Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

hey guys...

i'm hoping someone on here might be able to help me...

i've done a search, but i cant find a thread with my problems...

its an RB20DET with fmic, 3" exhaust, fuel pump, t04e (brand new), splitfire coilpacks and irdium spark plugs... STANDARD ECU

basically, when i do a cold start it PISSES out white smoke (smells of fuel not oil) and it misfires on idle... but if you rev the car, the misfiring goes away but there is still craploads of white smoke coming out the exhaust...

but then as soon as you take it for a drive and the engine temp comes up to 'normal', all the smoke clears away (apart from a bit of black smoke cause its running excessively rich) and the misfiring stops on idle...

now.. i'm completely stumped as to why this would be happening... does anyone have any suggestions on what it could be?

i cant see it being a blown head gasket because a) the smoke clears up once the temp comes up to normal, b) the water in the radiator doesnt have a flim of oil on it and c) the oil isnt milky....

i believe i have two seperate problems... but they could be related, i dont know...

the first problem is that its running REALLY rich and i believe thats why the smoke smells of fuel and possibly why its misfiring because the spark plug is getting wet from too much fuel... sometimes it sounds like it running on 4cyl and other times it sounds like its running on 5cyl...

then the second problem is the white smoke which i have no clue on...

PLEASE HELP!!! i cant go on like this... :P

if you need to ask any clarification questions, then go ahead... ;)

thanks

ash

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/173061-misfiring-and-white-smoke/
Share on other sites

Still can be a head gasket :P

You may have a minor crack that leaks into the bore, when cold, then as the engine heats up everything expands and seals up, till it gets cold again. If a gasket leaks water into a bore, the water will never mix with the oil, or vis-versa, and the water will then pass through the exhaust system.

All cars have white smoke in the mornings, but it really depends on how much you consider alot.

I am by no means stating that you have a blown head gasket, just advising that it is still a possibility and should not be ruled out because of the things you have listed.

Easy, White smoke on cold mornings here in brissy at the moment condensation, missfire due to running either colder plugs say 7's as they take a while to come to temp or the excessively always running rich fouling your plugs

Done :P

There is a sensor for cold starts it might be stuffed

Have u ran the diagnotic on the ecu it might tell u what is wrong

good point, thats one thing we havent checked... didnt think it would cause all the smoke... :whistling:

Still can be a head gasket :yes:

You may have a minor crack that leaks into the bore, when cold, then as the engine heats up everything expands and seals up, till it gets cold again. If a gasket leaks water into a bore, the water will never mix with the oil, or vis-versa, and the water will then pass through the exhaust system.

All cars have white smoke in the mornings, but it really depends on how much you consider alot.

I am by no means stating that you have a blown head gasket, just advising that it is still a possibility and should not be ruled out because of the things you have listed.

i was told this by someone else today as well... i had never heard of this happening before... i didnt know the HG could have a 'minor crack'... i just thought that once they go, thats it, its gone!!

i call it "A LOT" when you sit in the car and you cant see behind you because of all the smoke...

Easy, White smoke on cold mornings here in brissy at the moment condensation, missfire due to running either colder plugs say 7's as they take a while to come to temp or the excessively always running rich fouling your plugs

Done :)

when i say "cold start", i dont mean just in the morning... it could be at 2pm in the afternoon... i just mean that it hasnt been started in quite a few hours so the engine is "cold"...

and its not condenstation in the exhaust system... my euro 'smokes' in the morning as well which is caused by condensation in the exhaust system... this is thick white smoke that bellows out of the exhaust pipe...

after all this, it was started today and driven back to my house from my mates workshop and there wasnt a puff of smoke at all and absolutely no mis-firing... so it seems like one day it will smoke and misfire, then the next day it will be fine, then the day after that it'll have problems again... :P

could a minor crack in the head gasket 'come and go' like that?

and would a minor crack in the head gasket cause it to misfire randomly at idle?

i'll start her up in the morning tomorrow and see if she smokes and misfires or not... :)

thanks for the suggestions guys... please keep them coming.. its greatly appreciated! :)

well, the smoke and misfiring is back today...

it kinda sounds like its choking on something on low revs, until you stab the throttle and bring the revs up then it clears up until the revs drop again... :?

any ideas from peoples??? :whistling:

it sounds like you might have a leaky injector hence the running really rich, i cant say i have seen white smoke from fuel but it may be possible that the plugs are not burning it all and is getting onto your turbo and doing something odd with the seals, i had this problem with a silvia a few years ago.

easiest way is to remove spark plugs, unplug ignitor pack, then prime the fuel pump, if you can see fuel in any of the cylinders you have a leak. now it could be either the injector itself or is could be one of the o-ring's that seals then into the fuel rail.

