kseries.rookie Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Advice needed! Right guys, i'm completely stumpted and am in desperate need of some advice. Apologies in advanced for the novel ahead! Randomly my daily drivers (HR32 Skyline, rb20de automatic) battery decided the die. Simple, rung up a friend who lived in the area and he came out and jump started it. It started pretty rough, almost sounding like it was running on 5. Gave it a tickle on the ole' rev pedal and it appeared to sound fine after that. So we cruised on down the road and I had noticed the exhaust was a little bit smokey.. Blue smoke, ah shit. Pulled over had a look, checked under the hood, no obvious leaks or anything from the engine bay all appeared to be good, temperature guage was fine (I religiously check this ever 30 seconds since i've had a car overheat on me) Cruising down the road (50 kms, no hills so no struggling) I felt it drop a cylinder. Fuck. Looked in my mirror.. Massive clouds of white smoke bellowing out of the exhaust. Luckily I was littereally around the corner from a friends so coasted there. When I got there, I let the car cool down and proceeded to have a look under the hood. There was no water (that I could see) under the radiator cap, but the overflow bottle was sitting right at the very top of the bottle (which obviously is a lot more full than the "max" line!). Parked it up in a secure garage last night, got a ride home and slept on it. I've done my best to think what it could be but i'm completely stumpted. It's not deisel in the petrol tank, cause I haven't filled up in a week and that was definitely petrol.. The missus hasn't needed to put gas in so couldn't be that. What could it be?! Has one of the coil packs buggered out so it's over fueling so burning the non-burnt fuel hense the thick white smoke? I've checked oil levels, they were a little low (just under the line) but was black (not milky). Radiator fluid was a nice green still (not milky).. When the motor was warm, I did notice a very ever so slight blue smoke riding from underneith the heat shield covering the exhaust manifold. Bugger all tho. could it be an exhaust gasket, and oils leaking/burning? All help/tips on diagnostics would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
projectr30 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 hey bud,sounds like a headgasket issue. get it compression tested and cooling/radiator pressure leak down test done. thats where i would start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Really tho? No overheating, no milky shit, only white smoke not blue? The two issues with the Radiator and the smoke could be unrealted. Could be a 20+ year old thermostat that caved in the same time as an injector? I will get it compression tested tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHGWAG Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 IIRC, blue smoke means you are burning oil. Eg. piston rings / valve stem seals etc. Black smoke is over fueling (common with diesels) White is burning water (steam) From what I gather, you are burning water, and your over flow has beeen filled.... Im my opinion, somewhere along the line the engine is pressurising your cooling system, whilst on non combustion strokes, the water is leaking back into your engine = head gasket. The same thing sometimes happen when you break a waterseal in a 13b (rotary). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 IIRC, blue smoke means you are burning oil. Eg. piston rings / valve stem seals etc. Black smoke is over fueling (common with diesels) White is burning water (steam) From what I gather, you are burning water, and your over flow has beeen filled.... Im my opinion, somewhere along the line the engine is pressurising your cooling system, whilst on non combustion strokes, the water is leaking back into your engine = head gasket. The same thing sometimes happen when you break a waterseal in a 13b (rotary). Nah cause I checked water levels last week, when I checked the oil. It was sitting about a centre metre below the "Max" - and opened radiator cap and was sitting about a cm below the top of the radiator. So you think water has gotten into the head, and is blowing the steam out the rear? Steam generally dissapears after coming out the exhaust, it definately lingers around for a good few seconds. So unexpected.. It's a very well maintained car! Grr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanfels Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Try find a spare set of coils to try. Ive seen quite a few drop coils due to them being old and sitting down in the engine where its nice and hot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Yeah, trial and error I think would be the key. Atleast I have a starting point. I really hope it's not a blown head gasket. Thats a big job, i've done once before on a 4k motor.. not an RB20de Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllTorque Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Sounds like a blown head gasket to me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KKtrips Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I would charge the battery with a proper trickle charger and then give it another go. It could be a low battery voltage causing the computer to have a conniption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 I would charge the battery with a proper trickle charger and then give it another go. It could be a low battery voltage causing the computer to have a conniption. I've owned the car for nearly 3 years and haven't replaced the battery yet, it does looks fairly average and sometimes if it's left for a few days it's a little slow to tick over. I'll get a new battery on the way home and give it a go when I pick the car up.. (on the back of a trailer.. ). If it's the battery... Oh man, i'd be extatic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capone Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Yep, check battery and charging as you know there was an issue with the battery and things started from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 It's not a charging issue cause within the last 12 months i've had both starter motor/alternator rebuilt. I'll go from battery. Doesn't explain the miss fire/smoke tho does it? I didn't know low voltage to ECU's could cause them to majorly spit the dummy. Now this will make me sound like a right derp-tard but I thought that when the cars running, the lack of voltage becomes null and void because the cars running-not relying on the battery? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRWEST Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 yup low voltage can make the ecu have a spaz, Sounds like a head gasket tho get it tested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Morning lads/ladettes. I bought a new battery, grabbed a trailer and head on down to the car. Slapped the new battery in.. Same situation again. Roothless amounts of steam coming out the rear end. Everything has/is leading to a fucked head gasket - I just hope the damage hasn't fucked the internals. I didn't make it home until 11:30pm after faffing about, so I will do a proper assessment in the next couple of days. Looks like it may even be easier for me to just whip out this motor and replace with a new one.. It's certainly easier than a head gasket! (in my opinion) Thanks for all the advice, I was hoping it'd be something fairly simple.. but no. What boggles my mind is I had no warning signs! The water levels are always good, oil is always good/serviced, I am constantly looking at the temp guage and it didn't move a mm.. Ahh well. Life goes on eh, noones hurt so could've been worse! Thanks again guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHGWAG Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Just do a quick compression test before sourcing a new engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted January 22, 2013 Author Share Posted January 22, 2013 I've spoken to a mate who has the compression tester. He said to whip off the spark plugs, crank it over and see if a milky substance comes out the holes.. If it does, he won't bother testing cause it'l be munched! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toucan Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I'd try find the cause of the BHG, check radiator and hoses, would be unfortunate to put a replacement engine in there only to be destroyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranter Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 ^Good point, the radiator cap is obviously stuffed but there could be another cause also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kseries.rookie Posted February 9, 2013 Author Share Posted February 9, 2013 For those interested.. Fucked head gasket! It could of been worse, so i'm thankful it's "just" a head gasket. So plans are.. New head gasket New tensioners New cambelt New Waterpump New Thermostat New Radiator cap.. Wish me luck.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ta63-1uzze Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Make sure you get the head tested; it’s not much about 200 bucks roughly. get a quick vacuum test , check for hardness too (if its alloy) ,and nice light skim,. The vacuum test will tell you if there are any cracks if so move onto a pressure test to find the cracks, and repair if needed/can be done. The hardness test tells you if the head is gone soft if so it’s not useable and you need a new one. And light skim makes sure the new gasket will bolt down evenly and prevent failure again. Even if you didn’t see the gauge go to hot it doesn’t mean it hasn’t over heated, could have had a hot spot in the head due to lack of coolant flow, could have had no water in the top of the engine thus the temp sensor won’t read as its not submerged in water, even an air pocket, therefor there could be damage that you don’t know about, and seeing as its not cheap to do the head gasket you don’t want to have to do it twice. Also pays to get new head studs as some are torque to yield meaning they stretch when torqued down and that makes them not re-useable Talk to your local engine rebuilder / repairer, discuss prices and get what you need, I use east city engine rebuilders for my homer jobs as I get along well with the owner/operator and he gives me good prices. My 2 cents . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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