Tony. You've started a couple of threads that have really taken off with your car problems.
I want to try and help consolidate all the information to help you out...
#1)
The smoke.
The smoke could be a number of things.
#1) condensation (no smell, quickly disappears, leaves puddles under the exhaust tips)
#2) burning fuel (smells like gas, is a darker [black] color, can come and go based on RPM, and how much throttle you're giving it.)
#3) buring oil (smells like "burning plastic", is a blue-ish color in the sun light, can either happen at idle, upon first start-up, or if there is a problem it can be constant.)
#4) burning coolant (can push water out of the exhaust of the car at all times if it is a major issue, has white smoke, would be constant smoking)
From your video it appears to be the following:
#1) condesnation - white-ish smoke, disappears rather quickly (oil-smoke can linger in the air for quite a while) and leaves puddles under the tips.
#4) burning coolant (pushes coolant out the exhaust, white-ish smoke, is pretty constant.)
Why its not:
#2) its white smoke, your car is mostly stock and is probably running just fine on the OEM tune. if it didnt have a distinct smell of gas, you can pretty much rule this out.
--KEEP IN MIND-- if you removed your cats on your exhaust, it can cause an un-burned gas smell, cause the car to run rich (causing the smell, as well as the smoke)
#3) it could be blue-ish smoke, but it disappears quickly and you didnt say it smelled "too funny" ... if it were burning oil you would have said "yea, it smells like my car is farting out dead G.I. Joy plastic parts." or something.
Back to what it probably could be:
#1) how to fix it:
drive the car around more. Condensation builds up in the heads, exhaust, and combustion chamber (just ask anyone who's rusted a piston to a cylinder wall. lol) It can also build up in your gas (unlikely based on how you only store the car for a short time -- not years.)
If you drive the car around for hours at a time, multiple times a week, and the smoke completely goes away - you're fine.
You need to heat the engine and exhaust up to the point where the condensation is simply irradicated. This may take a 20 minute drive, opposed to the 5 minute start up in the storage locker.
#4) how to fix it:
This would *most likey* be caused by a cracked intake manifold or manifold gasket. The coolant runs through these parts and if they are failing, the engine is sucking the coolant right into the combustion chamber. Cracked manifolds are *very* common on these 4.6 cars. Especially in the winter, as the hot coolant and engine compartment heats up the intake manifold and the cold air the engine is sucking in from the air-filter is cold.
The gaskets are thick, pressed, rubber. They are cheep and easy to replace.
Inspect the intake manifold visually to search for any cracks, leaks, or whistling sounds.
The first step is to actually diagnose the problem. We can all look at your video and go "oo. ahh!!" but you're the one whos going to have to get his hands dirty.
Option #1)
Remove the spark plugs. Inspect the plugs for damage, rich fuel mixture, and burning oil/coolant signs. The spark plug is a DIRECT diagnostic to the combustion chamber. It's like a little history book as to whats going on in there that simply needs opened and read. read that *****. read that ***** good.
Option #2)
If the plugs come out to show no signs of trouble, check your oil (drop the oil filter. This way you only drop ~1 qt of oil, since your car is in storage) if the oil taht comes out of the filter looks like chocolate milk, we've got problems. If its golden brown, you're golden (har har har) -- keep in mind how old the oil is. If you changed it last weekend, it could still be golden brown but the problem is still there. If its been in the car 8 weeks and its golden brown, then you're fine.
Things to look for:
Chocolate milk color. Black color (IE it looks like crude oil. lol.), glitter streaks in the oil, bubbly/frothy texture.
Option #3)
Inspect fluid levels. Is the oil low? is the coolant low? How often do you have to top them off? Some cars burn through 1qt of oil for every 1,000 miles. That adds up to 3 qts added per every oil change. (WOW!) If you're going through more oil than this, we've got problems.
Option #4)
Inspect the coolant. Open the pet-cock on the bottom of your radiator and snag 1/2 cup of coolant. Is it brown? is it green? what color did you originally put in the car? what color is the coolant in your over flow tank?
