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Billowing white smoke out tailpipe
Topic Started: Oct 8 2013, 05:22 AM (17,711 Views)
omniminded


Just bought this Geo, it is my first. Did considerable repairs on it right away. A few days ago (post repairs) the Geo began billowing white smoke again after driving on the freeway for awhile at the 70 mph speed limit. I got off the freeway and drove the rest of the way at 40 - 50 mph. That seemed to stop the smoke. I don't yet know why it did it this time. It did this prior to repairs driving home having just bought it. After driving for awhile at freeway speeds it began billowing white smoke out the tailpipe. Eventually it stoped that time.

The repairs included replacing these parts (I'm listing the parts that I think would be potential culprits):

  • Valve Cover Gasket
  • Oil Pan Gasket
  • PCV Valve
  • Air Filter
I mentioned this problem in my Introductions thread and had the following suggestions from Woodie

Woodie
Oct 7 2013, 05:40 AM
Your oil pharts are most likely from worn out or ill fitting rings. Could be stuck rings, could be that the "rebuild" consisted of a hone job on an out-of-round cylinder. If your PCV valve and the hose that connects to it are good, and clean, then you've got too much pressure in the crankcase and that's usually rings.

Oh yeah, maybe they left out the oil restrictor when they had it apart.

Oh yeah again, 70 mph is quite fast for this car. You may want to keep it at 65 or less.

My response was

omniminded
Oct 7 2013, 07:02 AM
I did not know that about keeping it 65 or less. I will make a point of it. Shouldn't be hard as I seem to naturally find myself cruising at 65 when on the freeway and going faster has required I pay extra attention to giving it that bit of extra throttle.

I will ask my mechanic friend about the oil restrictor. I doubt he did, he's remarkably attentive and treated it like it was his own.

I still need to check with my mechanic friend who did the work.

The piston heads are gummed up pretty badly due to serious oil leaks in multiple locations. Could the gummed up piston heads possibly have anything to do with it billowing white smoke from the tailpipe?

Other possible causes?
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sphenicie


"keepn' it 65 or less" ? this has no relevance to oil farts. period. unless you have another contributing issue.

I have 2 that I run, and I aint no feather foot, total of just under 600,000, on these two, not a single OF between them.
with the 3.52 in Barney I can run at 65 in third, all day, aint going to fart.

and then......there is the professionally built fresh engine in the vert. still less than 700 miles. it is undriveable.

all three engines were built by the same builder.

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geogonfa
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Did your mechanic do a compression test?... it sounds like the piston rings could be the problem, like Woodie stated...
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jonathan180iq
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Not Really All That Smart

Maybe I'm overlooking something, but the color of the smoke usually says a lot about what's going on. Are you certain the smoke is white, or is it bluish gray?

Is it pure white or does it have some black in it?

Quick fire response is that there is moisture coming out your exhaust. That's either old build up, or you need to check your coolant level and see if you're losing coolant as you drive, which is not awesome.
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truckjohn


White smoke is usually a head gasket....
Quick check.... Start up the engine COLD - how long does it take before the radiator hoses pressurize? If it pressurizes inside of 1 minute - suspect a blown headgasket....

When the engine is hot - it will puke coolant like crazy... till the rad is like 1/2 full....

If you haven't looked yet - pop that radiator cap and take a look-see... If you don't see fluid.... head gasket....

If it was going great before you went out on the highway... Suspect that the root cause of blowing it was either a bad thermostat, a bad radiator, or both.... I found the bad Radiator... Cause was from a Previous Owner using some sort of stop leak product... and it clogged up HALF of the radiator...... Engine hot, coolant circulating - Left half of rad was cold, right half hot....

Likely someone trying to hide a blown headgasket to sell the vehicle.... They create 5 new problems and never even fix the real problem...

Thanks
Edited by truckjohn, Oct 8 2013, 10:37 AM.
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Old Man


No matter where it comes from WHITE smoke is water -- BLUE smoke it oil -- BLACK smoke is gas.
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jonathan180iq
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Not Really All That Smart

Exactly
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JADEDSL2
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Resident WraithSlayer

Old Man
Oct 8 2013, 12:21 PM
No matter where it comes from WHITE smoke is water -- BLUE smoke is oil -- BLACK smoke is gas.
FIFY :gp :thumb
Edited by JADEDSL2, Oct 9 2013, 01:33 AM.
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sphenicie


it aint water that appears in a 1/4 mile long white cloud that hangs in the air and stops oncoming traffic.

and covers the inside of the TB in oil.

P.S. there is ZERO coolant loss, and about 3/4 quart of oil loss. further, water don't smell like burnt oil.
Edited by sphenicie, Oct 9 2013, 07:26 AM.
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jonathan180iq
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Not Really All That Smart

sphenicie
Oct 9 2013, 06:59 AM
it aint water that appears in a 1/4 mile long white cloud that hangs in the air and stops oncoming traffic.

and covers the TB in oil.
When the head gasket blew on my 2001 Mazda MPV, that's exactly what it was. There was an oily mist covering everything in the engine bay, but the majority of the stuff was coolant that blew itself out the back of motor. I literally completely fogged up 4 lanes of traffic and everyone had to wait for the smoke to clear before they could continue driving. It wasn't embarassing at all... I felt like :'(
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sphenicie


interesting.....they are called OIL FARTS, not coolant farts.
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truckjohn


Oil does not give you white, billowy smoke...
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jonathan180iq
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Not Really All That Smart

sphenicie
Oct 9 2013, 06:59 AM


P.S. there is ZERO coolant loss, and about 3/4 quart of oil loss. further, water don't smell like burnt oil.
Can't you lose oil into the cooling system, which would essentially replenish the coolant level while still being burned off?

It's just that if you were only burning oil then it wouldn't be white. If it's thick, white, and billowy then you're burning something other than oil - not to say that there can't also be some oil in there. But it's a high concentration of water.
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truckjohn


So.. What happened to our OP? I figured he would be the one coming back around to answer questions we are asking... unless I am missing something and Sphenicie is our OP in disguise....

Do you now have the car from the OP Sphen?
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omniminded


truckjohn
Oct 9 2013, 12:55 PM
So.. What happened to our OP? I figured he would be the one coming back around to answer questions we are asking... unless I am missing something and Sphenicie is our OP in disguise....

Do you now have the car from the OP Sphen?
OP here.

I haven't replied yet because I don't have answers yet. I had the idea of trying to get it to smoke again while bringing a passenger to capture it with my video camera in good daylight. I'm pretty sure the color has been white.

It has been giant, long puffs which have hung in the air and scattered the drivers behind me. As to the more mechanical questions, I've messaged my mechanic friend and have discussed it with him some, but nothing worthy as feedback to this thread yet. I'm working on getting more feedback but all this mechanical car stuff is not a subject I've much understanding of so please bare with me. I'll have better feedback, as soon as I can, and I am really wanting video of the smoke to be certain of it's color. I know it's not been black or gray, I'm pretty sure its been white, but I want to be sure there isn't any blue to it.
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