Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

Alright.. So while i was out getting high smelling my exhaust and trying to figure out what color it is.. I would like to know.. If it was coolant.. Would it be like pure white smoke?..Judging by what i was looking at.. My exhuast is blowing out a sky blue looking color smoke.. So i assume thats oil right? It smells like someone was burning toast.. Then when i rev it.. The color turns into a medium gray looking color.

Can anyone identify these smoke colors?

Also, How the hell do you remove the exhuast manifold bolts? Its like impossible to get a socket wrench down there.

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

Is the smoke continous? May have a combination of oil and coolant. White smoke is would be water/coolant and blue= Oil. Trying to get the header bolts off the stock manifold is a pain especially on the p/side. I used a combination of socket and closed in wrench. I can’t remember what size mm wrench to use on the bolt. I do remember that there was a tab (stock exhaust manifold) that would prevent the bolt from coming out so make sure you move it out of the way.

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

This is what the smoke does.. Starts up and gives out a nice puff.. Then itll stop and itll be perfect.. no smoke whatsoever.. Then about 20-30 seconds later.. A blueish smoke starts slowly coming out.. More out of the driver side exhuast then passenger side.. and at that exact same time.. Smoke starts coming out of the driver side exhuast manifold in the engine.

I replaced the leaking valve cover gasket yesterday and its not leaking anymore.. I still believe the manifold gasket is blown to pieces but i cant get the damn bolts out.. lol.

Im pretty stumped on what the smoke could be.. No blown head gasket sympoms are coming out.. Oil looks like black coffee.. No oil in coolant tank.. Runs very good.. no troubles starting up.

My smog pump is frozen and i believe the 02 censor is shot.. Dont know about the cat. coverter.. dont know if replacing those things would improve the issue though..

BTW.. The smoke isn't really that heavy..

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

maybe im crazy but i just use a ratchet to get them off. I forget the size but crank on the front and front-mid one, then use a small extention on the back-mid and then for the back use a knuckle and 2 small extentions to get to it, fairly easy stuff just annoying to get to. This is the only car where changing the exhaust gaskets too me more than 30 mins lol

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

I wish it was that easy.. Im going to give it another try after i let the WD-40 soak in.. I got one bolt loose but the others are giving me trouble.. lol.

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

it's a head gasket issue almost definitely. you have oil burning, it's gotta be leaking into the combustion chamber somehow.

Btw, black oil is oil that wants to be changed, badly. :)

The o2 and smog would only effect how much fuel is being pushed out the tail pipe. You'd be able to tell the difference between burning oil and unburnt fuel. Fire out of the tailpipes is another telltale sign :)

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

of if its a matter of you not being able to break em loose get a breaker bar, or put a box end wrench over the rztchet for more leverage and pull, theyre on pretty tight

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

I really dont think the head gasket is the problem.. What i was thinking is maybe the valve seals are shot and oil is just seeping right through.

Usually if the head gasket is blown.. There will would be some symptoms right? Oil is fine.. engine runs strong.. Nothing is wrong.

One thing though.. Is when it starts.. There is a semi loud ticking noise.. It sounds like a card on a bike tire.. Usually lasts around 30 seconds.. What does that mean?

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

thats the exhaust leak we told you about, once the metals heat up they expand and close the gap eliminating the leak. replace the gaskets

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

aha.. I got the exhuast gaskets right here but ill probably need stitches in my hand once i get done with replacing them. :P
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Also.. Say i do have a messed up head gasket.. Is there a detailed guide around here that tells you how to replace a head gasket?

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

are you loosing much coolent? do you see oil in the coolent or coolent in the oil (commonly described as a milkshake in terms to apperance with bubbles).

headgasket replacement is much friendlier on third gens... it was a pain on my mustang.


how long have you had this car?

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

My coolant has been at the same level for the week that i've had the car.

Oil looks fine.. Does it actually look like chocolate milkshake or is that just a term? I looked around in my coolant tank and don't see any traces of oil

Ive had the car exactly a week now

I was looking around at the heads and the head gasket looks like its pretty easy to replace.. Maybe im just tripping? Lol. or is it really harder then it looks?

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

Also.. I got some more info.

I took off the air filter and all the stuff on top so just the carb was exposed.. Started it up.. Started idling around 750 rpms.. There was barely any smoke out the exhuast.. I was like wtf.. I still have my smoking engine exhuast thing but the exhuast tip smoke almost dissappeared.. And a guy here said it smelt like unburnt fuel.. It started to smoke alittle more once i reved it up pretty good

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

couple things, first good luck with the gaskets, once you get them going its a breeze, little tip, do not remove the bolts fully, it will help you out later, loosen them until you can pry the manifold out about an inch, which will take a pry bar and a bit of force, open it just enough to get the gasket out and then pull the old one and drop the new ones onto the bolts

Second the oil in the coolant would turn i like a brown and looks the same as when you pour veggie oil into a pot of water "bubble like" floaters except like milkshakey brown. You'd see it plain as day lol

As far as the smoke out the pipes go and the rich smell... id say check your filter and replace if necessary, then try to tune your car an AFR gauge would help but those are a bit pricey, just tune it and it should help a bit

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

heads are pretty straight forward to remove, so thats not a big issue. if you arent loosing a noticable amount of coolent (i dont know how much it is running or how much you are driving it), i doubt it would be a headgasket, especially if you dont see coolent in oil or vice versa.

here is what i would do...

1. do a compression test (gauge is like $30, so not a big deal). that will tell you alot of things about the engine. you can identify a cracked head gasket by a compression test. ie, if you have low compression in two adjacent cylinders, it may be bad between there.

2. I would get a fuel pressure gauge. also cheap, and a necessity, but make sure to get a liquid filled one.

3. I would follow the instructions on here for a cheap air/fuel ratio (AFR) reading. http://www.hardtail.com/techtips/carbtuning.html its not as good as a wideband, but its cheap and will do just fine.

4. Change fuel filter.

5. pull plugs and take a look at them.

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

Last night i was bored and i was looking at many videos of peoples cars with blown head gaskets on youtube.. Im now 95% sure mine isn't blown.. The white smoke on those videos was so white and thick. Then i looked at some videos of cars with burning oil.. And that is what mine resembles a bit.

impaled:

Im going to run up to an auto store later on hopefully and get a compression guage.. Still not sure on how to use it properly though. :P

Re: Smoke Color and coolant question..
 

Could a blown intake gasket cause the smoke out of the exhuast?

Could. So could a cracked head.