Things to look for:
Chocolate milk color. Bubbly/frothy texture.
Next, if all these test come back clean, is to test for the options that are the least likely to be the problem... #2 and #3:
First, we'll check the rings (#3)
go to harbor frieght and buy a compression checking kit. Run a compression check. The size of the numbers it cranks out are important, but the DIFFERENCE from number to number is whats important. You want to run it a few times (most do 3) per cylinder.
Track your numbers as follows:
Cyl1-
AT1: 123
AT2: 122
AT3: 134
Cyl2-
AT1:123
AT2: 112
AT3: 145
etc.e tc. etc.et e.t.ec.
Next, you can do a leak-down test. If you are unfamilure with a leak-down test, just let us know, we can walk you through it
if these test come back solid your rings, your valves, and your engine is in good standing.
This leaves (#4)
Take it to pepboys. ask them to check the check engine light codes. if nothing pops up, good.
The only option *I* know to diagnose this is to take it to a dyno and have the sniffer put on it while the car is on they dyno. Hopefully someone else can chime in with a better suggestion.
If your car passes these tests, its probably condensation in the winter time.
Things we looked for:
Cracked intake manifold (visual inspection, coolant levels, spark plug inspection)
Bad rings or valves (Compression test, leakdown test, spark plug inspection)
bad head gasket (fluid levels, color and texture of oil and coolant, spark plug inspection)
running rich (inspection of spark plugs, running CEL codes)
Additional notes:
The "upper" and "lower" intake manifolds on the 2v 4.6Ls are one solid unit -- "the intake manifold". It is impossible to view the bottom of the unit to inspect for damage or if the water is running down the belly of the intake manifold.
Rings on the pistons swell when they get hot. This could help prevent oil from leaking into the cumbustion chamber once the car warms up. If it stops smoking at normal temperatures, your rings may have swelled. (normal)
doing a head swap is completely in your realm of ability. But before you throw money at parts, diagnose the problem first.
Let us know what you find!
-Chris
I want to try and help consolidate all the information to help you out...
#1)
The smoke.
The smoke could be a number of things.
#1) condensation (no smell, quickly disappears, leaves puddles under the exhaust tips)
#2) burning fuel (smells like gas, is a darker [black] color, can come and go based on RPM, and how much throttle you're giving it.)
#3) buring oil (smells like "burning plastic", is a blue-ish color in the sun light, can either happen at idle, upon first start-up, or if there is a problem it can be constant.)
#4) burning coolant (can push water out of the exhaust of the car at all times if it is a major issue, has white smoke, would be constant smoking)
From your video it appears to be the following:
#1) condesnation - white-ish smoke, disappears rather quickly (oil-smoke can linger in the air for quite a while) and leaves puddles under the tips.
#4) burning coolant (pushes coolant out the exhaust, white-ish smoke, is pretty constant.)
Why its not:
#2) its white smoke, your car is mostly stock and is probably running just fine on the OEM tune. if it didnt have a distinct smell of gas, you can pretty much rule this out.
--KEEP IN MIND-- if you removed your cats on your exhaust, it can cause an un-burned gas smell, cause the car to run rich (causing the smell, as well as the smoke)
#3) it could be blue-ish smoke, but it disappears quickly and you didnt say it smelled "too funny" ... if it were burning oil you would have said "yea, it smells like my car is farting out dead G.I. Joy plastic parts." or something.
Back to what it probably could be:
#1) how to fix it:
drive the car around more. Condensation builds up in the heads, exhaust, and combustion chamber (just ask anyone who's rusted a piston to a cylinder wall. lol) It can also build up in your gas (unlikely based on how you only store the car for a short time -- not years.)
If you drive the car around for hours at a time, multiple times a week, and the smoke completely goes away - you're fine.
You need to heat the engine and exhaust up to the point where the condensation is simply irradicated. This may take a 20 minute drive, opposed to the 5 minute start up in the storage locker.
