Smoke on startup

mkud28 · #1 10-12-2010, 11:54 PM

OK so long story short, my brother's wrx was in a wreck and totalled. He has driven my car probably about 200 miles in the past couple of weeks. The car had been sitting a little bit due to a burning oil smell in the car after driving for a long period of time. It also seemed to be running rich. Now on startup it has a large cloud of white smoke out of the tailpipes. It almost looks like I seafoamed it. Now I ask of you SVXWN, what could be wrong with my car and how much will it take to fix it? PS I have only had the car about 4 months and it has been driven lightly while in my posession. It had a rebuilt motor put in 30k miles ago. Any help is appreciated.

1986nate · #2 10-13-2010, 12:18 AM

The burning oil smell after driving for awhile could be as simple as oil being pushed out the valve cover gaskets, rear main, crank and cam seals, etc.
As for the puffs of smoke out the exhaust, I'm sure a bunch here will immediately say that your head gaskets are shot but it may not necessarily be the case, or it might be.

If you can do labor yourself and have a couple spare weekends, you can do a full reseal on the motor (including HG). The full reseal kit is about $250 from Subaru and its a good idea to just do the t-belt, idlers etc and a kit from ebay is about $160 for that, water pump from Subaru is about another $130 and then the cost of getting the heads machined.

Now, if you want to do it cheaper if the worst case scenario ends up true, you can do without the t-belt and water pump as the motor is non-interference. Not suggested, but you can let those slide although it could at some point lead you stranded with a burned up water pump, idler, etc but it can get you buy.

Either way, by doing those things, it will ensure that the engine will last another 10-15 years or longer.

Again, it might not even be the HG, just keep an eye or have your buddy keep an eye on the temp gauge whenever he's driving it.

Cam · #3 10-13-2010, 12:39 AM

If you are looking at an oil leak it would be wise to replace the PCV valve as well. Cheap, and very easy if the engine is out. Not too hard with it still in the car as well.

SoCal LS-L · #4 10-13-2010, 08:33 AM

The burning oil smell after the drive is almost assuredly oil or ATF that has leaked onto the exhaust.

The puff of white smoke could possibly be a small HG issue, but might be just some oil burning off that seeped past the valve guides while it sat.

When you say it seemed like it was running rich..... what was it doing?

SURTEESS · #5 10-13-2010, 11:09 AM

check out my posting from a few years ago -

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...ht=AACV&page=2

look at posting 27 - it only cost me approx NZ$100 to have swapped over..

mkud28 · #6 10-14-2010, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SoCal LS-L

The burning oil smell after the drive is almost assuredly oil or ATF that has leaked onto the exhaust.

The puff of white smoke could possibly be a small HG issue, but might be just some oil burning off that seeped past the valve guides while it sat.

When you say it seemed like it was running rich..... what was it doing?

At highway speeds if I let off the gas and got back on not even hard, just eased on the gas it would have a small backfire. I know for a fact that my cam seal and valve cover seals are leaking. It is smoking a lot on startup though, like a white cloud comes out of the exhaust and then there is still smoke. My problem with doing it myself it that I have never taken an engine apart and would not want to destroy it. The engine was rebuilt like 30k ago which is why I am so confused. Thanks for the replies.

mkud28 · #7 10-14-2010, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SURTEESS

check out my posting from a few years ago -

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...ht=AACV&page=2

look at posting 27 - it only cost me approx NZ$100 to have swapped over..

Thanks surtress I will check all of these out if it helps me save my car.

SoCal LS-L · #8 10-14-2010, 09:38 PM

Wow id listen to your injectors with a long bladed screwdriver to your ear. One may be dumping too much fuel or not spraying it well.

mkud28 · #9 10-14-2010, 11:20 PM

SoCal, I will look into this as well. I wish I had some SVXers in DFW with me to help me out :-(

Gamesy · #10 10-15-2010, 01:57 AM

you may not wanna hear this but the same issue happened with my friend's 4-runner, so we changed the gasket and we thought it was fixed but turns out there was a crack in the block still letting coolant into the block mixing with oil
if the white smoke from the tailend smells a little sweet you may have coolant in your oil

mkud28 · #11 10-15-2010, 09:39 AM

Gamesy, I am about to start it up, but I do not think it did. I guess i will report back in a moment.

mkud28 · #12 10-15-2010, 10:04 AM

Ok so the other day it was much worse than this, but still with the smoke on start up. It does not smell sweet so I am going to check the things mentioned earlier in the thread!

This is a video btw.

SoCal LS-L · #13 10-15-2010, 11:36 AM

That smoke looks blue, too rich or unburnt fuel.....

mkud28 · #14 10-15-2010, 12:25 PM

Thats gotta be the injectors then. I don't know how to check those any tips?

Huskymaniac · #15 10-15-2010, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mkud28

Thats gotta be the injectors then. I don't know how to check those any tips?

I think the only way to know for sure is to pull them and look at them. If that doesn't appeal to you, try a very high quality fuel injector cleaner and see if it helps. Neutra 131, Redline SI-1, Amsoil P.I. and Chevron Techron Concentrate are your best bets and probably in that order.

Svxfiles or one of the other gurus might be able to tell you something based on your fuel trim numbers if you have a code reader.