[Guest]

Any help will be appreciated.
Info:
87 Supra Turbo 5sp
Overheated once in 94
Engine rebuilt
Problem:
Every time I start the supra up, it smokes white!
It ran fine until now, its been sitting in my garage for several months. Just had the oil change b4 i crank it up again, radiator coolant, check gauges, vacuum, etc. all checked for leaks..
Anyways, What could be wrong? I’m not leaking coolant..
Most everyone is telling me its my coolant leaking into my engine?
How can that be when i'm not leaking coolant...

 

[SupraTrbo]

you running synthetic oil? Synthetic oil burns white. Valve guides are probably goin. I am running mobil synthetic and on a hard run i get white smoke inbetween shifts from a turbo goin bad.

 

[Guest]

valve guides going bad?

you running synthetic oil? Synthetic oil burns white. Valve guides are probably goin. I am running mobil synthetic and on a hard run i get white smoke inbetween shifts from a turbo goin bad.

no, i m not running synthetic oil. anyways, i don't think my turbine is going bad, cuz i check it, removed it and spond the turbine, its free as free willie can be... anyways, how does the valve guides goes bad? how does it produce the white smoke? what is the valve guide going bad have any association with the white smoke? if that's it, how much is it to fix it? parts? labor? or can i do it myself? thanks for all the help.

 

[SupraTrbo]

the valve guides guide/seal the valves in the cylinder head. When they get old like in most of our MKIII's they leak oil when....say you car sits overnight. This accumulation of oil overnight will cause smoke upon start up in the morning (burning of the oil leaking past the valve guides). I've never replaced valve guides or even got a quote on labor.....how many miles on your car by the way? Also i might add my turbo spins freely as well.....it still causes my car to burn oil on a hard run. hense me being almost a quart low on oil just before 3000 miles.

 

[Guest]

Have you checked your HG?maybe a leaky one.
"USUALLY"...not always...white smoke is burnt collant(Sp?), while blueish is burnt oil.

 

[Guest]

What?

Have you checked your HG?maybe a leaky one.
"USUALLY"...not always...white smoke is burnt collant(Sp?), while blueish is burnt oil.

ok.. what is hg?
anyways.. i talk to some mechanics here in town and they told me that if i have white smoke with steam coming out then its most likely the coolant got into the engine...
if i just only have white smoke without steam, then many things, from head to piston rings..
so.. i m kinda lost here. u guys telling me its the valve seals? white smoke = coolant, but i m not losing coolant level.. what else could it be? i think there is steam or its just the concrete moister...
anyways, my supra has over 130K on it. it was rebuilt in 94 cuz it overheated.

 

[Guest]

HG= head gasket Have you had it replaced in the 130k of your car if not it is almost deffinatly coolint leaking in to your engine. it is not to labor intensive if you know how to work on your car but if you are not a gearhead like most of us you might have a problem.

 

[Guest]

my bet is on a loose head gasket, just tighten that sucka up a little...

 

[SupraTrbo]

well, all i asked was if he was running synthetic. Synthetic does burn white and not bluish. But since he isn't running synthetic is is most likey a small leak in the headgasket. And like was mentioned before......coolant burning will cause steam to come out of your tailpipe. Use your hand to see if you get any water accumulating on your hand from the exhaust. If you do it is a sure bet that your have coolant leaking into the motor.

 

[89Sup]

It's probably your valve seals 24 valves a couple are bound to leak, upon fire up some smoke and after that it's o.k. right? My next bet would be on the turbo seal starting to leak my last bet would be your head gasket (hg). It's not hard to do I've done it to my car and friends as well. Buy a manual and do it your self takes about 9hrs total labour over a couple of days cause you got to have your head shaved email me if you want more details.

 

[Guest]

It's probably your valve seals 24 valves a couple are bound to leak, upon fire up some smoke and after that it's o.k. right?

well.. i don't know if it’s the valves or not but when i start it up, it smokes and continue to smoke forever and more.. haha
something that just happened today was its either misfiring or detonating.. cuz i m hearing a pinging noise now.. i m now also losing oil pressure.. my visual inspection confirms that oil was leaking from the valve gasket(top part) and that i have vacuum leak now.

My next bet would be on the turbo seal starting to leak my last bet would be your head gasket (hg). It's not hard to do I've done it to my car and friends as well. Buy a manual and do it your self takes about 9hrs total labour over a couple of days cause you got to have your head shaved email me if you want more details.

i m pretty sure that the hg was change cuz i had the engine rebuilt in 94.. they have to change out the hg cuz it overheated.

i want to redo everything if i have to pull the head out. what do u guys recommend? where do i start? how do i start? have anyone of u guys done this b4? if so, wat m i looking at $$???
also, how much power can i squeeze out of this sucker?
thanks.

