occasionally white smoke when idling!!!

[Dugi]

when i'm in traffic idling i see alot fo smoke coming out of my muffler. but not always. if it does it smokes alot. i'll give it some gas it'll stopo for a while then starts again. but sometimes it won't smoke at all, maybe a bit but not that noticable. is my turbo going bad allready cause i only have it for like a few months. it's a GT2871R. or might it be my stem seals?? hope it'snot the turbo cause it's only a few months old

[Jesse SR20]

Is it white smoke ? Or is it greyish blue ?

If it's pure white, it's actually steam. It's coolant/water being burned in the cylinders (most likely the head gasket).

If it's blueish in cooler, it's oil being burned. Oil can leak from numorous places. Seals in the turbo, piston rings, valve seals, just to name the obvious.

You can also determine if it's water or oil by the smell. In either case I wouldn't let this go on much further.

[kuramaya]

If it's white it could also be coolant...check your radiator and see if you see oil residue floating in the coolant

[Dugi]

yeah ok thanks for the tips

[tiger]

the smell will really give it away...

[ericherm1]

What are stem seals?Sorry for the noob question....

[574-240sx]

I notice my car smoking at idle every once in a while, sometimes its alot. When I rev it up a little it goes away for a while. Looks like my rear main seal on my turbo is going bad so I have to rebuild mine soon.

[srpowered240sx]

got a catylitic converter?? my sr does the same thing at idle unless ive been on it for a while. big exhaust, no cat, condensation building at night, leads to steam for a while until completely dry at warm. edit, prime example. this is after warming up for 10 minutes.

[spider_slayer]

try doing a compression test. your headgasket could be blown.... my car does the same exact thing. thick *** white somke at idle after driving for a while. i'm pretty sure i blew my head gasket as well

edit: i just noticed this thread is months old......why was it brought back?

[S14-NEO]

first of all are you burning oil, have you checked the level of it. second have you checked the coolant level and or contaminents, thirdly haev you checked the shaft play on the turbo...side to side is normal but in and out means bad thrust bearing and would definately cause it to smoke..coolant in combustion chamber would give off white billowy smoke and be sweet smelling...while oil would make more blue smoke and smell like something burning...fuel is black and you should be able to tell if its fuel..you can smell nothing but raw fuel..