I know others have already commented. Are you seeing smoke or "water vapor"? Water vapor is a normal part of the combustion process. It is more visible on a cold engine as it will condense in the exhaust and become apparent as the exhaust heats up to drive it out. Water can actually puddle in the muffler and if hollow, the catalytic converter shell as well. When you drive it, are you driving it far enough to actually get everything warm enough to drive the moisture out? Just getting the coolant up to temp does not qualify. Are you driving it because you need to or do you think you have to? Weekly short cycles can be worse than just letting it sit. For short runs the oil will also hold some water and this will pass the rings and also add to the vapor cloud. Combustion chamber, head gaskets, and even cracked heads in the exhaust ports are all possibilities. Careful coolant monitoring and oil analysis will help determine if there is a problem or not. Dennis
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Alain Thibault Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 7:11 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: White smoke when cold Allo all My van sits in the garage for most of the week and I drive it only once a week. When I start it, there is a lot of white smoke...I mean a lot of smoke. Alter 10-15 minutes, when the engine has reached normal temperature, there is no more smoke. I know that it is normal that there is smoke when the engine is cold but that much, I have rarely seen it. Being fairly new to the Vanagon world, I wonder it this is normal? I would appreciate any of your thoughts on the subject. I don't know if it is related to that, but when the engine has reached normal temperature, it will need 2-3 cranks before the engine starts again... Thanks Alain 1986 Westfalia Sent from my iPad 2 |
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