I have a 94 J30 and have casually noticed that sometimes when the engine was not warmed up, white smoke billows out of the exhaust when at a light, and also at WOT. Today, i started my car after it sat for 1 month, and i noticed a large amount of this white smoke, and it did not decist after the engine was warmed up. (today it was about 65 degrees here, so i doubt it just is water vapor) the exhaust smells possibly a little sweet or tangy, but i dont go sniffing exhaust on a regular basis, now do i? What do you guys think? i have an idea, but i dont want to influence your comments. what should i do/what do you think it is? thanks in advance!

In the Great White North, where the winters are cold and the starts are hard, oil would start leaking into the cylinders after repeated cold starts. You'd have a puff of white smoke when the engine began to run but it would disappear after the motor ran for a while. Sounds like you have some wear in your engine.

Smoke after more than 5 minutes is never good. Sounds like you have a suspicion as to the problem, and I'll bet I agree with you when I say you might have a cracked head or blown gasket. I say that because you mentioned a "sweet" smell. Is the smoke white or does it have a bluish tint to it? Do a pressure-check on the radiator. If it passes, that's good news. Maybe it's a leaky injector instead. I had one of those once. The smoke was thick, fog-white. Smelled very rich. Take care of it soon or you might hydrolock.

I agree with Daedalus. For sure check for blown head gasket. If I recall correctly, glycols in combustion chambers form an acid which can damage alloy heads rather quickly.

Maybe Palmerwmd can comment?

smoke is thick pure white, no blue. i am having an injector problem, which might be the cause, but i will definitely also consider it being a blown head gasket. thanks for all the info guys.

I believe it's not real common for a J to blow a headgasket.

Doesnt mean it won't happen but still...Also humdity of the atmoshpere may influence how much smoke you see.

I am unsure how many cats/mufflers are in a J, but in the large exhaust system of a Q large amounths of water can accumulate and make for quite a bit of wht clouds.

As a matter of fact I have often feared blwon headgaskets in a couple of Q's and it always turned out to be the above reason.Even when drving down the road and then accelerating hard I would see a wht cloud.And everything was fine.

It is cirtical to check the oil ( milky?) and teh coolant (oily?) right away, if you get a hit then indeed you are having a headgasket problem.

As for corrosiveness issues, yes many of the chemicals in coolant will damage an engine but even more critical than damge from roganic acids to teh block is the alsmot immediate damage other components can suffer due to rust and or lack of lubrication(bearings).

Fred..

palmerwmd wrote:I am unsure how many cats/mufflers are in a J, but in the large exhaust system of a Q large amounths of water can accumulate and make for quite a bit of wht clouds.

2 cats, 2 mufflers, one resonator.

i checked the oil, no whiteness or foam. checked the coolant, its pure sick green just like when i flushed it. im hoping that its just the exhaust colelcting all the H2o, that makes alot of sense actually. I think the probelm might be accenuated by these screwed injectors, so ill turn my attention to those first. thanks for all the input guys.