Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 12:46 pm, by: Sami Ansari(Thesaint)
Hey everyone just thought I would try and get other peoples opinions on what is going on with my soarer.
After reading the hundreds of posts on the forum about grey/white smoke, I am beginning to get worried about my soarer.
I bought my soarer in late March, the soarer previously to my ownership had spent a lot or majority of the months before my purchase in storage at a workshop getting work done (as you can see in my profile)
Pre - purchase everything went well, no problems and no smoke ... however it was in need of a tune for the Power FC as car was running on a very quickly modified base tune
So, since March it has barely been driven (started driven around block and back into drive way) due to me knowing it needs a tune (of course ill be going to Cihan for this) also I figure that due to not having been driven in such a long time, it needed all its fluids and plugs changed and even battery etc to be safe. (check profile for what will be used)
Put new huge Century battery in, and started the car up to take it to get serviced today, drove fine etc. except for the whitish smoke that I began to experience when i came to stop at traffic lights. I continued and babied it to the workshop.
Now after reading all the stuff on this forum I beginning to get worried that there could be major problems with it like a blown head gasket :S, valve stem seals etc.
Should I be worried or the fact that it has probably very old engine oil and low/old coolant combined with basic tune be contributing to this
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 04:41 pm, by: Sami Ansari(Thesaint)
Hrmm ... ok well it turns out i need a new radiator and top hose they pressure tested it and said it wont hold coolant, im not sure if this is related to my smoke problem or whether it is completely unrelated Strange though ... I would have thought there would be a leak if this was the case for a radiator but ive never seen any coolant on the ground
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 06:32 pm, by: Charlie Ters(Ul05st)
i think you should be running at least 5/50 mobil 1, remember the factory recommendations are for JAPAN weather (snowy) and not Aussie weather, i reckon the oil is overkill.... my 2 cents anyways, if the problem continues with mobil 1 5/50, try hpr 10...
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 08:59 pm, by: Sami Ansari(Thesaint)
Yeah I have read through practically any post that has the word smoke in it ... and from what I can tell thicker oil usually will help ... but not guarantee or solve anything i.e. band aid fix
hrmm okay ... will ring the workshop tomorrow first thing and let them know ... the only mobil 1 i can find is 15-50w .. so ill see how it is with that
Still think my radiator failing is a bit suss ... when I havent experienced or seen any leaking from it ... could this be related to the smoke -- water/coolant leak leading to smoke ... maybe thats why havent noticed any external leaks
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 09:55 pm, by: Daniel Clarke(Dieseltrain)
Could be a Blown Head gasket?
If the radiator is in bad condition, there is a chance the engine has been cooked before. This would give whitish smoke in the form of burning coolant ( ie heavy condensation).
But hopefully its just the oil grade and maybe install some new spark plugs.. They could be fouled and not working properly.
Thursday, September 27, 2007 - 07:03 pm, by: Sami Ansari(Thesaint)
Got the car back today
No issues with any smoke, apart from on start up (but thats a mixture of condensation and the fact that its running rich)
Engine oil is mobil 1 (10-30) they had already put it in when i had called. I think that the problem was the radiator that had comletely had it and obviously on its final legs (so it was replaced). This and a combination of extremely old engine oil lead to my smoky experience.
Anyways im happy it wasnt anything serious, now all that is left is too get my power FC tuned by Cihan on friday ... will be good to see how it goes