View single post by Mark Rosenbaum
 Posted: 04-22-2005 03:21 pm
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Mark Rosenbaum



Joined: 03-12-2005
Location: Kingman, Arizona USA
Posts: 532
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 It sounds like a fluid (probably coolant) is getting into the cylinders only if the cooling system is under pressure and there's a high vacuum in the intake manifold.  A quick check would be to remove the radiator cap from a cold engine, start the engine and let it warm up, and see if smoke occurs.  If there is no smoke, or far less smoke, then the problem may be a bad intake manifold gasket, internally leaking manifold casting, or internally leaking cylinder head.  If the radiator cap is then reinstalled and a few minutes later you again have smoke, it's pretty likely that the basic cause has been identified.

If you're really unlucky, you might have some sort of coolant leak between cylinder head and coolant jacket, or between block and cylinder liner, but in either case I'd expect to see combustion gases in the coolant.  To test for this, modern diagnostic auto shops add some chemical to the coolant that reacts with combustion gases.  It's a pretty conclusive test, and the cost should be only about $100 or so -- about the same as a JH head gasket.

 

Last edited on 04-22-2005 11:36 pm by Mark Rosenbaum