#4) how to fix it:
This would *most likey* be caused by a cracked intake manifold or manifold gasket. The coolant runs through these parts and if they are failing, the engine is sucking the coolant right into the combustion chamber. Cracked manifolds are *very* common on these 4.6 cars. Especially in the winter, as the hot coolant and engine compartment heats up the intake manifold and the cold air the engine is sucking in from the air-filter is cold.
The gaskets are thick, pressed, rubber. They are cheep and easy to replace.
Inspect the intake manifold visually to search for any cracks, leaks, or whistling sounds.
The first step is to actually diagnose the problem. We can all look at your video and go "oo. ahh!!" but you're the one whos going to have to get his hands dirty.
Option #1)
Remove the spark plugs. Inspect the plugs for damage, rich fuel mixture, and burning oil/coolant signs. The spark plug is a DIRECT diagnostic to the combustion chamber. It's like a little history book as to whats going on in there that simply needs opened and read. read that *****. read that ***** good.
Option #2)
If the plugs come out to show no signs of trouble, check your oil (drop the oil filter. This way you only drop ~1 qt of oil, since your car is in storage) if the oil taht comes out of the filter looks like chocolate milk, we've got problems. If its golden brown, you're golden (har har har) -- keep in mind how old the oil is. If you changed it last weekend, it could still be golden brown but the problem is still there. If its been in the car 8 weeks and its golden brown, then you're fine.
Things to look for:
Chocolate milk color. Black color (IE it looks like crude oil. lol.), glitter streaks in the oil, bubbly/frothy texture.
Option #3)
Inspect fluid levels. Is the oil low? is the coolant low? How often do you have to top them off? Some cars burn through 1qt of oil for every 1,000 miles. That adds up to 3 qts added per every oil change. (WOW!) If you're going through more oil than this, we've got problems.
Option #4)
Inspect the coolant. Open the pet-cock on the bottom of your radiator and snag 1/2 cup of coolant. Is it brown? is it green? what color did you originally put in the car? what color is the coolant in your over flow tank?
Things to look for:
Chocolate milk color. Bubbly/frothy texture.
Next, if all these test come back clean, is to test for the options that are the least likely to be the problem... #2 and #3:
First, we'll check the rings (#3)
go to harbor frieght and buy a compression checking kit. Run a compression check. The size of the numbers it cranks out are important, but the DIFFERENCE from number to number is whats important. You want to run it a few times (most do 3) per cylinder.
Track your numbers as follows:
Cyl1-
AT1: 123
AT2: 122
AT3: 134
Cyl2-
AT1:123
AT2: 112
AT3: 145
etc.e tc. etc.et e.t.ec.
Next, you can do a leak-down test. If you are unfamilure with a leak-down test, just let us know, we can walk you through it
if these test come back solid your rings, your valves, and your engine is in good standing.
This leaves (#4)
Take it to pepboys. ask them to check the check engine light codes. if nothing pops up, good.
The only option *I* know to diagnose this is to take it to a dyno and have the sniffer put on it while the car is on they dyno. Hopefully someone else can chime in with a better suggestion.
If your car passes these tests, its probably condensation in the winter time.
Things we looked for:
Cracked intake manifold (visual inspection, coolant levels, spark plug inspection)
Bad rings or valves (Compression test, leakdown test, spark plug inspection)
bad head gasket (fluid levels, color and texture of oil and coolant, spark plug inspection)
running rich (inspection of spark plugs, running CEL codes)
Additional notes:
The "upper" and "lower" intake manifolds on the 2v 4.6Ls are one solid unit -- "the intake manifold". It is impossible to view the bottom of the unit to inspect for damage or if the water is running down the belly of the intake manifold.
Rings on the pistons swell when they get hot. This could help prevent oil from leaking into the cumbustion chamber once the car warms up. If it stops smoking at normal temperatures, your rings may have swelled. (normal)
doing a head swap is completely in your realm of ability. But before you throw money at parts, diagnose the problem first.
Let us know what you find!
-Chris
![IMG_20140524_152057360_HDR[1]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/0/66-1b90088565df25d76ff5bd73b7f47142.jpg?1623783787)