How about valve stem oil seals??

is there anyway of testing that without pulling the engine apart?

i havent had a chance to start the car since my last post... been too busy with work... :O

i'll update on saturday when i take it for a drive... :)

I actually started to think the same thing, but didn't come across this thread again till now.

okay...

any idea on how to check them?

or is it a job for the mechanics to pull the engine apart?

edit: just thinking about it again... would the valve stem oil seal cause BLUE smoke??

i dont have any blue smoke.. its only white... ;)

Edited by S13 SecaBoy

my issue is this...

IF it was using water, then straight away i'd point at the BHG... but its not using any water... :cheers:

IF the smoke was blue, then it'd point to an oil related issue... but the smoke is not blue and its not using any oil...

i'm gonna pull out the spark plugs and see if there is any fuel going into the cylinder with the car off...

firstly though, i'll check to see which cylinder is dropping out... that way i dont have to take ALLLL the spark plugs out... :D

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Was going to say the car pulls up nicely everywhere, especially going into that last long right hander before the main straight. Looks like a lot of fun.
    • Hey Dave, welcome aboard! Good to see another soon-to-be Stagea owner here. The wagons are awesome — plenty of space, still got that Skyline DNA, and loads of potential if you’re into mods. Definitely post up pics when you get it, everyone here loves seeing new builds. What model/year are you looking at?
    • See if you can thermal epoxy a heatsink or two onto it?
    • The other problem was one of those "oh shit we are going to die moments". Basically the high spec Q50s have a full electric steering rack, and the povo ones had a regular hydraulic rack with an electric pump.  So couple of laps into session 5 as I came into turn 2 (big run off now, happily), the dash turned into a christmas tree and the steering became super heavy and I went well off. I assumed it was a tyre failure so limped to the pits, but everything was OK. But....the master warning light was still on so I checked the DTCs and saw – C13E6 “Heat Protection”. Yes, that bloody steering rack computer sitting where the oil cooler should be has its own sensors and error logic, and decided I was using the steering wheel too much. I really appreciated the helpful information in the manual (my bold) POSSIBLE CAUSE • Continuing the overloading steering (Sports driving in the circuit etc,) “DATA MONITOR” >> “C/M TEMPERATURE”. The rise of steering force motor internal temperature caused the protection function to operate. This is not a system malfunction. INSPECTION END So, basically the electric motor in the steering rack got to 150c, and it decided to shut down without warning for my safety. Didn't feel safe. Short term I'll see if I can duct some air to that motor (the engine bay is sealed pretty tight). Long term, depending on how often this happens, I'll look into swapping the povo spec electric/hydraulic rack in. While the rack should be fine the power supply to the pump will be a pain and might be best to deal with it when I add a PDM.
    • And finally, 2 problems I really need to sort.  Firstly as Matt said the auto trans is not happy as it gets hot - I couldn't log the temps but the gauge showed 90o. On the first day I took it out back in Feb, because the coolant was getting hot I never got to any auto trans issues; but on this day by late session 3 and then really clearly in 4 and 5 as it got hotter it just would not shift up. You can hear the issue really clearly at 12:55 and 16:20 on the vid. So the good news is, literally this week Ecutek finally released tuning for the jatco 7 speed. I'll have a chat to Racebox and see what they can do electrically to keep it cooler and to get the gears, if anything. That will likely take some R&D and can only really happen on track as it never gets even warm with road use. I've also picked up some eye wateringly expensive Redline D6 ATF to try, it had the highest viscosity I could find at 100o so we will see if that helps (just waiting for some oil pan gaskets so I can change it properly). If neither of those work I need to remove the coolant/trans interwarmer and the radiator cooler and go to an external cooler....somewhere.....(goodbye washer reservoir?), and if that fails give up on this mad idea and wait for Nissan to release the manual 400R
×
×
  • Create New...