect - i.e. shrinkage of the block/end-plates letting water through?

Iain

[davefrith]

Agree same symptons as mine

Dave

[BlitzBoy]

damn, well i will pootle on, as performance hasnt been affected, plus it feels quicker with the new plugs. I better get saving for the next four months, its not consuming any water just yet.
Iain how much did your rebuild cost ya and did you get any porting done?

[Shaq]

blitzboy,

is it like a cloud of white smoke?

mine chucks out a small amount but only for like the first 15 sec then its fine? (maybe its just condensation)

sh*t i am starting to get paranoid


shaQ

[Donato]

mine chucks out a small amount but only for like the first 15 sec then its fine? (maybe its just condensation)

I get that too....again after 15 20 secs its gone. My coolant level is always fine when running (touch wood) and it stays at the same temp when its up to temp as well.....here\'s hoping its condensation!!

[Shaq]

donato

i pray to god i dont need a rebuild any time soon,
 seriously

im scared of the whole idea !



shaQ

[BlitzBoy]

yep its a a big cloud of white smoke!! it lasts for about a minute, i will keep an eye on coolant levels,
Maybe Carl the engine builder could give us his comments, earth to Carl are you recieving me over lol

[Donato]

Steam like fumes for 10-20 secs are normal for cars with a cat i thought? I think its just condensation in the cat.....(no expert on cats) but i\'m sure i have seen posts about white steam on start up before....

Shaq, if you are running a with a cat i don\'t think you have anything to worry about...yours will be like mine, a more steam like gas rather than a smoke like blitzboys.

White smoke is bad, but white steam i think is ok if it goes away after a few secs. If it does it when the engine is at normal running temperature then you do have something to worry about!

[richrx]

mine had white smoke too, then the engine went:(

but mine had no cat and had smoke for the first 2-3 till the water was upto temp, however mine was in advanced stages of seal failure.

at first it was just a wee amount of smoke for a few sec\'s though:(

rik

[<--rYaN-->]

Mine smokes for 30 seconds on startup and smells like fumes so dont think that could be steam. But had the engine rebuilt around 2000 miles ago so i hope its nothing serious :confused:

How can you tell if it starts on one rotor or not?

[BlitzBoy]

it runs really rough you cant even blip the throttle properly, but i cured that with new plugs. Well i can put with the white smoke on startup for the time being.

Carl how much for a rebuild with an extended street port?

[BlitzBoy]

Right im not sure if I have a water seal failure, two reasons
Temps are fine
And its not eating any coolant!!!

Its been hard to restart recently, ie flooding symptoms, I would drive for half an hour switch the car off, go back to it five minutes later and be very hard to start! then it would start with a very thick white/grey smoke like unburnt fuel

I was thinking do I have an injector leak?
Whats the easiest way to test for a water seal failure?

[davefrith]

just sounds like low ciompression to me

Mine didn\'t eat coolant either, but the second rotor was buggered

[MintyFresh]

I get white smoke for the first min on startup, and i still have the cat.

It starts fine, and i dont seem to have any other problems, but its hard to tell because my clutch is screwed.

Deano.