white smoke, what could it be?
 

hey guys i got on my gt today at about 5,000 rpm and I looked in my rear view miror and I saw white smoke. And then the day before I was driving and I pulled off to the side of the road and stuck my head out the window looking toward the rear and a little bit of white smoke drifted toward the front. My check oil light has came on before and I put oil in it. My dad said it could be a head gasket or it could be a ring in the piston, but I dont have a clue what it could be. Does anyone here have any idea what this problem could be? Input on this would be greatly appreciated.
thanks guys

I tell you what, dude, that usually means only one thing: coolant is entering the combustion chambers somehow. Pull and read your spark plugs, they'll tell you which cylinder(s) bit the dust. After that, a compression test could be in order, as well as inspecting the condition of the coolant. Possible causes are ususally head gasket failure, cracked heads, cracked block, or I've also seen a leaking EGR spacer gasket (after all, there IS coolant going through that spacer, right?)

Remember, this is if it's WHITE smoke, NOT blue. Good luck.

I have been running TFS TW heads for about 5 years now. I love them, and I would recommend you try these before putting money toward an AFR. These guys are good, but not great. The TFS is great at low RPM and solid at upper RPM. If you want really fast, the TFS R style heads will net you 1.7 hp per cubic feet on gasoline which pretty much puts the AFR's to shame. So do not get caught up in hoopla, spend some time understanding the physics of an engine.

If you blow white smoke do a compression test, and if you have the equipment, do a leak down test as well. Write down the compression numbers and store these for future reference.

Now pull the intake manifold and carefully inspect the intake gasket. I have sucked in a bunch of intake gaskets in my lifetime. If the intake is the problem, great! You are out 20 bucks for a replacement set. Buy a gasket set that is appropriate for your intake manifold and take the time to port your intake manifold to match the intake gasket. This will get you at least 10 horsepower.

If you run a carb, DO NOT POLISH the intake. Polish the intake only if you have fuel injection.

Button up the new gaskets and fire the engine. Remember you will have coolant sitting in your piston rings. It will take two to three minutes to burn this off. So be patient. Run the car at 2,000 to 2,500 RPM for at least 3-5 minutes. If the white smoke is still there, it is time to pull the head because you have a cracked block or a blown head gasket.

If you find a blown head gasket, try the new graphite head gaskets. They seal great, but are hard to clean up if you need to replace these in the future. It is worth the extra cleanup to run these. Call Aldridge Motorsports at 503-284-8484 if you want a set of these. You will love them.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST. IF YOU BLEW A HEAD GASKET YOU ARE RUNNING LEAN. You need to jet up, or carefully inspect your injectors or oxygen sensor. FIX THIS OR YOU WILL BE REPEATING YOUR EFFORTS.

Feel free to email me at jim_howard_pdx@yahoo.com if you have any other questions or concerns. I am happy to throw in my 27 years of experience in high power engine production.

Go forth and conquer!

I'm having the same problem on my '82GT as we speak.
Does it have to smell like coolant for there to be coolant leaking somewhere because mine is white smoke but it doesn't smell like coolant.

I now say it's definatly a head gasket becaus that's waht's wrong with mine. I found that out tonight.

82 gt how did you find out that that was the problem? Did your car seem to use more oil than usual? I hope thats all thats wrong with mine,, I really hope its not something inside the engine.

ummm. i always understood white meant oil, blue meant coolant.

did i learn wrong?

Yep, you did learn wrong. White smoke is coolant and blue is oil.

When my coolant was low for the second day in a row, my dipstick was milky and I found coolant on the #5 spark plug.
That was enough to convice me.
I started tearing the engine down do to the head gasket job and found coolant in the lifter galley when I removed the intake.

Smoke colors
 

I think this is how the colors of exuast smoke go:

Blue: piston rings bad
white: water getting in the cylinders
black: running to rich or burring oil

check and see it the exhaust is puffing watter drips
check the oil and see if theres just oil in it!
check the radiator level and also see if theres oil in it
check to see if your motor uses oil

(replace the head gaskets) :) :) :)