Sup2jzgte

This is going to be 2 questions..hopefully not related.

Its just starting to get colder here and I have noticed that when I start my car for the first time in the morning or after sitting for more than 2 hours there seems to be a rather large amount of white smoke coming from the exhaust, it seems like alot more than in the past. The white smoke is thick for only about 20 seconds then it goes to more of a vapor mist. There is a strong fuel smell when first starting up. When the car warms up (temp needle at 9 o'clock) the smoke and smell goes away and the only time I see anything while driving is when its cold out, but I'm pretty sure thats fairly normal.

I have also noticed that when the car sits over night I have to hold the key down longer for it to start. After the initial start I can turn the car off immediately then back on and it will start with out hesitation. After driving it starts without hesitation..........not sure if these 2 issues are related, but I'm trying to be as detailed as possible.

Oil seems clean and full. I checked the PS fluid and its fresh and full ( i just flushed it over the summer). BUT, I just noticed that my coolant reservoir is a 1/2" below full.........just a few weeks ago it was at full. I have checked it every day for the past 2 weeks and it has not gone any lower, but that amount went somewhere and I dont understand where or why its not getting any lower? There are no traces of fluid in the splash pan or under the car.

After doing some reading on CL and google there seems to be many causes for the white smoke, some say ECU......it seems like majority say BHG, others say transmission fluid can cause the white smoke and many other listed causes. At first I was leaning toward the ECU being bad, but since I noticed the coolant going a bit lower I'm now concerned it could be a slightly blown head gasket.

Tuesday I'm changing the oil and flushing the cooling system, while I'm at it I will do a compression test and check the plugs. The plugs, rotor, cap,VCG and wires are all 1 1/2 years old with about 10k miles on them.

If its any help both the front and rear seals are leaking a little as are the cam seals................not sure if any of that could be the cause of the smoke.

Here is a video of what the smoke looks like at first start up and where the idle starts out at (note: the noise you hear in the background is my engine, does it sound like a bearing grinding?):



Here is another video of the smoke



After the car is warmed up fully this is where the idle sits





My next question is do the rpms match my speed? it seems like the RPMS are to high....dont mind the music in the background



Stock sc300

soarer13oy

iTrader: (13)

It can be a slightly blown hg. My ge did the same thing. The coolant can be vaporized from the engine which will not make the oil milky. I hope its not though.

Sup2jzgte

But wouldnt the coolant level drop more as I drive if it was a BHG? I have driven 553 miles an the coolant level has not changed.

soarer13oy

iTrader: (13)

Thats why i might not be, but pay attention to it. Mines slowly disappeared but after a while it was gone fast.

good2go

iTrader: (6)

I'd do a compression test to be sure, but it's possible that the coolant loss was a fluke; maybe as it's gotten colder, you turned on the heater and burped some air out of the system which was then displaced by the coolant, causing the level to drop suddenly. Top it off and see if it continues.

The part that doesn't fit the HG issue is the white smoke WITH fuel smell, and ONLY when cold. That sounds like classic fuel management issues during open loop operation.

Sup2jzgte

now that you mention it, a few weeks ago i didn put the heater on high for about 2-3 minutes, for the first time in 8-9 months. If it makes any diffence the ac blows warms air, but the heater blows hot air without issue. im thinking about putting a stick in my exhaust turning car on letting it idle for 20 seconds, then taking the stick out going about 20 feet away and try to light the branch on fire

im really hoping its the ecu or something along those lines, because my spare engine isnt coming back from the machine shop until mid dec.

Sup2jzgte

Well I didnt have a enough time today to flush the coolant and do a compression test, but I did get around to doing an oil change and thankfully the oil looked fine......it was not watered down,foamy or anything out of the ordinary. Just for giggles I took my buddies 20" round rare earth magnet and put it in the drained oil to see if there was any metal shaving and again thankfully nothing.

Also the coolant level is staying where its been at...... 1/2" below full........so it seems like I'm either losing it somewhere from the heating system or as good2go mentioned turning the heater on may have burped the system.

I was wondering........could removing the second cat cause the smoking/fuel smell issue? In the late spring I had my exhaust leak fixed and the shop deleted the second cat.

