> For some time my car has been spitting white smoke when the engine is
> cold. I thought it may be my carbs that needed adjusting. Mark Hooper
> helped me adjust my carbs with the Unisyn and the Gunson Colortune.
> Everything was adjusted properly and to my surprise, I started the car
> this morning and again, a HUGE cloud of white smoke. The weird thing is
> that the smoke does not have a normal exhaust smell. It's a real foul
> smell. As soon as the car warms up.everything is fine. I went to a
> garage today and the mechanic told me that it can either be my head
> gasket or the valve seals. Does anyone have an opinion on that?
I've always got an opinion. Whether it's worth anything is a different
question!
Some white smoke is of course normal : much of car exhaust is water vapor
and while the exhaust system is cold it can condense back to 'steam'. How
much you see depends on outside temperature and humidity; and where I am has
been very cool and humid the last few days. When I fired up the Stag to go
home last night, it spit not only steam, but liquid water out the exhaust.
However, if you're sure it's an abnormal amount, and it's white not blue,
and it's only when cold ... then a coolant leak is the most likely
explanation. "Valve seals" (a stock TR6 doesn't actually have valve seals,
but worn guides can cause the same symptom) cause blue smoke, and it usually
doesn't go away when the engine is warm.
If it's a head gasket problem, then most likely there will also be
combustion gases in the coolant. Any radiator shop should be able to test
for this. There are other ways for coolant to leak of course, but this is a
good first step.
Randall
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