Suddenely my car (1972 1800e w/ b20f) was having a hard time starting. I've had this problem before, but this time it is accompied by a light white smoke that is coming out of the engine. It pushes back through intake manafold, comes out of the oil filler cap when removed and pushes out exaust in smaller amounts.

Plugs, points ect. are in good shape. Before the failure to start, car was running well except for once the night before; the engine died suddenly, not stalled, but died while driving, I turned the starter and it sprung back to life.

Does any one have an idea of what might be going on or what to check on?

Thanks,
TurboZamboni

Do you have a brake booster? It might be leaky thereby causing brake fluid to enter the manifold and be burned in the engine. How's the brake fluid level in the resevoir?
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P131, '65, B20B+M47. P131, '69, B20E+AW71L+LSD. (www.tinustechniek.tk)

Yes, I have a brake booster, but the brakes are still strong and the fluid level has not changed.
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TurboZamboni- The fastest way to clear the ice.

Sounds like it is running lean at idle (is it still FI?) lean will also give a white smoke. Possibly the TPS is reading wrong? Is your fuel pressure low?

Mike!

My car is still running D-Jet. What is the TPS, and the best way to check fuel Pressure?
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TurboZamboni- The fastest way to clear the ice.

If the ignition is working properly (always best to check first) then I'd start looking at items that affect your mixture setting, especially at idle. The TPS is the throttle position sensor. If it is not giving the proper signal when you snap the throttle closed, the computer won't know how much fuel to give the beasty.
If the fuel pressure is low (or high) it will mess up fuel delivery also as the computer expects a certain pressure for the injector open sequence. The high vaccum with the throttle closed could be causing an otherwise OK pressure regulator to screw up. Ditto for a plugged fuel filter but you should be sensing that under load instead of at idle. Pressure can be measured with a gauge plumbed into the line. Believe D-jet is low pressure but to be safe get a FI gauge instead of a carb-type gauge as it will still be much more than carbs use.
Best to get yerself a Bosch FI manual for trouble-shooting the bugger 'cause we can shoot "possibilities" at you all day long and still miss it.

Mike!

Often white smoke is a sign of the engine trying to burn water instead of gasoline. I'd suspect a head gasket. Take a compression check and if you find low readings on two adjacent cylinders, the head gasket is probably blown between those two cylinders. You didn't say whether you had coolant loss or not but the head gasket is worth checking. There could be a more serious problem but head gaskets do fail.
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Roy Olson

I have gotten my car to start and run now. The white smoke mostly gone and I haven't changed anything. I did notice that there is a small coolent leek around the thermostat/ return hose joint. Could a proublem with a leeky radiator hoses or thermostat cause the described "white smoke"? Also if coolent is getting into the cylinder, other than a bad head gasket, where could the leek be at?

Thanks
Turbozamboni

Leaking hoses or t-stat housing would be more or less external leaks and probably not cause the white smoke problem. If it is in fact coolant leaking into the cylinders, usually the head gasket is at fault. If not then it's worse news because either the block or head might be cracked. Is there any evidence of water in your engine oil? That's easily identified by the motor oil being a milky brown color and having an oil level too high on the dipstick. I hope not.
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Roy Olson

None of the signs of H2O in the oil, color is that of normal ware approching the need for an oil change and the level was down 1/2qt. (normal oil use). I'm going to have a compression test done to check the head gasket. Any other sugestions?

TurboZamboni

Another thought, coulda problem with the crankcase breather affect the engine like this?

Problems with breathers and ventilation usually lead to blue smoke because oil is forced where it shouldn't be. White smoke is water. If it is coolant you should be able to smell a sweet smell in the exhaust.

I wouldn't have the compression test done--I would do it myself. The testing tool is relatively cheap--off-brand ones on e-bay are under 20 bucks--and the test is just a matter of pulling the spark plugs one at a time. You will want to do that anyway just to see what they look like. If you plan to hang around old cars and compression test kit is definitely worth the investment.

I don't have any other quick checks but I'd certainly be interested in the compression test results. When crankcase breathers, flame traps, etc. plug up, the effect is to usually pressurize the crankcase and oil starts leaking pretty severely past the gaskets.
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Roy Olson

I performed a compression test yesterday, the results are as fallows:
Cylinder #1-180psi, #2-182, #3-172, and #4-176. My shop manual states the test range for a B20F should be 129-156psi. Any ideas on why all 4 cylindars are so high? Could it a block in the exhaust system or carbon build up in the cylinders?


most puzzled,
TurboZamboni

The particular values don't mean anything much at all. All that's important is that they are similar to one another. In this case, your lowest cylinder is within 5% or so of the highest, so that's perfectly fine.

The problem seems to rear it's ugly head only at idle, like warm up or stop lights and stalls out. She runs nice and strong under load. Occasionally when she stalls out, I'll get a back fire and a very large cloud of that darn white smoke out the exhaust.

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TurboZamboni- The fastest way to clear the ice.

Dunno about the vapor.

When it won't start, just go over the basics, spark, fuel, compression.

1) Compression - can be affected by internal damage, a non-op (for some reason) valvetrain . Pretty much, however, if you can hear the starter straining over each compression it's probably good enough to run. It's generally the last thing to suspect, but you've got some evidence right there when you crank it over trying to start it. For example if the cam gear came apart it will sound funny when cranked.

2) Spark - pull a wire, place it within 1/4 inch or so of a ground, crank it over. If it sparks then good, if not find out why. If it was running prior there's no immediate need to suspect the timing.

3) Fuel - this means dealing with D-Jet on your car.
3a) Turn the key on - do you hear the fuel pump run for a couple of seconds? If not there is something amiss. If you don't slowly press the pedal down with the key on and listen *very carefully* for the inectors clicking - if you hear them it means the FI system is powered up, if not the main power supply is not turning on (it's a separate green wire that attaches right onto the + battery terminal).
3b) If you heard a fuel pump, and you heard some injector clicks you *most likely* have fuel, you could also unscrew all 4 sheet metal injector retaining rings, give each injector a little twist, and pull up the entire fuel rail with all hoses and wires attached. Turn the key on several times (to ensure pressure is built up) then, with the key on, slowly open the throttle by hand and watch each injector. They should fire in pairs and make a nice spritz of fuel each time.
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.