White Smoke but Good Compression?

siardica

Dumb Blonde
Long story short, '95 Teg GSR water pump exploded many months ago, engine overheated impressively but not undrivably so. Replaced the timing belt, water pump etc. and it's felt really low on power ever since, plus the gas mileage has gone down. Occasional white smoke from the exhaust with burning coolant smell inside -- but not consistently, only every so often. Obviously suspected a busted head gasket and finally got around to compression testing... 190, 190, 200, 190 psi. Stock engine, 16 years old, I'll take it. BUT... my spark plugs were really loose. Not the wires, the plugs themselves. Torqued everything down and the power feels better, but I'm still seeing white smoke on acceleration off and on this afternoon. I'm... sort of stumped at this point. Any suggestions?

**Edit: Plugs and oil cap look completely clean and normal, by the way.
 
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Crash861

New Member
Try a cylinder leak down test.That is a more accurate way to round down the problem. Also could be the valve stem seals leaking. Head gaskets can do all sorts of leaking when hot and cold that can throw you off. Run the leak down test cold then hot.
 

Crash861

New Member
Is the smoke blue?how does the oil and coolant look?do you have to fill up one of them from time to time?
 

siardica

Dumb Blonde
LOL@T-nasty -- if it were just white smoke with no other ill effects, I'd shrug and say "Honda!". She definitely runs rough though and has major dead spots in the power curve. Sure doesn't feel like a solid 200 psi in all cylinders...

Various dudes -- it's not oil smoke. I've got a very slow leak around the cam cap seal, but it's not even enough to notice a difference in oil level between 3 month changes. Oil looks like it ran through a 215k engine, but no fluids mixing or weird colors. Same with the coolant.

BT -- there's no rhyme or reason to it. It doesn't smoke on start-up and it doesn't smoke constantly... just sporadically while driving.

I'm wondering about possible PCV valve issues, though I wouldn't think that would cause sporadic smoke, and the ECU shouldn't have any trouble correcting performance-wise... myyyyyysteeeeery Teg.
 


Prozon

Kris
There are no check engine lights are there? I might suggest throwing a set of new spark plugs in as well as the other various tune-up things. It could help the power a bit.

My guess it that your oil control rings could be getting worn and letting a little slip past and burn off when you're accelerating. I could be wrong though.

Does it overheat or is it just a matter of lack of power / white smoke?
 

siardica

Dumb Blonde
CELs? That'd be easy... ;oP Nope, no lights. Thinking about replacing the plugs regardless though, since they're not staying torqued (kinda disconcerting).

The thermostat's currently out pending my having time to cram my hand back into that tiny space to remove the one stupid lower bolt and replace the old sticky one, so it runs icy-cold. This was a problem before I pulled the stat though.
 

3Axis

mothaf*cka...
That parts fun. Especially when those housing bolts call for a torque specification. How one gets to torque those without using a dozen universal joints--I don't know.
 

Prozon

Kris
My hand is a torque wrench. It's damn good too. :thumbs up

Replacing the plugs could help you more then you think. But keep us updated.
 

siardica

Dumb Blonde
Bah, I'm a delicate flower -- hands as torque wrenches result in uberly sore thumbs the day afterward =oP

Supposedly the engine was rebuilt about 55k ago, if you believe the ricer seller who had no documentation for the car... it's in good enough condition that I'd buy it (er, well, I did buy it, literally), if it weren't for the fact that I had to replace the water pump. Who rebuilds an engine without replacing their water pump?
 

Prozon

Kris
I wonder what he means by rebuilt, maybe he took it apart and put it back together and said he rebuilt it? Lol.
 

mirrorimg

Well-Known Member
So over a two week period...

The oil level doesn't change.
The coolant level doesn't change.

Is this what I am capturing from your posts? If something is coming out of your tailpipe (in great amounts, such as billowing smoke) then it is either coolant (white) or oil (bluish). Your fluid levels would decrease over an extended time period, and you would be able to tell what it is.

I for one am burning oil since my build. Lots of scoring in my cylinders, letting oil seep by the rings into the combustion chamber.
 
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