white smoke
Hi All
Got white smoke billowing out of the exhaust when stationary i drive a 280ge petrol..is this normal..(it's not very bad but you can see it coming out at a steady rate)
Thanks Guy's
White smoke always lends itself to head gasket...but the old g exhaust holds a lot of moisture and on these cold morning, if it takes a while for your car to get to working temp it will chuck out white smoke....question is,is it losing water, or running rough in the mornings?
it could also be the sheer volume of water vapour that your engine is producing as the fuel burns to H2O and CO2. It's a thirsty engine!
If its an Automatic , it could be the modulating pressure valve on the gearbox . To check, find the vac pipe that goes from the inlet manifold to the gearbox and see if it has any traces of gearbox oil in it. If there is any ATF in the vacpipe ,the mod valve if U/S.
Steve
A pasted edition of this very issue posted before our last AGM:
"In these cooler mornings, some of you would have probably noticed your G's exhausting a lot of white smoke.
If are not loosing excessive coolant levels or the engine temperature is not overheating, you need not unnecessarily, worry of your head gaskets being blown and be in fear of pending repair costs.
At idle speed, your engines displaces approximately, 200 Lts of hot or relatively warm air per minute. This volume of warm air hitting colder, outside air is likely to condense, which results in that hugh plumb of white smoke. This big cloud, at ground level should die down as the engines warms up to its normal operating temperature.
As Winter is around the corner, check your belt and hose conditions, top up the windscreen washer and add a winter screen wash, keep a spare can of diluted screen wash as emergency top up to replenish your depleted screen wash bottle. Check your spare fuel cans.
Batteries show up their weakness in the first cold spell, have these and the charging rates checked out. Get the coolants anti freeze concentrations checked up.
Any one wanting to do this check at the AGM are welcome to do so. I will be bringing along, my antifreeze tester with me."
To add, take a whiff of the smoke, any smells of burning oil is an indication of burning oil, but if it is condensation, then it will not have an oil burning smell. Any head gasket leakage will have a smell of antifreeze in it. This is not quite a reliable test if your nose is not sensitive.
Regards,
White "smoke" (actually steam) is normally water based, is usually due to condensation from a cold engine and, as indicated above, generally clears as the engine gets to operating temperature. If it doesn't, and it may take longer in cold weather, start to suspect a head gasket or even a porous head casting (not unknown in Mercedes engines).
Blue smoke is generally oil based and if it clears fairly quickly is likely to be worn valve stem guides. If it persists, it is probably excessive piston ring wear, in which case a simple compression check would reveal any problems here.
Black smoke is usually fuel based and is either due to over-fuelling, i.e. faulty cold-start system or a dirty/restricted air filter.
Wading in water over and above the recommended depth for an unprepared vehicle can result in water damage to the air filter, even if you were lucky enough not to hydraulic-lock the thing. It is worth checking the air filter on 461 and 463 models where the engine air intake is in the side of the wing because it is not unknown for heavy rain water and, believe it or not, the headlight washer fluid, where a vehicle is so equipped, to flow along the wing and down into the intake where it is drawn into the filter, thus making it soggy and somewhat unsympathetic to any air trying to flow through it. More so the 461 than the 463 in my experience.
Sorry, the theme of the thread triggered memories and I had a rush of hot air to the brain. I'll shut up now.
I agree with all that has been said above ...but be aware that ATF burns pure white....i have driven many old mercs with a knackered mod valve and its like driving a car in a bond film...the only things missing are machine guns and an ejector seat.
steve
Thank you for all your replys i will get to the bottem of this over the next couple of days,keep checking the water level also
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Thanks for the reply's guy's.Cheers Steve.i will check the vacpipe for oil..i do understand it's a big thursty engine and could just be burning the moisture off thats in there. It seems to stop when i'm driving just when i'm parked up? I don't think it's the head gassket.
Glenn