Hey everyone, I picked up my AE86 (bluetop motor) and it was said that it was recently overhauled but the exhaust is smoking white. Another thing I found was that there was a bit of fuel on the spark plugs when I removed it. I dont know if its these things or something else...

1) not burning gas efficiently
2) too much gas in the cylinders
3) bad cylinder compression
4) coolant has somehow leaked into the combustion chamber


Can anyone help me diagnose? Thanks!

Is it cold where you live ? Have you checked to make sure it is not water
vapor coming out the tailpipe and looking like smoke ?

Cheers... jondee86

jondee86 wrote:Is it cold where you live ? Have you checked to make sure it is not water
vapor coming out the tailpipe and looking like smoke ?

Cheers... jondee86

It’s definitely not cold here...and it let out white smoke in neutral, then in first and second gear, kinda went away, then when I brought it back into the garage at neutral, it wouldn’t stop pushing out white smoke.

If it doesn't burn off early while warming up and stay clean after, probably coolant. Synthetic oil burns a bit hazy at times, but coolant smells sickly sweet.

Check the oil cap and dipstick, look for chocolate milk.

With the car cold pull the radiator cap and look for the same.

Youd see similar in an oil change (milky vs just dark but still clear) if there's coolant in the oil.

If you have milky coolant or oil borrow a friend and a compression tester, odds are you'll find a cylinder low.

So the car didn’t have a cat converter so I added one. Also, after I drove it for about an hour or so, there wasn’t anymore white smoke. I’m gonna check later when the engine is cold and crank it back up but with these additional facts, could it have been that or still probably coolant...

yabaiani wrote:So the car didn’t have a cat converter so I added one. Also, after I drove it for about an hour or so, there wasn’t anymore white smoke. I’m gonna check later when the engine is cold and crank it back up but with these additional facts, could it have been that or still probably coolant...

So I just turned the car on this morning and a ton of white smoke came out. I checked the radiator cap and the dip stick and didnt see anything.

If you don't have oil in the water or water in the oil, then either you have
coolant leaking directly into the cylinders OR it's not coolant but oil that you
are burning. If you have coolant leaking directly into a cylinder, it is very
likely that you have a blown head gasket, and low compression on at least
one cylinder. The engine may run unevenly and vibrate.

If the engine blows a decent cloud of smoke when you first start it after
the car has sat overnite, but it stops blowing smoke once you start driving,
then you could have leaking valve stem seals.

If you run down a long grade in gear with your foot off the gas, and then get
a big puff of smoke when you first hit the gas at the bottom of the grade,
then you most likely have ring sealing problems. Typically this occurs on very
high mileage engines, and in severely worn engines you will get smoke when
you take off after stopping at a give way or traffic lights.

If your spark plugs are black and greasy you are burning oil. If they are dry
and covered with black soot, you are running rich. Maybe that will help to
narrow things down

Cheers... jondee86