JP500

Today, I did somewhat of a "hot lap" bringing the m113 to its limits. All was fine, power was strong... but what had me very worried was the white/ clear smoke that I saw in my rear view mirror. It came at the redline of each gear before it switched to the next. This has me very concerned actually because this has never ever happen in the past 65k miles I have driven it. Transmission fluid and filter was changed 10, 000 miles ago, oil was just changed 500 miles ago. When I pulled intp my driveway, I opened the hood only to noticed the smoke rising from where the MAF is.. or atleast it seemed to be in that area by the firewall. Also as I mentioned power was strong but once I exceeded 120mph, the power wasnt so strong.My mechanic isnt around until the morning, so here I am seeking help and advice from my fellow members on the forum. Please any opinions and comments feel free to leave as soon as possible. DO NOT COME HERE TO BASH ME WITH NEGATIVITY ON HOW I SHOULD NOT BE SPEEDING, PLEASE!!!! I DO NOT CARE FOR THOSE COMMENTS OR FOR YOU FOR THAT MATTER.. thanks in advance to the rest who are kind,intelligent, helpful, and the people I have communicated with in the past

JP500

I forgot to mention I removed the intake manifold to help the smoke rise more freely. At this point I did notice that it seemed to be coming out directly of where the air enters the engine ..

06E5004ME

I had something like this on my mom's Volvo. One of PCV valves was bad or something along those lines - don't know much about that car. Was the smoke white or black?

JP500

if you look by where the MAF is, you can sort of see some white smoke rising. It is not consistent. I took it for another run just to see what would happen, and it came and went. I looked all the way underneath where the engine connects to the transmission and noticed some fluid down there. by the oil drain plug. I still haven't brought it to my mechanic because he is away for the weekend so I will wait until tomorrow morning. I am starting to think that there is just leaking oil somewhere down there.. possibly by the plug, maybe the plug is leaking oil when the engine runs through high RPM, and the smoke is actually burning oil? I don't know. Guess I will find out if its similar to what happened to the Volvo but not sure. Any other opinions are welcome... either way I shall find out tomorrow and post whatever conclusion I receive from my mechanic.

JP500

here is the photo I meant to attach to the previous post

JP500

@06E5004ME.. It was definitely a white-ish smoke.. I am sort-of leaning toward that it most definitely might be burning oil that is leaking somewhere and burning from the contact with heat. Then again I don't fix the car I just drive it so I cant be so sure... bothers me so much because this machine runs like a mother all the time since I first bought it a few years ago

06E5004ME

I think I agree with your theory of burning oil somewhere. Check everywhere you can think of where oil might leak and get in contact with high temperatures, mainly exhaust. It's really hard to see in the picture but I've seen something like this on an E39 BMW 540 too. That V8 leaked from pretty much every seal and produced smoke. Hopefully your mechanic will pinpoint the exact leak as the process of chasing down small leaks can be somewhat of a pain. Meanwhile, keep an eye out on you oil level.

JP500

I outlined a little more where the smoke actually is. But yes, good point.. definitely have to keep an eye out on the oil level. Just to be safe anyway, the care is sitting in the driveway sleeping until tomorrows visit to the shop.

mb techman

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BagMan

I would look at the rear main seal.

AMGAffalterbach

Hey Jasin, I hope you got everything worked out at the shop I'm sorry for the delayed response. Usually you can tell quite a bit from the color of the smoke, and if it's a whitish vapor/smoke then that would indicate burning oil. It is *possible* the crank case breather system could be not functioning optimally and some seals could have been blown in that process, but let me quote about.com on the symptoms/fixes of white smoke:

Symptom: White smoke or water vapor from the exhaust. You notice white smoke coming from the exhaust when you start your car. If it is cold out, this may be normal. If the smoke does not disappear after the car is warmed, you have a problem. Possible causes:

1. Transmission fluid may be entering the intake manifold through vacuum modulator.
   The Fix: Replace vacuum modulator
2. Cylinder head gasket(s) may be bad.
   The Fix: Replace cylinder head gasket(s).
3. Cylinder head(s) may be warped or cracked.
   The Fix: Resurface or replace cylinder heads. (Resurfacing is not a DIY job)
4. The engine block may be cracked.
   The Fix: Replace engine block.

