rough idle, white smoke on cold starts - video added post #7

[jrobie79]

210K, m42...

so just recently when I start my car in the morning the idle is pretty awful, it almost takes a couple minutes to warm up before it sustains 800 rpm. If I try to drive away its almost like a misfire/hesitation for a bit till it "warms" up. I noticed some whiteish smoke coming from the tailpipe for the first 5-10 minutes of driving.

I checked compression and all were around 200-215, I do not notice any considerable coolant loss, haven't observed for more than a few days as this just started happening. It does not overheat while driving (temp raises when at a stoplight or something, but I don't have the aux fan or the mechanical clutch fan at this moment either)

any suggestions

edit: appears to be happening whenever I shut the car off, even if its only off for 5-10 minutes.

[jrobie79]

anyone?

[e30Villain]

do you have oil on your sparkplugs? Thats where i'd start.

[jrobie79]

the plugs looked great, no sign of any fouling (there was a bit of oil in the well, but nothing more than I've seen before). I am going to see what the coolant level looks like in a week or so and see what happens I guess.

[Ceeker]

why not start with installing your clutch fan; 2nd..check all your vacuum lines for leaks. M42's are notorious for this. it seems you have multiple problems. massive coolant consumption can easily be head gasket. Check the dip stick for a milky residue. if it's present you have coolant going into the oil. a rising temp gauge with a properly pressurized, bled system, good clutch fan, no aux fan on, will most likely be head gasket.

in cool or cold climates the white smoke is normal until warm up. But if it's warm out it could be coolant being blown out the tailpipe.

you'll need to go through process of elimination.

[jrobie79]

I took the valve cover off last night and everything looks fine, no milkshake on the dipstick and it hasnt been losing coolant in the three days I've been experiencing this problem.

The vacuum lines are fine from what I can diagnose (I'm going to do the homemade smoke test this weekend) already performed the "mess under the intake".

The temperature doesn't rise unless I'm sitting in traffic. I've had both fans removed for the better part of two years and it behaves the same as it always has in regards to the temperature needle.

it was 65 degrees when I noticed the smoke yesterday.

[jrobie79]

video of exhaust:



so this is about 3 minutes after startup, I had driven it about a mile to stop at my apartment from where I parked. It did this for about 15 minutes on the way to work this morning then stopped. One thing I did notice was it was difficult to start. Almost like a dead battery for like 2 seconds, but then it fired up and stumbled. Going to check the coolant level during lunch after its cooled down.

[dnguyen1963]

It does not burn coolant and goes away after 15 min...then I would say that your HG is okay. I would check for a leak in the exhaust system. It might be pulling in cold air until the whole exhaust is hot enough to prevent water from condensing.

[jrobie79]

well after this weekend it appears the coolant level is decreasing, and I noticed a bit of the slushy crap on my dipstick.

what else should be done if I'm going to take the time to change the gasket and can anyone point me to a head gasket kit? From what I'm reading it's best to avoid Victor Reinz ones.

[jlevie]

The smoke in the video doesn't look like vaporized coolant to me. It isn't white enough. So I'd say that your starting problems are the usual (intake leaks, dirty injectors, etc).

[jrobie79]

checked the dipstick at lunch today...covered in that milkshake shit...