4K White Smoke

[1dirty30]

So I recently noticed that my 4k is producing white smoke when I start it up and sometimes when I rev it when its warm. Unsure if just needs a good service or somthing is actually wrong with it.

[ke70dave]

White smoke is not a good sign.

 

Are you losing any coolant?

[altezzaclub]

..or are there any bubbles coming up the radiator outlet when it first starts?? First thing in hte morning take the rad cap off before you start it, fill the rad right up then start it and let it idle. Bubbles come up after a few minutes and push water out.

 

Starts on 3cylinders then catches the 4th??

 

Same thing Dave is getting at, white smoke is often water vapour from a head gasket leaking.

[1dirty30]

so had a look at it. no bubbles, i watched it for a good 2 minutes and the coolant was still touching the cap of the rad. + it starts fine.

in saying that. there was no white smoke this morning.

[altezzaclub]

That's good, so the gasket is fine.

 

Oil smoke should be blue-ish, over-rich is black, white is water vapour, so I suppose its just the cold weather making it more noticeable. A service shouldn't affect it, change the oil and filter, check plugs, points, & timing,... would you do it yourself?

[KO 10]

Could be valve guide seals too when the motor is left over night a small amount of oil passes by them and settles on the piston and with the first stroke up it'll send out a white puff then clears quite quickly the cool mornings will make it more noticeable plus the rings maybe on the worn side if the smoke is visible after it's warmed up

Just my thoughts though from the same experience

[1dirty30]

OK. so to update. burning a fair amount of oil at the moment. no white smoke, no bubbles in radiator.

had a read online. could it be the PCV? or a piston seal? what would be the signs of this?

 

unrelated note. Rarely while I'm driving the car will jump from say 3000rpm to 4000rpm for a split second (according to my taco).

[altezzaclub]

Rarely while I'm driving the car will jump from say 3000rpm to 4000rpm for a split second (according to my taco).

 

I'd say the tacho jumps but not the motor... 4Ks don't "jump" in revs at any time!

 

burning a fair amount of oil at the moment. no white smoke, no bubbles in radiator.

had a read online. could it be the PCV? or a piston seal? what would be the signs of this?

 

If a faulty PCV was bleeding air/oil vapour from the crank to the inlet manifold it would affect the idle speed a lot.

 

If the compression rings are worn/broken then compression will bleed down into the block and yes, the PCV will burn more oil vapour. Compressions will be low on a compression test.

 

If the oil rings are worn then oil will go up into the cylinder and be burnt out the exhaust, causing that hazy blue smoke when you acclerate. The compression test may be normal if the compression rings are still OK.

 

So, how many Km per litre of oil??

 

What compressions on the cylinders??

[1dirty30]

for kms to oil. unknown. will do a test.

i will get a compression test done in the next week and give an update from there.

 

with the jump in rpm. i can hear it in the engine. it sounds like it cuts out for a split second.

[altezzaclub]

with the jump in rpm. i can hear it in the engine. it sounds like it cuts out for a split second.

 

Ah, OK- a plug misses a firing so one cylinder has to be jammed up on compression for no gain? That gives a quick misfire/cutout. If the compressions are low or the oil is getting up into the cylinders that will give it a midfire too. Check how clean the plugs are when you have them out for a compression test. If you go driving first to warm them up and don't let it idle before you turn it off you will get a better idea or how oily they are when running.

 

You might as well buy a compression gauge as they are fairly cheap and you'll use it planty of times over the years.

 

Maybe the coil/points/condensor take out a couple of firings that drop the revs more. That would be more noticeable as it kills several firings in succession. If you fiddle with the wiring while its running can you make it do it?? ..and the next time it rains at night take a look under the bonnet if you're driving. That's the ideal time to see green sparks jumping everywhere as leads and coils break down.

 

Carb problems are usually slower acting on the revs and usually repeatable.

[1dirty30]

Over a 200km trip I lost about 3-4 ml of oil acording to the dipstick.

[altezzaclub]

So that is 3-4mm down the dipstick? About half a litre? The Girl's KE70 would use that in 1000Km trip up to Qld, and my Gold car doesn't use oil.

 

See what the compression test says, if the oil rings are not great the compression could also be poor. It would be nice to have 150-160psi on all cylinders. 130 would be very worn, and any one low cyl would suggst a broken ring or burnt valve.

[1dirty30]

okay so no compression test as yet. (My mechanic said that i should replace the spark plug seals and rocker cover gasket) I was having a nosy at my spark plugs and found this:

 

 

 

i assume that they are meant to seal at the bottom of the plug, but this is from cylinder 1 and the other 3 are not much better. i will replace these and the seals around them and see if that makes a difference to the oil loss. then back to the compression.