mega smoke from the wee c14, what is it?

[Tomm]

hey,

This isnt nova related but i am not getting any reply on migweb so i am hoping someone can help me here. I have just copied and pasted the whole lot :)

My cousin has just got a Tigra off of the dreaded Ebay and i went over to see it today.

All is well but the car is throwing out a large amount of white/grey smoke so let me describe this to you.

The engine is a ecotec 1.4

The car smokes very very little on idle and the car idles at 1k very well. As you put your foot down it chucks a large amount of grey/white smoke out the back which has a very strong smell, there is also a small amont of fluid which comes out, this has no smell or texture at all, pretty much that water.

So

The car has been sat, untouched for 3-4 months as far as we are aware, the exhaust system from the cat back looks relativly new and although it looks new it sounds a bit raspy? It is not blowing in any way shape or form.

My instant thought was a dead H/G, I checked the oil and all is very clean and golden with no form of mayo the engine sounds asthough it is compressing well and the car puls very strong all the way through the rev range.

Due to the rasp in the exhaust i thought that maybe the cat was dead?

The engine warning light has flicked on once or twice for a split second, i thought this may be due to the lamba sensor reading the amount of **** which is coming out in the exhaust.

As i say compression seems good, the car pulls hard all the way through the revs and the oil seems clean.

Any suggestions?

[Jon_nova1]

How long was the car running for? the engine should be let to fully heat up as its been sat for months, there will be alot of water in the exhaust

theres a couple of ways the h/g can go, it can go between the water and oil ways, which would give you mayonaise the exhaust doesn't neccesarily have to smoke from this, it can go from the water/oil ways to the cylinders, which would cause white smoke for water, or blue smoke for oil

I'd say its either water vapour in the exhaust, or the hg's gone,

are you losing water?

[Tomm]

thanks for the reply.

The car was left to heat up to a decent temp before driven anywhere, it was driven about 30 monutes home and then the engine was left running. all in all the car had been running about hour before i see it and it was smoking a lot.

The car is not loosing water at all as i made a point of checking this. The water however was a strong tea colour which i pressume is from where the car has sat for 3 months and its gone manky in the gallerys.

Like i say there was a small amount of water which left the exhaust. i would say about 15ml worth over the period of 45 minutes it was running.

I hope it is water in the exhaust!

How can i tell if its h/g failure? i have constant power and compression seems fine? if i had a dead h/g wouldnt i have a huge lack in power? and a higher engine temp?

[Jon_nova1]

has it got an expansion tank? run a compression test with the expansion tank cap off (not for too long though as its designed to be pressurised) if the hg's going it will cause a vacuum, without the cap on it may distort the readings enough for confirmation, you may also get a change in what comes out the exhaust i.e, more white smoke

it should overheat, as water boils at a higher temperature when its pressurised, if theres no pressure, the water should be just shy of boiling point

the only thing to do if theres still no signs is run the engine till something happens, unless someone else has a suggestion?

[Tomm]

to be honest i didnt look for a expantion tank.

Is running a compresion test my only real option? or run the car till it ****s itself?

[Jon_nova1]

If the compressions fine, and your just getting white smoke (which could still be from water vapour) then it can only be assumed the hg's fine, you can always change it as precaution

I remember driving a car home once, the hg was on its way out, I only knew because the owner told me, he said it overheated after long runs, i got it 2 miles down the road and plumes of blue smoke came out of the exhaust....thats when you know its gonelol

[Tomm]

I will suggest he gets it compression tested then, i thought this was the only was the only way around it, What readings should i be getting?

there seems to be **** loads of smoke for it to just be a bit of water thats built up in the exhaust?

the smoke doesnt seem blue but it has the horrific HG smell :(

[Jon_nova1]

no idea tbh, someone with 1.4 should be able to say, but all cylinders should be within 10PSI tolerance

[AlexW]

Ofc it has a expansion tank. Blukhead next to the battery.

If its been sat and its blowing out water/steam then i say do a few miles in it, at all rpm, give it a bit of a trashing now and then (once warm) and see if it gets better, if it gets worse it could be HG.

My nova chucked out loads after it had been sat, just took a nice run out and it all cleared.

MY tigra had been sat for 6months without being run, again it cleared after 50 ish miles.

Oh and it could be another problem too, EGR, if the EML comes on after letting of throttle its a sure sign, funny exhaust smells can also be symptions so im told.

[Tomm]

I figured it had a expantion tank, i just didnt look for it is what i meant!

Thanks for your help! Its the same colour as yours aswell!

I will get a Compresion test done on the car, it curretly has no MOT so will this **** that pumps out of the back fail the emision tests?

Thanks again for all of your help!

[AlexW]

The mot tester may chose to not test it due to the smoke, but it shouldnt fail.

Just run it a few times.

[Tomm]

Thanks, we will take it down for a MOT on thursday and hopefully it doesnt come back with anything to bad!

I really do hope its where its sat for so long, i just cant understand why there is such a strong smell!

[AlexW]

tbh mine had a bad smell too. Good luck with the mot.