Thick White Smoke on Startup

[lauriedatlen]

Since i bought my car i have had a thick white smoke on startup. It lasts for about 20 seocnds after i pull up and only happenes when i first start it. The car burns oil at about 1-2 litres a week, which is know is probably piston rings. The car does use antifreeze but very little.

My question is that i thought blue smoke is oil burning and white antifreeze but it seems to be the other way round in my car.??

Ps I have checked and the car is not leaking oil or antifreeze its just burning oil (Very Quickly). I have changed the oil, all filters and the parkies Any ideas?.

Also if the piston rings are gone then is it just a simple case of getting them replaced becuase i know a mechanic who will only charge me ?20 an hour for labour??.

Thanks

Laurie

[Novadave06]

my brother has a Corsa Gsi motor and that smoked in the morning and he also used ****ing loads of oil and it ended being his bottomend and his piston rings .....

Dangermouse

[lauriedatlen]

God i hope it aint piston rings. Its def white smoke and it smells bad. The smoke dies down after i pull away and then comes back when i get to a stop but not as think as when i first started it. Its burning a fair amount of oil. Ive heard oil burning can be alot of different things like oil seals, piston rings or even valves. Sureley about a litre of oil a week means more than just busted seals right??

Any help would be apreciated

[SRlew]

piston rings. mine does it.

[Nazza's Nova]

mines the same ive got a 1.6 16v in my nova and it use a fair amount of oil a week mine puffs blue and black i no that the blue is oil and i think the black is just the sut off the night before lol

u just wanna pull your engine out and put a bigger lump in thats what im gonna be doin next i got a C20SEh to go in next out of a calibra

[lauriedatlen]

Thought it might be rings. My mechanic said it would be ?120 quid plus the cost of the rings. Is that a gud price???. Also is it likely to have caused any more damage??..

Any more help would be appreciated

[SRlew]

i dont think it does any damage tbh. it just looks bad lol from the smoke etc

[lauriedatlen]

Mite be worth getting done then. I spose its worth getting the head gasket changed as well right. Does ?120 plus parts sound like a gud price??

[Asa-James]

if he can do it for ?120 i'd go for it, but see how much extra he'll charge for the valve stem oil seals while the engines in bits

[lauriedatlen]

nah hes a gud bloke. We take all our cars to him and weve known him for years. He doesnt rip ppl off. How much r valve stem oil seals then, there only seals they cant be that much right??

[Asa-James]

i dont know how much individually, but i got a full head gasket set (with all manifold gaskets etc) for ?18 and they were included, theyre just a bit of a bugger to swap!

[stafford]

white smoke is burning water blue is burrning oil as we all know.
i think hg is on its way it prob leaking onto pistons while its standing

[Lee]

bingo, white smoke definately isnt rings. Id say head gasket too, have you checked your header tank for sludge?

[lauriedatlen]

No sludge in header tank. No mayo stuff on oil cap or no water on oil dipstick. I thought head gasket at first but then checked everything above. Car burns like 1 litre of oil a week so much be rings surely???. Also smoke is def white.

Any help wuld be appreciated.

[SRlew]

yer i would have it was rings, as XR2's suffer from it and its always white smoke

[stafford]

by the way it will take longer than an hour to change the rings pal wat engine did u say it is

[lauriedatlen]

Who mentioned it would take only an hour. That ?120 was for four hours labour.

[Lee]

Oil burns blue. Very blue! White smoke indicates water getting into the combustion chamber. This can be caused either by a HG on the way out (but this will normally show itself by pressurising the water system and filling it with exhaust fumes, contaminating the oil with water, or a missfire due to the seal between two cylinders breaking down) OR you may have a cracked head which is leaking water into the inlet tract, which would let water into the engine without contaminating the water system with exhaust fumes.

TBH, its quite rare for that to happen, and normally the only cars to puff a lot of white smoke are when a turbo blows and lets water into the inlet via the turbo. Obviously, this isnt the case with you!

[lauriedatlen]

Thanks for the info mate. It just seems wierd that mine is white smoke def and it burns a litre of oil every week without fail. How could that be???

[stafford]

could be also leaking water and oil

[lauriedatlen]

but ive only topped the header tank up twice in 4 months

[Lee]

Are you absolutely sure its white smoke?

[lauriedatlen]

100% def white smoke with a burning sort of smell, fairly strong

[tom_beverley]

Mine is burning a bit of oil and water, but I know my piston rings arent the best since last time I had the head off!

When I start mine up it sometimes smokes a bit and looks more white than blue. Also when I'm not moving there is a bit of white smoke.

My water seems to go faster than the oil, usually uses a header tank full every 2 weeks. Its had a recent headgasket and there isnt any sludge or any signs of the gasket going so I was wondering where all the water was going!

Checked for leaks aswell, but still no sign!

I hope I havent got a cracked head, can 8v heads go porous like 16v ones???

[Lee]

Ok, id do a compression test next, or take it to your mechanic and see what he thinks, but dont rip the block to bits unless your sure thats the problem. if it is, it would probably cheaper just to pick up another bottom end rather than have yours repaired.

[Lee]

I hope I havent got a cracked head, can 8v heads go porous like 16v ones???

I doubt its gone porus, but its very possible the heads cracked, these heads are old now, and you cant always be sure of their past. If its overheated a few times in its life, its not too hard to imagine that its cracked somewhere.

A crack test will tell you for sure.

[SRI crazy]

blue smoke is oil
white smoke is head gasket
black smoke is fuel if dats any help 2 ya