White Smoke

YJJPWrangler87

YJJPWrangler87

New Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2006
Location
Raleigh
my girlfriend just bought a 92 XJ with the 4.0 HO engine, auto. The jeep has 195k on the OD. We took it wheeling the other day, and i noticed that on steep inclines, white smoke pours out of the exhaust, it smells like oil..we changed oil the other day, no coolant or metal or nething like that in it. We put in HD-30..is this oil to thin for the engine? maybe a thicker oil? Smoke only happens on inclines, but the smell is still there.... I know white smoke typically means gasoline...Any ideas?

Zack
 
Black smoke = too rich (gasoline)
Blue smoke(whitish??) = oil

Its not too thin for the engine, but sometimes thicker oil will give a short term solution to a long term problem. You could try one of those oil treatments (slick 50). If it's only on a steep incline I wouldn't worry about it. Just keep an eye on it.
 
your rings are probably worn and it is leaking past the back ones on inclines. mine does it too. run rottella 15w40 and a quart of lucas should slow it down.
 
ok..thats what i thought...the only real solution to it is a ring job right? How much is that...and how hard is it to do? also the front pcv on the engine is broken..and there is oil trickling down behind it..could that have afffect the smoke?


Zack
 
White smoke can also be tranny fluid (ATF), just food for thought.
Motor oil is usually more blue smoke
 
but how could tranny fluid be coming out of the exhuast.

You have to pull the head, pull the pan. probaly like 12 hours, about 1200-1400 would be a decent price. but it would kinda of be a waste not to do a valvejob and check your bearings, you should just rebuild the whole thing or run it till it pukes and get another motor. little oil burning aint hurting nothing.
 
Yep white is usually coolant. Since you only notice it on inclines, are you sure it's from the exhaust, and not just coming from behind. Could be leaking and able to hit the hot exhaust when at a certain angle.
Another thought:
Do you have any exhaust leaks? I have an extended reservoir on my power steering pump, I also have an exhaust leak. So, on a steep incline, when I over filled the reservoir, some fluid would leak out. Having an exhaust leak, it works like a vacuum and sucked the fluid into my exhaust. Creating a BIG smoke cloud out of one side.
Hope this helps
 
Cperry said:
but how could tranny fluid be coming out of the exhuast.
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some cars/trucks use a vacumm diafram on the back of the tranny to control the upshift point. if it is leaking inside then it will suck tranny fluid through the vacumm hose and into the intake. Then it will get burned, and produce a white smoke

A good way to check if it is engine oil is to run some %100 synthetic oil because it will not smoke when burned.(a shady used car dealer trick)
 
hmm ok....ill check all that...the stock exhaust is getting tossed anyway, in favor of a flowmaster kit...thanks guys.

Zack
 
White smoke indicates that there is water/coolant in getting through to your combustion chamber. AKA Head gasket, craked head, cracked block between water jackets and cylinder wall, etc.....
 
yeah, im pretty sure its the head gasket, i don't think the head itself is warped. I haven't done a head gasket, what are some things that i need to watch out for?

Zack
 
The reason everyone was looking at other things is because you said it only did it when you were going up a steep grade.
but,....

to answer your last question. You can not just look at it and tell if it's warped. Really it's not warped at much as wear from heating and cooling, and moving. But to check it you need a machines straight edge and feeler gages. With that amount of miles I do believe I would have it surfaced anyway. It will give the gasket a god surface to seal against.
You can have it pressure checked, but someone knowing what they are doing will find any cracks in it with a good magna fluxing.
You can have vacuum pulled on all the valves to make sure they are seating good. This does need to be done with the valve springs off. Should pull a minimum of 20lbs. If they pull good no need for a valve job. But while it's off, I would go ahead and have the new seals put on the valves that will come with a head gasket kit.
Hope this helps.
 
And why spend the money on a "flowmaster kit" when you have jeep that is smoking and has over 200k on it. I think I would be looking to rebuild or running it into the ground as is. Just a ???
 
And why spend the money on a "flowmaster kit" when you have jeep that is smoking and has over 200k on it. I think I would be looking to rebuild or running it into the ground as is. Just a ???
Click to expand...

x2 Think about your investment and your return. If it locks up in the next 15k or so, you won't get shit back out of it.
 
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