Smoke from Exhaust when driving at high speeds - Dead motor?

[1971Ginger]

I am noticing a large amount of White smoke coming out of the exhaust when I am driving on the freeway or at speeds above 55 mph or 3000 RPM.

If driving 55-65mph I will ease off the gas and press it a second later and will see a medium cloud of smoke leave my exhaust however I will keep my foot down and once the cloud leaves I don't see any more smoke until I depress the gas pedal again and press it. This sounds like bad valve guides seeping oil.

At higher speeds 65-75mph, I notice smoke coming out no matter what when my foot is even on the gas slightly.

I have good power and pep from my motor so it doesnt seem like its on its last leg but how bad would it be for me to drive the car in its current state.

Do I need a rebuild the motor to fix this issue? Does the motor have to be pulled from the car to do the valve guide rebuild? How much time and money would one be in for if they wanted to do this themselves?

Thanks in advance,

[eurotrash]

If its that bad, it most likely the rings. On deceleration, its the valve seals. so.. both? I'm going with, YES, it needs a rebuild.

Pull the plugs and post a pic of the business end.

[tylerPYTHON]

White smoke commonly means you have a coolant leak/water getting into the combustion chamber. Most likely bad head gasket with antifreeze seeping into the cylinders from the capilaries passages. Check to see if your vehical is consuming coolant. Do you hear hissing sounds from the engine? Check your oil for discoloration, if it is brown, you have coolant/water in the engine block and possible bearing damage. Unscrew the radiator cap, remove one spark plug and put air into the cylinder (make some tight fittings), if you see bubbles in the radiator, you have a head gasket leak. Try all the cylinders. Good luck.

[tylerPYTHON]

Also, I forgot to mention, if you caught this quickly enough, the damage would be minimized and you could get away with just doing a head gasket job. Which a DIYer could tackle on a weekend for cheap.

[eurotrash]

White smoke commonly means you have a coolant leak/water getting into the combustion chamber. Most likely bad head gasket with antifreeze seeping into the cylinders from the capilaries passages. Check to see if your vehical is consuming coolant. Do you hear hissing sounds from the engine? Check your oil for discoloration, if it is brown, you have coolant/water in the engine block and possible bearing damage. Unscrew the radiator cap, remove one spark plug and put air into the cylinder (make some tight fittings), if you see bubbles in the radiator, you have a head gasket leak. Try all the cylinders. Good luck.

Drat. I did even think of that, without the word steam involved..

Still, oil burns whitish.

Does it smell sweet or acrid?

[tylerPYTHON]

Give the exhaust a smell (in a well ventilated environment If it smells like burnt oil it could be worn rings etc, but if it smells fresh it might be the valve guides/seals leaking into the exhaust. But if it is plumes of white smoke my bet would be on a coolant leak.

[1971Ginger]

Thanks guys, Il post a pic soon. The exhaust smells ok but I do note a lot of water vapor exiting exhaust when car is started in the morning. this goes away after its warm. the gas smells ok at idle but on the freeway the smell is of common exhaust not oil.

[roadhog0]

Thanks guys, Il post a pic soon. The exhaust smells ok but I do note a lot of water vapor exiting exhaust when car is started in the morning. this goes away after its warm. the gas smells ok at idle but on the freeway the smell is of common exhaust not oil.

My car with a good headgasket and both my pickup trucks put out lots of white steam in the morning when cold. Especially my big block chevy, but still that's normal for cars. Water condenses in the exhaust and then is evaporated again when it's running. The concern though is the amount of water or oil getting into your oil while running at highway speeds.

[Guest_anonymous]

Do some diagnostics; compression test, leakdown test, look at plugs, test the coolant for exaust gas. You'll have a good idea of what you're getting into and narrow down some trouble indicators before you strip it down.

Daron

[Mike Self]

and being "burned" with your gas. With the engine fully warmed up and the exhaust pipe tip hot to the touch, place a paper towel over the exhaust pipe and let the engine idle for 30 seconds or so.

If the paper towel is damp/wet and you can smell that sweetish coolant smell, you have a head gasket or eroded water passage problem.

cheers

mike

PS--really white smoke can also be brake fluid from a master cylinder that's leaking into the power brake booster and then being sucked into the intake manifold by vacuum...

[Gurmail]

Engine oil burns "BLUE" NOT WHITE. If you don't see blue smoke, your rings are not the concern.

From your description, you're beginning to see the early stages of a blown head gasket. White smoke in the mornings or immediately after starting a car is normal, due to water condensing in the exhaust. But, after running to normal operating temp, white smoke should dissipate. If it continues through normal operation, check your head gasket.

Blue smoke is very subtle because oil burning through the rings is usually very slow and at a much higher temp than water. If you notice any hint of "blue" smoke, then you're concern should be the rings. Otherwise, like Mike advised, place a paper near the exhaust tip after the engine has reached normal operating temp and see if the paper get abnormally wet. If it does, then consider looking to changing your head gasket.

[eurotrash]

Smoke? Steam? That's what we need to discover. We can't call them by the same name. Water = steam. Oil = smoke. If it leaves a trail behind you, it's smoke. If it vanishes rather quickly, it's steam.

Making me crazy.

[eastsidebimmer]

My white 68 made lots of blue smoke on take off and decel. People didn't enjoy driving behind me. Then over some time, and possibly after my engine kissed red climbing the hills of Appalachia on the way to vintage 06 I started noticing white, especially after long periods of idle--it would billow like a locomotive then burn off. Shortly after that, I crunched it in 08 and just replaced the engine as a part of my restoration. The amazing thing is that engine ran beautifully and made gobs of power. Borderline indestructible it seems. Long live the M10.

[schwartzerritter]

Brake fluid????? could be find where youare down on fluid Collant, brake fluid or oil and go from there . You gotta be down somewhere.

[emmetHK]

i've noticed smoke when downshifting or when the rpms exceed 3500-4000 (not sure exactly at what point this occurs, but basically when i push the car a bit harder).  It isnt a lot of smoke, but enough to take notice in the rear view mirror before it dissipates.  Im not sure if i would consider the smoke to be either blue or white...more like grey...

anyone out there know what this might be a symtom of?  Any thing i should go and get checked out?