Hopefully you get everything worked out, sorry to hear you're having an issue but it will get worked out I'm sure. Let us know if you have any more questions or need updates - these cars are meant to be autobahn-driven if that makes sense, I don't think your actions caused any issues but probably just uncovered some. I would agree with the conjectures from the above replies.

06E5004ME

@ ^ the about.com quote describes coolant smoke coming out of exhaust. Black smoke from exhaust means oil and white is coolant, which is not applicable to OP as he's experiencing neither of these.

The cracked block is pretty funny though, especially the solution. My spidey sense is telling me that white smoke would be the least of your worries with a cracked block.

mb techman

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06E5004ME

Never saw a car put out black smoke because of rich mixture, but useful info nonetheless.

AMGAffalterbach

"Never saw a car put out black smoke because of a rich mixture" What? Then you've never seen a car put out black smoke because in realistic terms, 9 times of of 10, that is the ONLY reason it should be is a rich fuel mixture, mb_techman is completely correct. Coolant does not produce black smoke, I am not sure where you get your information but you are flat out incorrect.

06E5004ME

Uh ok... I guess when I personally saw turbos go on Audis and VWs and black smoke out of the tail pipe then they were in fact running rich? I'll make sure to tell them that and have a good laugh. Where did I say that coolant produced black smoke? Check your eyes, mate.

Looking back at it, I think there is some confusion here in regards to black and dark blue smoke. Both are similar in color, so if you do have black or dark blue/gray smoke, you need to do more digging.

06E5004ME

By the time you see black smoke from running rich, your catalytic converters have probably been shot for a while. Oh and I'm just guessing here, but you will probably have a P0172 and/or P0175 CELs.

Also, none of this is relevant as OP is not smoking from exhaust pipe.

mb techman

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06E5004ME

mb techman, the main cause for smoke that I described is oil. Regardless, there is no point in debating what causes what color smoke as like I said before OP is not smoking from exhaust.

AMGAffalterbach

...I seriously can't tell if you are joking or not you really don't seem to get it man. I don't mean to attack you personally, but you have a 180 degree view on this. That is the EXACT REASON that there is black smoke coming out of the tail pipe with a failed turbo - the forced induction isn't working at levels to optimally lean up the fuel mixture so without compression it's burning up too much fuel without the proper fuel/air ratio. Go and tell them that and instead of laughing at you they will probably tend to agree with you, anyone that knows ANYTHING about how engines work will tell you the same thing. If not do some reading up on this online and you will see what I'm talking about

AMGAffalterbach

Only true if fuel combustion is so poor that there is actually liquid gasoline burning when it hits the extremely hot exhaust systems, which can happen. If you're seeing black smoke this isn't necessarily the case. That's the reason catalytic converters melt is because of an engine problem leading to incomplete combustion, gasoline actually exiting the combustion chamber and burning up in the cat which will cause the discs to melt.

Quadcammer

my goodness this thread hurts my head.

1. coolant/condensation-white smoke.
2. fuel...gray
3. oil...bluish
4. Any visible smoking when car is warmed up (assuming you have cats and they are working)= a problem.

Stated that a car with a "blown" turbo is going to run unreasonably rich is silly. Firstly, in most cases, a blown turbo is dumping oil into the downpipe from blown seals. Very rarely is the impeller or cartridge so damaged that it wouldn't create boost (wastegate failure is also rare).

Now then, most blown cars use boost sensors of some sort as well as vacuum fuel pressure regulators. They won't just dump fuel. Obviously at less than full throttle, you also have the 02 sensors in play as well.

my guess, you have an oil leak from the valvecovers thats dripping onto the exhaust somewhere.

06E5004ME

LOL! Do you actually know any turbo'ed Audi/VW owners who'd back you up on this? I know exactly ZERO. No offense, but Google can be a friend when you're not sure of something.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-a-blown-turbo

And this:

"anyone that knows ANYTHING about how engines work will tell you the same thing." Minus the people who actually know what they are talking about.

I am done here.

06E5004ME

Good to hear a voice of reason.

JP500

I completely forgot to report my issue, my apologies I know it's almost a couple of years later LOL, but my life has gotten very busy. Anyway, it turned out to be the rear main seal leaking oil onto the headers by the cats area, and it was just basically burning it.
On a side note I recently replaced all ball joints and control arms on both front wheels. NYC roads have been very harsh. Other than that the car has been great and honestly am never selling it. Looking for an AMG coupe though on the side.