White Smoke?

ok so this afternoon i auto started my car. went out in my garage an messed around with a few things. my car was outside. but it sounded like a helicopter with the rumbling sound of the exhaust. i said thats strange maybe theres just a helicopter nearby. so i went to open the garage door an could smell gas. went to go look at my car an white smoke was pouring out of the exhaust. so i ran over an cut it off. after it was cut off the smoke was still pouring out for a good 15 seconds. i knew it was just a matter of time before something went wrong. my car has been spitting out black carbon for the past six months. i always thought it was jus runnin rich or somethin. so i first thought it was the head gasket. checked fluids an the coolant hasnt dropped any. an plus it would smell like coolant instead of gas. also my oil pressure is good. even tho it burns enough that i have to put 1/4 of a quart in between oil changes. so what do u guys think this is? maybe the engine block gasket or something?

white smoke is generally coolant. I'd check your oil for bubbles, and you coolant for yellow crap.

Excess fuel is black and oil is blue.

But the other things don't really point towards a head gasket leak...I dunno. So all your fluids are normal?

coolant level is near the full mark. oil im assuming is good because i just had an oil change last week. but its a very strong gas smell coming from the pipes. so strong u can smell it about 25 feet away. ill take a pic here in a few of the smoke coming out

now its more of a rotten smell rather than gas.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y190/stealthmodifier/100_4153.gif
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y190/stealthmodifier/100_4154-1.gif

i went to look at a stealth and it had the same problem exactly.... i hope u figure it out

a couple hours after those pictures i went to start it up to show my dad an see if he knew what was wrong. and it didnt smoke. but after about 10 minutes or so it started to smoke a little. he said he thinks it could be something like the timing being off?? but im gonna drive it around a little bit tomarrow an check to see if theres any significant drop in the coolant or oil level. but im taking it to my mechanic first thing monday morning. but some1 on 3si asked me about the compression. do u think bad compression would cause this?

when i was shopping for a 3/s, i looked at one that was smoking sort of like that. The guy said it was the valve guide seals. i will add that this guy turned out to be a complete moron about the 3/s platform, but anyway, mayby thats a possibility?

when i asked someone on 3si about this they told me it could be the valve stem seals....he said its like a $90 fix when you do it yourself...

an the heads gotta come off too eh? i jus drove it around the block a few mins ago an the check engine light kept comin on at low rpm. it was blowing a good amount of blue smoke during acceleration during the first few minutes then stopped. then would do it sometime if i revved it up.

Well I doubt it's valve seals, because the smoke would be blueish, and I have never heard of a rotten/gas smell associated with that.

Definantly pull the code for the check engine light. THat will tell you the issue alot quicker.

A rotten smell could be your cat going bad, it would smell like rotten eggs, and could cause smoke. Gas smell on the other hand, sounds like a gas leak, or an evap/charcoal canister issue.

can they pull a code even if the light goes off?

yep, it's stored, as long as you didn't disconnect hte battery.

its a valve stem leak. im gonna go ahead an change the timing belt since its due. i bet imma have fun on this one. i guess just mark the belt an cams that way i know exactly how to put it back on an transer the marks of the old belt to the new one. ill check on stealth316 an see what i come up with. lata

OK. so i just replaced the valve stem seals, timing belt, water pump, power steering an a/c belts. put in new spark plugs an replaced the coolant. started her up an it smoked like crazy. id have to say about 10 times worse than the pics above.check engine light came on again so i cut it off. checked the code and its code 14- injector. says check harness and connector-injector coil resistance. so is any1 familar with this code??

You mean code 41? I was googling it and it says 14 is throttle position sensor:

http://www.stealth316.com/misc/scanmaster3_manual_1.pdf

You probably have a injector that is stuck open... I am not sure how you would figure out which one (maybe while it's running start unplugging one injector at a time and see which one has the least disruption to the engine idle...)

how do i unplug the injectors? u mean the plug right on the top of them or somewhere else? i dont see how i could unplug the back ones. i barrowed the manual from the dealer an did a couple things an checked the resistance of each one with the car off. the front 3 an the rear far left reads 13 ohms. while the back 2 on the right read 28. 13-16 is within spec, so they are far away. so im guessin my problem is with them 2. i also took it for a drive, nothin over 35. an the car would about die when i come to a stop an would shake hard back an forth. the motor has a rubling feel to it. also when i was on my way back i was taking off easy an i couldnt see anything out of my mirrors, thats how bad it was smoking. i think i should just pull all of them out an have them all tested. if they are fine then im assuming its somethin in the harness.

Good point... I forgot that the intake covers the back 3 and they do not plug into separate harnesses on the source side...

It would probably be the best solution to take then all out and have them checked since it wouldn't be that much more work then taking 1 of them out...

http://www.stealth316.com/2-injectors.htm

I'd first check the harnesses. Sometimes when you remove the plenum one of the harnesses can get knocked loose. See if you can just make sure they are all connected properly. It could also be an injector stuck open. If you had a datalogger you could pinpoint which it was, and then swap it with a good cylinder, and see if the problem cylinder changes. Those are the 2 most common causes. Other than that, it could be wiring in between or the ECU.

