Smoking

[Funkstar]

I was sat outside work earlier today waiting for a guy that I give a lift to get his ass into gear.

After 10 mins or so with the engine idling the exhaust started blowing out a lot of smoke. No odd colour to it just normal grey smoke, but clouds of the stuff.

As we left and had drove half a mile or so I pulled over and checked again but by now it was fine and was clear all the way home.

Anybody know what could have caused this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[shooter]

are you sure it was not just water vapour

Shooter

[richy rich]

was it smoke, or more steam kind if smoke.
as i get this when cold.

[Funkstar]

More of a smoke. Tended to linger unlike steam that dissipates. What scared me was the amount of it, almost covered the whole car. There was no dripping water from the exhaust as you sometimes find.

[wirdy]

Condensation - that'll probably be your cat just coming up to temp & burning off the moisture.

[Funkstar]

Thanks for all the replies guys, hopefully thats all it will be.

[bradc]

It could have been oil burning, I remember a friend of mine overfilled his car with oil and every time it sat there idling, tons and tons of white smoke came out. This happened for about a week until the oil had burnt off

[mpau009]

Hate to say it, but it sounds a lot like my brothers mazda familia, the head gasket was just starting to go, and he got a thick white/grey smoke that poured out for a few minutes when it warmed up. There was a tiny leak in the gasket, so when you drove for a while, with the engine getting hot and cold, it sucked a little bit of water into one of the cylinders. Which meant sometimes it was there, but then you go to show someone, and it stopped and ran as normal. until the next morning, when it had cooled right down, and sucked in a little more.

Might be nothing, but if it gets more frequent, or your coolant levels go down over a week or two, it might be that. Otherwise hopefully its just condensation as the others have said.

If it persists, it might be worth looking at your front three sparkplugs to see if there's any contamination, as thats how they found it with his car?

[Crickle]

I was driving behind a car the other day that was pluming with black smoke, couldn't see or breathe!

[Funkstar]

I was driving behind a car the other day that was pluming with black smoke, couldn't see or breathe!

Cheers Crickle.......



Actually, thanks for bringing this alive again. I still have this problem, but less frequent than usual since my last oil change, so the over filling could have been what caused it.

It tends to happen more so when I'm in a queue and the AC's on. It does tend to look like water vapour though as it clears really quickly.

Not a problem, just thought I'd add to it since its been brought back from the dead.

[serenity88]

It's turbo related, seen it before. Been the cause of many a rip off by dodgy grease monkeys!!
Just a little bit of the black gold in the turbo, get out the strobe you've got yourself a real special effect!
get into some engine flushing and treat the oil with a ceramic additive or something similar!
Make sure your using good turbo grade oil too! Do your home work on your lubricants, dont trust the big boys cause they'll only sell you moonshine at champagne prices!
There are some real good internal polishing agents out there!

[Eurospec]

I think that is more thank likely condensation burning off, particularly so if you have a big exhaust.

When you burn a hydrocarbon you get CO2 and water. That and loads of wierdy chemical stuff is what comes out of your exhaust all the time.

Normally when the car and exhaust are hot then the water is toally vaporised and it gomes out as a pure gas.

If the exhaust is cold, or cools, and you then sit idling or what have you with little hesat input into the exhaust it will get to the stage where the water vapour starts to condense. as it approaches that temp, you will actually see the steam. You will notice it more on a day when tehre is high humidity in the surrounding air.

Hope that helps,

Cheers,

Ben.

[Crickle]

Cheers Crickle.......Actually, thanks for bringing this alive again. I

Oops, sorry, I'm a bit behind with catching up on posts and end up anywhere random. Hope you manage to sort your smoking problem soon

[Wodjno]

Read the comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYavZdqL1k

[Funkstar]

Read the comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFYavZdqL1k

Haha, nice one Glen. Now thats what it looks like. Cheers pal, that's put my mind at rest.

[Funkstar]

Oops, sorry, I'm a bit behind with catching up on posts and end up anywhere random. Hope you manage to sort your smoking problem soon

No probs Crickle. Thanks.

[Dexxx]

I also have this problem. I noticed this one night, it was traffic and when glanced on my side view mirror I saw smoke puffing out from my muffler. I could see it clearly since the light from the car behind me illuminates it. It very much visible in the night. I have some coolant problems...could that be it?? HAALP!

[You See]

Once moving and you push the loud pedal, do you get a puff of smoke then or just on idle?
Could the symptoms just be a case of carbon build up in the Cat/Muffler? ..I know, so naive of me!

[Dexxx]

EVEN ON IDLE...IT'S SMOKIN! I'm a bit worried...it's a 2nd hand car. No service history. But the dealer told me they just had it's oil change. Engine sounds good though. I'm wondering if any1 could tell me what type of oil should I use?? I know it should be "FOR SERVICE SE" or higher but what is the proper SAE Viscosity number? It says it depends on the atmospheric temperature. Ours probably around 28-36C? So will I be using SAE 20W-40? I'm asking this as it may relate to the cloud of smoke my muffler's been puffing out. What brand of oil is good? I 've seen AMSOIL around these forums, but Im not sure if they are available here locally.