Newb - White Smoke

TTank06 Apr 2012, 21:59

Hi Guys

I recently bought a 1993 200sx s13 - my first car 😀
mileage 53000 miles

However about a month and a half ago plumes of white smoke started coming out of the exhaust intermittently, not sure what the problem was I decided to check what I considered the obvious,

The car is completely standard

So far my findings are as follows:
no oil at the tail-pipe
no water/oil mix at the dip-stick
no bubbles in the radiator
After 500km - it needed no oil
After 500km - it tooks around 1.2l coolant
Also it seems somewhat heavy on fuel
Turbo is boosting at 0.5 bar according to the boost guage
Heat guage never goes past half-way
No odd engine/turbo noises - not that I have heard 1 of these before

I haven't checked the ecu for error codes yet but I will be doing that soon,

The smoke plumes are almost random, they occur on some days and not others, and usually occur around 2000rpm, for example, I saw quite a lot of smoke the other day so I pulled the car over and revved up to 4500rpm and no smoke, but as soon as it can down to idle it started smoking again and after 2min at idle - no smoke. Please advise me on what it could be, I am taking it for a cooling system pressure test next week, if it passes that, not sure what to do

thanks

rratadmin06 Apr 2012, 22:06

Sounds like turbo seals

TTank06 Apr 2012, 22:40

Ok - what can I do to resolve ? What are the implications if I do not attend to it immediately?

thanks for replying

ppoizenmoderator07 Apr 2012, 07:49

Hey aiden

As per rat sounds like turbo seals but that would be a lot more constant
Also possible valve stem seals are leaking motor is very old after all

If it is turbo seals it might be a cheaper option to upgrade to a t28 than have the old t25 repaired seen guys here spend close to price of new garrett t28 rebuilding their old t25

There no serious harm your motor won't spontaneously combust or anything just use a lot of oil and embarrassment driving a smoking sports car

Where are you from I'm in the pinetown/ new germany area

Also have you done a leakdown test? My first sx had similar fault where idle would produce some whitish smoke but never anywhere else that I could tell....my motor was down on compression in cyld3 and possible valve seals

But I hope you come right soon and get to enjoy the car to its full potential

SSonOfAnarchy ZAadmin07 Apr 2012, 22:14

PLEASE BUDDY do me a favour DONT DRIVE THE CAR!!!!!!! i had the same problem car smoked every now and then random white smoke my turbo was screwed i drove it another 100km and ran a bearing due to bad oil pressusre dont know if it was due to oil pressusre loss through turbo or what but after that i had to do a complete overhaul just get yourself a t28 or tb28 or gt28 depends on how deep your pockes are but you will need to change the down pipe flange and new oil feed pipe

DDrillergy08 Apr 2012, 01:38

Sup Jason. After the seals go, the exhaust blades rub against the housing causing excessive heat leading to the oil coking and blocking the oil return pipe= pressure drop and bearing knock.

SSonOfAnarchy ZAadmin08 Apr 2012, 10:59

oh makes sense i must say those were expensive seals in the end :facepalm:

ppoizenmoderator08 Apr 2012, 11:40

It would take along time to get to that state

Tho

DDrillergy08 Apr 2012, 17:45

It happened to me after 3 trips but all off them I went off the clock.

And then the blades started polishing the inside of the exhaust housing, then bearings went a
week after that.

TTank10 Apr 2012, 21:48

OK thanks for the heads up - car is going straight to a mechanic and now where else, thanks for helping me save an engine

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