 

[LordSpinal]

It's probably your valve seals 24 valves a couple are bound to leak, upon fire up some smoke and after that it's o.k. right? My next bet would be on the turbo seal starting to leak my last bet would be your head gasket (hg). It's not hard to do I've done it to my car and friends as well. Buy a manual and do it your self takes about 9hrs total labour over a couple of days cause you got to have your head shaved email me if you want more details.

This is probaly correct. Do you notice the white smoke only when you start the car in the morning or after it sits for a while. What happends with valve seals is they slowly leak. When your car sits for a while oil builds up and is burned out when started. If it continuously flows white smoke I would probaly call it a feature and its beyond me (BHG)

 

[LordSpinal]

well.. i don't know if it’s the valves or not but when i start it up, it smokes and continue to smoke forever and more.. haha
something that just happened today was its either misfiring or detonating.. cuz i m hearing a pinging noise now.. i m now also losing oil pressure.. my visual inspection confirms that oil was leaking from the valve gasket(top part) and that i have vacuum leak now.



i m pretty sure that the hg was change cuz i had the engine rebuilt in 94.. they have to change out the hg cuz it overheated.

i want to redo everything if i have to pull the head out. what do u guys recommend? where do i start? how do i start? have anyone of u guys done this b4? if so, wat m i looking at $$???
also, how much power can i squeeze out of this sucker?
thanks.

I think everyone here has done HG

 

[turbotoy]

...Use your hand to see if you get any water accumulating on your hand from the exhaust. If you do it is a sure bet that your have coolant leaking into the motor.

This is not a good test at all. Water (in vapor or liquid form) is a bi-product of combustion - it will be there when the engine is functioning properly. I would suggest getting a test kit from NAPA or Snap-On that allows you to test for hydrocarbons in the coolant. This is usually a very good indicator of a BHG. Another test is to taste the coolant - it should taste sweet. If it is bitter tasting it has been exposed to exhaust gases - this method takes more experience though.

Have you done a compression test? You can also perform a leakdown test and check for any air bleeding into the coolant system.

If you find you do in fact have a BHG, I recommend to stop driving the car immediatly and fix it. The contaminated coolant will very quickly errode the head and cause many other problems.

 

[Guest]

i haven't done a compression test yet but i will as soon as i get the tester from a friend's shop.
as for as the hg leaking, could it be just loose, that i might just need to tighten it up. anyways, i m going to get the hydrocarbon tester and see wat happens.
o yeah... how do u do a leakdown test and check for any air bleeding into the coolant system? thanks for all help.

 

[SupraTrbo]

This is probaly correct. Do you notice the white smoke only when you start the car in the morning or after it sits for a while. What happends with valve seals is they slowly leak. When your car sits for a while oil builds up and is burned out when started. If it continuously flows white smoke I would probaly call it a feature and its beyond me (BHG)

thats what i told him before....

 

[SupraTrbo]

This is not a good test at all. Water (in vapor or liquid form) is a bi-product of combustion - it will be there when the engine is functioning properly. I would suggest getting a test kit from NAPA or Snap-On that allows you to test for hydrocarbons in the coolant. This is usually a very good indicator of a BHG. Another test is to taste the coolant - it should taste sweet. If it is bitter tasting it has been exposed to exhaust gases - this method takes more experience though.

Have you done a compression test? You can also perform a leakdown test and check for any air bleeding into the coolant system.

If you find you do in fact have a BHG, I recommend to stop driving the car immediatly and fix it. The contaminated coolant will very quickly errode the head and cause many other problems.

But it wouldn't be as much as if you were burning coolant.

 

[turbotoy]

Another engineer once told me an average car produces about a gallon of water per hour under normal operating conditions. Is he using a gallon of coolant per hour? For a minor head gasket leak that additional water is going to be near impossible to detect in the exhaust using the method you suggested. Now for a major head gasket failure that's another story. He stated that he is not using any significant amount of coolant which is why I suggested what I did. As you mentioned, it could very likely be an oil leak as well - sythentic oil and coolant are hard to tell by color alone, though the smell should make it obvious.

If you have coolant entering the combustion chamber, that means that more than likely one of the copper combustion chamber sealing rings has failed. At this point, tightening probably isn't going to help at all.

As far as the leakdown test goes, you need a leakdown gauge from Snap-On, etc. or you could make your own using fittings and some hose. You basically use compressed air to pressurize the cylinder via the spark plug hole. If the head gasket is blown you should be able to see bubbles in the coolant system. If you have blowby in the rings you will be able to hear/feel air out of the crankcase breather, and if you wanted to check for proper valve seal you can listen/feel for air in the intake/exhaust when the corresponding valves are closed. With the gauge you can pressurize the cylinder to a certain pressure, and record how long ti takes for the pressure to drop to a certain value. It's a very useful test. In the same fashion you can perform a leakdown test on the cooling system as well with the right setup.

 

[SupraTrbo]

ok ok...i understand now.

 

[LordSpinal]

ya boy is [email protected]