But start with the harness and the injector. This is the same problem, kinda, that I've been going through, except OBDII's codes tell you which # injector is the problem. Good luck.

ok i took all the injectors out an imma have them tested. checked the resistance off the plugs in the rear an they read 13ohms. they were all plugged up right but i couldnt see any damage to the wires. and what exactly are the injector coils?

but anyways i checked the timing an it was waay off. it was reading like 30 degrees. weird cuz the CAS was turned so it was retarded to the max. but i had to turn it to advance it while it set it back about 15 degrees since the manual says set ignition timing to 15 degrees. but it seems to idle better than it did but it still smoked like a mofo. i also burned about 1/8 a tank in 15 minutes of idling.

i have found the problem.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y190/stealthmodifier/a1e5734c.gif
.
so i guess my 2 choices are send it in for a rebuilt or throw out 700 for a new one?

Damn CAPs!

Makes me glad that has already been taken care of on my R/T.

Wouldn't sending it out to have the CAPs redone be less? I know there are people on 3Si that do it for a descent price.

yea. i looked closely and the one at the top left has done the same damage as the bottom one. i found out just replacing the caps wont fix it since it ate up the circuit board. i might get the one off ebay that doesnt require a core.

check the FAQ. www. avpro.com

do u know how long of a wait it would be to send it to them?

They are ridiculously fast. check their website, I think it's like 2-3 day turnaround, lifetime warranty for only $275 or so. If that doesn't work, you could try www.car-part.com and search for another ECU, I found one for me for $100 shipped, and then just buy replacement caps for $5, and ask somebody who knows what htey are doing to swap them for $20.

i found a place that has a 91 stealth an there gonna sell the ecu for 100. but im sure the caps are if not about to leak. 100 day warranty so if it acts up ill just send it back an send mine to av pro.

ok wtf. got more problems. put in the new ecu today. started it up an it ran great. a minute later a little bit of smoke came out, an then it smoked like crazy with the gas smell thats usually there. it idled like it usually did when it wasnt messed up. no check engine light or anything. the oil has gas in it too. so im guessing that its an injector. is there anyway to test these things??

so the first time you checked the resistance on the injectros, 4 out of 6 were w/in spec, and the remaining 2 read 28 ohms? then the second time you checked the resistance, all 6 were w/in spec?

what differed from the two trials? i would remove all 6 and have them checked.

also, do you think your "new" (aka replacement) ECU could have leaky caps? why not send both to have the caps replaced, then sell one on e-bay/3si and make your money back. just a thought.

when 2 of them were 28 i was measuring it off the plug like the manual said. the second time is when i had them out an checked them. i dont think this one has leaky caps because my car seemed to have a stronge idle like its never had. but ill take a look at it tomarrow. im still leaning towards a bad injector. i actually searched an found out u can get the car running then put a stethescope up to each injector an u should hear a clicking noise to show that its working. if there isnt one that means its not spraying at all or its stuck open. so i put what i think would be my problem injectors in the front. now im just waiting for new o rings since i tore one up. if i find any injectors not working i believe i have the old ones on my old motor which i know they were working. hopefully thats the problem. but with my luck its probably a bad injector an then bad wiring somewhere along the line... i just wanna get it moving again its been sittin for over 2 weeks :(

put the injectors back in today an they all were working good. drove it around the block. it was smoking a little bit, not really noticable for the first few minutes then it magically dissapeared. so i desided to take it a few miles down the road to fill it up. didnt smoke one bit on the way there. checked coolant to be sure no coolant was burned off. an collant didnt drop a bit. drove it back home not a problem except it had a slight miss in it. got it home an checked the timing. i set it forward about 5 degrees to 7 on base timing. so i hope my problems are solved :)

Wow Stealth, so from the smoking exhaust you ended up doing your tune-up eh? Did you do it yourself or a shop did that part for you? That's awesome news that you got her back up again. CONGRATS (I'm crossing my fingers for ya too). :)

you say you set the timing forward a few degrees. how did you physically do this? i thought the timing could only be controlled/manipulated via the ECU or some other stand-alone EMS??? (i didn't think we could manually turn a dial/lever like on older muscle cars)

yea i ended up doing the 60K tune up. i figured ive put about 30k on the motor an it had like 40 somethin on it when i got it. but yea drove it today an it did great. ive got it sittin in the garage coolin off right now so i can change the oil. im gonna put in 20W-50 since its 95 outside. feels wierd since i havent drove it in a while. i almost get a headahce since the exhaust is so loud.

the timing can be set by turning the CAS(Cam Angle Sensor) clockwise to advance timing. an counterclockwise to retard timing. but theres a brown sensor near the battery u have to ground an the engine slows down an lets u set the base timing. heres a link so u can see what im talkin about.

Stealth 316 - Ignition Timing - DOHC (http://www.stealth316.com/2-ignition-timing.htm)