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hey
my 92 si hatch is blowing white smoke. its not blue or bluish, so i highly doubt its burning oil. its emitting white smoke sometimes when you start it, but when you drive it, theres more coming out. when you floor it, its an instant smokescreen lol.
-the car has like 1 year or older gas in it right now
-the previous, previous owner using some pink engine cleaner stuff in it

what is the cause of white smoke? my initial thoughs were that the head gasket was gone, but im not too sure anymore because of the old gas or the pink stuff

thanks

 
Rep Power: 684

what system is the pink stuff in? is it the newer colant color stuff? white smoke is steam not oil or tranny fluid, but check yer rad and tranny fluid to see if it looks like foamed coffee (on many cars the tranny lines run into the rad in order to cool the tranny fluid and sometimes the weld breaks in this tank within the rad from the extra pressure from the engine [if head gaskets gone] and mixes coolant into the tranny - very bad for tranny). DO NOT DRIVE IT TILL YA FIG OUT WHATS GOING ON. what you need to do is get a coolant pressure test done, its a pump with a guage you screw onto yer rad/coolant box and pump and pressurize, if it holds a high pressure it should be good, if it hold high pressure but slowly or quickly drops - you most likely have a leak/blown gasket, find and repair as soon as possiblt if it has leaked into tranny. It may be a process that is just beginning. Also watch out that when the engine is cold it might not be a problem but when it all warms up and things expand - this could be when water gets into the combustion chambers. Might not be a gasket but a cracked block/heads/wherever coolant is right next to combustion chamber.

other points, when u shut the car off, coolant/water is still getting into the combustion chamber cuz its still hot and under pressure, slowly rusts inside, but worse it that it seeps into yer crankcase and mixes with oil makeing oil much less efective/loseing lubricating protection/water turns to steam and burns lil spots on ngine bearings reducing engine life big time, find and fix quick. If ya dont care about the car and dont wanna spend $$$$, just keep pouring water/coolant in until it seases up and dies, then part out/scrap it

where r you located - I have an old pump from my shop days, PM me if ya want.

 
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White=coolant/water

Smell it, it probably smells sweet like coolant.

Pressure test your cooling system, then report back.

 
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i left the car running for awhile and the rad was not foaming or anything. (exterior wise)... the previous owner though the engine had seized, so he put the pink stuff in to the cylinder area. i was told that the car was spewing pink stuff a bit before i bought it. a compression test was done on the cylinders and everything is perfect....

 
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I just wrote out a whole bunch of stuff but I got timed out and it didnt post, i hate retyping myself so now ya get summation

water in gas would make car hard to start and run like ***** if at all, fill tank with new gas
a compression test on a siezed block sounds suspecious
why did pre owner think it was seized, did he know it leaked coolant that seized piston rings
forgot to say if its a stick, if so then there r no tranny lines running into rad
if its automatic , check tranny dip stick for coffee color or non tranny fluid looking stuff
you wont see foam on outside of rad, tranny cooler tank is located inside rad


im sure it needs an oil change for sure right now
i dont know my civic engines well as i mainly did domestic stuff so if someone could tell me where ALL the water passeges are so i can help out
is there a passage that runs threw the trottlebody anywhere? (poss leak area if applicable)
is there a passage that runs threw the intake? (poss leak area if applicable)
is there a passage that runs threw anywhere other than cylynder walls, heads?

 
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its a 5spd.
no, the previous owner thought that the engine had seized, but infact it was the alternator.
yep, i'll do a pressure test soon and will report back

 
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coolant pressure test takes 5 mins so dont let anyone charge ay more than $20, but shops sometimes have a min $45 inspection BS fee, plus it needs to be cool so ya might need ta leave er for a couple hours or overnight.

cuz shes stick there will never be any coffe coloured foaming goin on.

can anyone provide a link to a cutaway view or engine manual

 
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i put in about 20 litres of 91 octane shell v power in it today. after like 5 or 7 mins, she started blowing white smoke again. im guessing the rad had warmed up by the 5 or 7 mins, so its prolly the gasket.

-does anyone know where i can get a pump and do the pressure check? cause i cant drive it to a shop yet cause it has no insurance or plates. kuztom freak, i would come and get the pump from you, but your location is a little too far from where im at, but thanks for the offer bro

 
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You could use the screw in compression testers that are $20 from CTC. That would tell you the compression per cylinder, then reference it to what it should be +/-

Low reading from that test could also be piston rings though, so put a tiny ammount of oil in the cylinder and re-test, if the pressure goes up rings are bad, if it stays the same then its head gasket leaking pressure.

No idea where to get the stuff to test just the cooling system. I have always only done it this way, but usually for checking cylinder compression not just for HG issues.