After 3050 miles and 4 months this is what castrol gtx high mileage oil looked like......I'm actually kinda disappointed, I was not expecting it to be so dark........the oil change before this one I used Penzoil regular motor oil and it was not half as dark as this one

Sup2jzgte

Well I finally had sometime today to do a compression test and here are the results:

#1 181 psi
#2 178 psi
#3 179 psi
#4 176 psi
#5 176 psi
#6 167 psi

I let the gauge stay pressurized on each cylinder for 45 seconds and there was no fluctuation in the readings in any of the first 5, but #6 went from 167 to 155 in 45 seconds and stabilized there. All the plugs looked perfect EXCEPT for #6..........there was oil on the top of the plug and wire, but the electrode is perfect, which is confusing to me. I changed the VCG 2 summers ago and it's not leaking at all, i triple checked today while I was in there, so I'm not sure where the oil is coming from.

The first 5 plugs looked exactly the same........just like this:



Plug #6 however was a different story:





Also there is a fair amount of oil on the TB as well, which I just cleaned by hand a few months ago........there no carbon build up, but is this normal?:




NOW...here's the rather interesting part..........the 1/2" of coolant I was missing...well it mysteriously reappeared and now my reservoir is back to full..........The only thing I can think of, is it was trapped somewhere in the heating system. The reason why I say this is because I turned the heat on to see if I could see any leaks, then a few minutes later the coolant was full lol lol.

So at this point I'm kinda confused............if coolant is making my exhaust white, why am I not loosing any....hell I'm gaining some lol?

soarer13oy

iTrader: (13)

If your exhaust doesnt smell sweet then you should be ok. Your compression seems to be ok.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Looks like you're doing all of the right tests. Sounds like a faulty ECU to me.
Does your car burn oil like crazy? My '95 has the same symptoms except for
missing coolant. My car smokes a little on initial start up but goes away after
a few minutes. My needle sits at about the same level as yours. The only
thing different is that I am losing oil like crazy! Like a quart every 1000 miles!!!
I'm not leaking anywhere and have placed large cardboard pieces under every part
of my engine for 3+ days and don't see a drop. I have the same strong fuel smell
as you described. I recently purchased a new ECU and I'm just waiting for delivery.
I'll let you know if mine changes at all.

Sup2jzgte

Yeah there is no sweet smell, just strong smell of gas.


[QUOTE=Looks like you're doing all of the right tests. Sounds like a faulty ECU to me.
Does your car burn oil like crazy? My '95 has the same symptoms except for
missing coolant. My car smokes a little on initial start up but goes away after
a few minutes. My needle sits at about the same level as yours. The only
thing different is that I am losing oil like crazy! Like a quart every 1000 miles!!!
I'm not leaking anywhere and have placed large cardboard pieces under every part
of my engine for 3+ days and don't see a drop. I have the same strong fuel smell
as you described. I recently purchased a new ECU and I'm just waiting for delivery.
I'll let you know if mine changes at all.[/QUOTE]

I'm not losing any significant amounts of oil, everytime I check my oil (once a week) the level is fine. I do have slight leaks in my FMS, RMS, and cam seals, but they are not major. The coolant that I THOUGHT I lost cameback..........how.......I have no idea lol. Please keep me posted after you get the new ECU installed.


I'm concerned about the compression number on cylinder 6, but that could be due to the engine being significantly cooler when I tested that one. Also........the fact that there was oil in the #6 cylinder on the plug boot, but not on the bottom part of the plug has me both concerned and confused. It makes me confused because the VCG's are not leaking and there is oil in the spark plug galley.....so how oil is getting in has me baffled.

Hopefully Sunday or Monday I can get around to flushing the coolant and changing the thermostat.

soarer13oy

iTrader: (13)

Thats fairly odd to have oil on cylinder number 6 if you dont have oil anywhere else.

Sup2jzgte

Thats what is driving me nuts lol.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Losing oil is driving me nuts! I park in the same spot at home and work and never
see a drop under the car. Does anyone else burn a ton of oil on a stock 2JZGE?

Sup2jzgte

None of you seals are leaking? That is strange