What would cause white smoke?

[Anthony.G.]

Ok, so after a long battle with my Z, I finally have it running. here's the run down... the engine was previously compression locked, so I know i need to do a fluid flush, but the #4 injector is currently bad. My question is if the injector is pouring to much fuel, could that cause white smoke if its mixing with the oil and burning? or is white smoke only for burning coolant?

[240jaysx]

I would think white smoke is oil.

[twinturbozxtacy]

white smoke is coolant ie head gasket or turbos...

blue is oil
black is fuel

[nissanfreak12]

white smoke is coolant ie head gasket or turbos...

blue is oil
black is fuel

Speaks the truth....Sometimes the blue smoke looks white, you almost need to know what to look for to get it right.

Question is how does it smell? If its sweet, it's coolant. Smells like burnt oil, well, it's burnt oil.

[Anthony.G.]

honestly it smells like fuel and somewhat oil but its white, that's why I am confused...

[twinturbozxtacy]

could be either of what i said, more than usual a head gasket will just leak oil into the coolant or coolant into the cyls, hence the sweet smokey smell lol. but it could be leaking any into this or that or both or??? im no expert on the stock t25s but i think the coolant passages on them are a closed circuit so to speak meaning they cant leak through the turbo itself, if so id rule them out. hows your coolant? low or milky? check the rad cap, and residue on it or the neck below it?

on a side note unplug the bad injector, give it a minute then see if there is any change in smoke or smell....

[NolimitZ32]

Leakdown test is the easiest way to tell the health of a engine.

[t.mcginley.jr]

Leakdown test is the easiest way to tell the health of a engine.

This. Just did that on my mom's Camry, the engine was sucking coolant down but no white smoke or mixing of oil/coolant. Did a leakdown test and #3 cylinder was above 20% leakage so that told me the head gasket was shot for sure.

You should be able to rent a leakdown tester from any auto parts store.

[nexus08]

Also, if the car has been sitting for awhile it could have gotten moisture into the exhaust from lots of rain/humidity.

When you first start it up, it will make what looks like white smoke until that has been burned off.

[t.mcginley.jr]

Oh bad valve guides or valve stem seals (more likely) can also cause white smoke

[J30tChumpCar]

Honestly the easiest thing would be to fix the known issues (injector), change the oil go from there it could be a large amount of fuel getting pumped through and or contaminated oil possibly combined with exhaust condensates i.e. normal steam from the exhaust on startup.

[Anthony.G.]

alright, I got that injector changed. The white smoke has turned blue, so I know its just the oil burning (I can smell it now.) but the new injector is stuck open, so I'm going to take it back asap. I did the test strips on the coolant, the glycol is way high and its in the "charge" but the PH is good... I've never done the test strips before, any help?

[J30tChumpCar]

Skipping the coolant for another minute,fix the injector(s) until they are right, something you need to do anyway regardless of other issues, change the oil AFTER the injectors are done contaminating/overfilling the cranckase oil with fuel, take the car for a decent drive to get everything up to temp and evaporating residual fuel from the exhaust. It may smoke until following this advice then stop.
If it still smokes THEN it is time to worry about the next step, not before.

[Anthony.G.]

So, I fixed the injector and changed the oil... got it up to burp the coolant system and it started pouring thick white smoke and coolant out of the tailpipe... yay

Thanks for the help everyone, I do appreciate it.