93 ka24de white smoke! not your average white smoke. HELP

[Fbomb19]

Ok guys so, i have a 1993 s13 hatch. Recently bought it. I had a s14 b4 this but never had this problem. Im not very mechanically inclined. But i do my research on some stuff. OK so my car has exactly 182k miles, it run like a Champ. I honestly have 0 complaints other than this random white smoke. The guy told me the valve seals were some what going bad but correct me if im wrong.Ive read that valve seals would only cause white smoke on start up, or after taking off from a stop and then go away.

Blown head gasket would cause the car to over heat, id see milky looking oil and/or also see oil in the coolent. I SEE NONE OF THOSE THINGS.
Car runs great! But RANDOMLY and i mean Literally at the most random times itll smoke for a bit. It does it in all kinds of situations.
It can be idle and then take off, it can be just idle, can be take off and then go away, it can be randomly while im driving, it can be on start up, it can be when i put it in park b4 i turn it off, it can be WHEN EVER. its not a ton of smoke. Itll just be a little and if i gas it on idle while it does itll be a slightly heavy cloud.

Ive read something about how it can be a piston ring. But i also read that would cause it to smoke at all times. My car might smoke at random times but itll only do it for a matter of seconds. Maby a minute at most but then i wont see again until it just does it randomly. And i cant time it or anything. Its simply just random. I might run into this white smoke maby 1 every few days sometimes i might see it 2 days in a row. My concern is that it might lead to a bigger problem so id like to find the cause of this problem and fix it while i can.

Smoke is white. like paper. Just white.
184k miles / automatic atm. Its mechanically untouched. other than steel braided ac/power steering and clutch line (clutch pedal and master already mounted) everything else is stock. and the smoke for the most part i think just smells kinda like gas. in some cases like oil but im not the brightest light bulb so i cant tell. So please ! any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated.... thanks.


Ohhh also another little problem is, when i start the car up for the most part it starts normal. SOme times when it goes to idle it doesnt always stay, itll just drop down to 0 and stall. But i kinda became use give it a tiny bit of gas so it just just goes back to idle and stays fine. Thats just on start up sometimes. idles fine, just doesnt always stay there when i turn it on. And it does stall i just start it right back up like normal and itll stay in idle. And sorry for the poor use of grammar and spelling, kinda in a hurry.

[kingtal0n]

IF its white smoke, its water (coolant) burning.


first, with the car COLD, remove the radiator cap and start the engine. You want to watch the radiator as the engine warms up for bubbles/frothy water. This would be an indication that compression from a cylinder is leaking into the coolant system. Watch for mass bubbles and frothy water for at least 5-10 minutes! rev the engine slightly, occasionally to try to show symptoms quicker.

Next, put the cap on and drive the car a while. When the car is nice and hot, squeeze the radiator hose to see how much pressure is in the radiator; Do not remove the cap! just check the pressure of the hose! The hose should be stiff with pressure when the car is hot and been driving for a while.

Next check for coolant drips on the ground and around the engine bay.

verify there are no bubbles in the radiator and no froth, there are no leaks, and there is a very firm radiator hose while hot. this will generally indicate a good cooling closed loop system.

If you are having white smoke from the exhaust, there must be water getting into the exhaust. Since you have no turbocharger, it must be coming from the coolant system. Report back when you are sure the coolant system is tight.

And valve seals are OIL controllers, not COOLANT. A bad valve seal will create BLUE smoke, not white. Be sure what you are seeing is not OIL. Does it smell like oil? are you sure its WHITE like paper?
and lastly, by products of combustion are water and CO2. That means when you shut your car off, the exhaust system is FULL of water. That means when you start the car, and the exhaust heats up, the water will turn to gas and your car will appear to smoke white. Thats why we check for white smoke with a very hot engine/exhaust system. If your car is COLD and you see white smoke, this is normal. Check any car in the morning cold start, always white smoke from evaporating water in the exhaust plumbing.

[Fbomb19]

well my car is parked and its 2 dark out right now to check any of these things. I dont think its coolent leaking anywhere cuz i always check my radiator and its always at the same exact lvl, i also check my oil b4 starting it just incase also. But in my eyes it seems white. Im pretty sure its white. If in any case it may be oil but it cant be alot of oil. Tomoro im going to check all of what you said and see, It does have a slight oil leak. Not alot maby like a drop every 2 weeks. But i can see a tiny bit of oil coming off the oil pan. Also the guy i bought the car from told me the valve seals are bad. I mean i dont think thats whats causing this smoke, and it doesnt even smoke taking taking off from a stop. But the motor does make like a little ticking sound while on. Its deff not a knock or nothing like that. He said thats vavle seals, i wasnt 2 worried cuz like i said. It runs great. The ticking sounds come from the middle of the motor not so much by the timing chain. But yeah, ^ Idk if that ticking thing can help you figure anything out but just another slight fact that might help. Ill let you know how it goes tomoro.

[Fbomb19]

Well checked everything as you said. I looked at the coolent as it was warming up for about 15 minutes and i didnt see any bubbles at all. Id rev it from time to time id only see the coolent flowing. One thing i did notice was on the top of the coolent i saw some little black particles floating around. Not alot just a tad bit. Coolent is still minty green. And After driving it around i checked the pressure on the hose. It was nice and firm. Oil still looked fine. No leaks.