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White Smoke..where to start.


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After a 6 week lay up due to a new knee ! I thought I'd get a few last trips in the TR6 whilst the weather was reasonable.

Prior to putting her in the garage she started and drove without issue.

However on starting and for a few miles until warm, white smoke from the exhaust ( not condensation).

All seem to settle down but on acceleration slight smoke and a slight misfire as if the timing was out.

Pertronix electronic ignition fitted about a thousand miles ago.

Where to Start ?   knowing the great depth of knowledge within the register I thought I'd ask the question.

Regards

Phil

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I would say the same. also check vice versa, means your coolant for oil in it. take a sniff at the radiator cap, sometime the coolant smells like an exhaust. An feel the pressure of the coolant-tubes. They could be stiffer/firmer due more pressure from the engine. 

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Could be water if you have a head gasket on the way out but usually this would be followed by overheating.

Could also be brake fluid weeping into the servo and getting into the combustion mix via the vacuum pipe.

Diesel contaminate fuel?

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56 minutes ago, Phil H 4 said:

All seem to settle down but on acceleration slight smoke and a slight misfire as if the timing was out.

..For my pre-decimal ha'penny's worth  : Black smoke is said to indicate burning oil,  and white smoke is said to be steam or petrol.   You say it's not condensation so the remaining element to come out of a TR's exhaust  is unspent petrol.  The symptoms described in the sentence above would not contradict this.  But as I don't know if you have a carburettor or PI car it's daft for me to  speculate probable causes like the choke not being off fully (even if it's knob is fully pushed in).   Of course if one spark plug wasn't firing then perhaps you'd have noticed this, but not everyone with a six might..  however it is one simply explanation for unspent fuel in the exhaust pipe , and so white smoke and an occasional misfire on acceleration. 

I'd never heard of brake fluid being drawn from the servo and in through the manifold, but then that's possibly because my old cars are not generally sophisticated enough to have servo brakes.  However,  if there's enough brake fluid being burnt ..to produce viable smoke "on starting and for a few miles until warm",  then surely you'd notice that in the brake pedal - no ?  

Hope that might help.  Pete.

 

Edited by Bfg
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Thanks all for the prompt responses.

So possibly the head gasket will check as suggested, no overheating but didn't go too far and have a secondary electric fan fitted.

If its brake fluid I assume this would show up in the vacuum pipe.

 

Hi Pete, it's a PI.

New HT Leads and plugs look ok but haven't check individually for spark.

 

So a number of possible causes to investigate tomorrow.

Definitely not Diesel contamination.

Given the amount of white smoke for the first mile or so unspent fuel could be the culprit...I hope...would this reduce as the engine warmed up ?

Might be coincidence but she was running great until left to her own devices for 6 weeks.

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45 minutes ago, Phil H 4 said:

Thanks all for the prompt responses.

So possibly the head gasket will check as suggested, no overheating but didn't go too far and have a secondary electric fan fitted.

If its brake fluid I assume this would show up in the vacuum pipe.

 

Hi Pete, it's a PI.

New HT Leads and plugs look ok but haven't check individually for spark.

 

So a number of possible causes to investigate tomorrow.

Definitely not Diesel contamination.

Given the amount of white smoke for the first mile or so unspent fuel could be the culprit...I hope...would this reduce as the engine warmed up ?

Might be coincidence but she was running great until left to her own devices for 6 weeks.

When did you last refill the tank?  Could this be a symptom of aging fuel?

Peter W

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Hi Phil,

are you sure it is not just condensed exhaust gas (I see you think it is not). It is quite a bit colder now than 6 weeks ago, at least here. The slight misfire could be due to the weeks of non-driving. Long shot, I know, and  yes, I’m an optimist.

Regards,

Waldi

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White smoke -fuel? 

When I had problems with the choke or the metering unit of my PI the smoke was always black, never white.

the light smoke at acceleration was also white?

Otherwise I am with Waldi. Today I made a testride (another story) , it is pretty cold here, it took much longer until the car ran smooth than the weeks before.

Edited by Casar66
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Hi Phil

Think your right another test drive first.

For what's its worth I think its condensation give you didn't drive her far, it colder and you say she has a slight miss-fire. Get her red hot and see how you go. Fingers crossed.

Andy

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Hi Andy, if the grey smoke is anything to do with Petrol then I would check the spark plugs first and try a new set. There have been a lot of complaints about NGK plugs recently and I have just binned one from my 4A for causing an erratic tickover. If that does not resolve the issue then just to rule it out I would try removing the electronic ignition and reverting to points. Whatever you decide to do only change one thing at a time and then retest, otherwise you won't be sure which change fixed the problem.

Chris

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Glycol antifreeze burns to white smoke. It persists longer after exiiitng the exhaust pipes than condensed steam.But in this weather steam can persist longer too. head gasket leak will also pressurise the water jacket so check rad overflow.

Peter

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... and this is what Evans waterless coolant and a blown head gasket looks like! There were drops of moisture on the inside of the oil filler cap and emulsion inside the radiator cap.

Tim

20170725_154702.thumb.jpg.b893a92eb7600ed15f49c7866922e75a.jpg

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Hi Tim , looks if she's having a cuban cigar or vaping, hope all's sorted now..

Update.

No emulsion in radiator oil filler caps.

Plugs all look fine, slight overheating on cylinder 6 plug if i was being critical.

No apparent loss of brake fluid, or contamination or gain in radiator overflow, oil pressure good.

Choke control fully closed.

 

Test run will have to wait...we don't do rain if we can help it.

Phil.

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Phil,

All sorted eventually. Everything appeared in order so I replaced the gasket, torqued the head and drove the car. Retorqued after 500 miles.No more smoke, but still moisture in oil filler, traces of CO in radiator and small amount of emulsion. Removed the head again and everything still looked OK, fitted another new gasket but this time with new studs and nuts, torqued and retorqued - job done!

... and has been fine ever since!

Tim

 

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