White smoke at start and idle

[AlohaKeith]

Hey people, I'm not all that great with cars, but I'm learning, so I have a question for all of you who actually know what you're doing. I've got a 91' 240 with 180,000k on the engine. When I start it up it blows white smoke out of the tailpipe. After alittle while it stops till you come to a stop light, or any other time where you idle. Once you push the gas again it blows the smoke again. So uhh what's up with the car? Thanks

-Keith

[Silvia007]

Sounds like you need a good rebuild. If you have used a synthetic base oil, this problem would have been avoided. My KA had 160k on it when I swapped my engine out. The person who took it was gonna rebuild it. Took then engine apart and it wasn't even near needing a rebuild.

[AlohaKeith]

Ahh damn. How much do you think that'll run? The compression is still good, it hits 165 or so. But the car feels sluggish. Burns oil too. All around bad used car, didn't notice all the problems when I picked it up.

[Xneubien]

I have the same problem with my '93. It has 181,000 miles on it. What all does a rebuild include? How much to get it done, and how much to do it myself?

[XcreatureX]

probably a valve???

Seth

[nthug]

Could be a leaky head gasket. You'll want to get that checked out ASAP, white smoke out the tailpipe is the tell-tale sign.

Warm up your engine then check the oil. If it's coffee creamy or frothy then you've probably got a busted gasket. Your spark plugs might also leak coolant. The leaky plug will tell you which cylinder has the leak. Overheating, smelling coolant through your vents, and loss of coolant are other indicators.

[mmatl16]

ya ur engine is about to go unless u rebuild it. my stock motor did the same thing for about a month then it blew. and i dont mean like it didnt start again...i mean it blew up while i was driving it to the shop.

[powerls]

I'm speaking from my Honda experience.... it might be blown rings, or a leaking valve seal. If you smell a sweet smell from the exhaust or as stated above if your oil looks creamy, you probably got a blown headgasket.