Severe Condensation Problem

[Roujin]

I got a massive problem with condensation.

What can i do to clean it up? a mate of mine tried to tell me to run metho through it but i dont think thats healthy for the engine. Ive run some spitfire through it but i still get more than a bit of white smoke plus lots of water.

Before you say it, its not fuel ive checked nor is it blue smoke so i know its not oil. This supprised me as the car had not been started in ages before i got it. When i gave it the first kick in a long time there was a huge cloud of smoke but its nowhere near as much as it was but i want to get rid of as much as i can:rambo:

[Ed]

Not sure if I understand you correctly. You say your car is smoking at the tailpipe? And your pretty sure it's water? Is the water level in the radiator decreasing? Does the radiator blow water out of the overflow? If so there is a good chance you have a leaking head gasket.

[RogerZ]

Sounds like a head gasket leak. Or if hasn't been run in a while just stuff in the exhaust. I just put a new head gasket on a 280zxt and the first five/ten minutes it ran it smoked real good but after ran a few miles and every thing got hot it no longer did that. remember blue smoke oil. white smoke water.

[Roujin]

Its smoking at the pipe. I know its water. The radiator is fine (a little rust in the water but no leaks). How i know its water is i put my hand on the liquid and had a smell (petrol and was the 1st thing i looked for) even though i would do well by overhauling the fuel line god knows when it was done last

[beandip]

If there is no water in the oil , milky looking, and no oil in the water again it will float to the top and look like slimy scum . If none of this is happening , do a compression check and see what you find. If the compression all looks good , you most likely just have condensation that is in the muffler or pipeing. When you drive and completely warm up the engine . Like a 30 min drive , this should dry it all out and the steem should be gone. If not and the outside temp is not real cold , I would be supprised if you dident have a blown head gasket , like Ed said. Gary

[Roujin]

No problem getting the heat up its been 19-36 degrees centigrade on some days. as for compression its good. I know what the problem is i just want to know how to get rid of it

[Ed]

Its smoking at the pipe. I know its water. snip,

I know what the problem is i just want to know how to get rid of it

If you have water coming out of your tailpipe after the car has warmed up and been driven for atleast 15 minutes then you have a leaking head gasket.

[sblake01]

Or a crack somewhere that's letting water get into a clylinder, exhaust port, or egr port (if you have one) etc.

[Galaxybj]

I have started to experience the same heavy water vapor symptoms, though not to the same degree every morning. Checked the oil and no water there, but the radiator level was down some. Didn't appear to be any oil sheen or "blobs" in the water either. Also, the vapor smells some of antifreeze. I also noticed some antifreeze at the head/block between 5 and 6 cylinders. I know my next step......r/r head gasket.

[Galaxybj]

Question - Is there a way to determine if there may be a leak of coolant from the intake manifold rather than the head gasket and would the symptoms be the same?

[Ed]

If the intake manifold is leaking it would leak at the manifold where the coolant passages are. There is no way for coolant to leak into the combustion chamber via the intake manifold.

[MikeW]

If the intake manifold is leaking it would leak at the manifold where the coolant passages are. There is no way for coolant to leak into the combustion chamber via the intake manifold.

I don't know how likely it is but I don't see how you can say that there's no way for this to happen. It seems to me that one way would be if he spacer (insulator) cracked between the coolant passage hole and the main intake hole.