White smoke on startup, loosing water

[tom.batch.90]

Hi guys,

Just a quick one, I'm driving a mk1 Leon fr pd150, it's running a hybrid turbo with an updated intercooler, piping, exhaust and clutch, every two weeks or so it tells me to top up the coolant when I start it up, also, when it's dead cold it puffs a little bit of white smoke on start up, there's no milky colour on the oil cap, there's no evidence of water dripping out anywhere, I'm a bit lost, any ideas?

Thanks in advance!


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[Tay-FR]

It could be your head gasket has broken down between a water channel and one of your cylinders, (so no mixing of oil and water which causes the milky oil cap)

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[tom.batch.90]

Ahhhh that's not what I wanted to hear! Is there anyway to prove that would be the problem other than taking it all apart?



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[Stuart09]

99% That's a head gasket that's away. Pressure test from a garage should do the job.
There is head gasket sealer that you can fire In but unsure if this is a good thing or not.

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[tom.batch.90]

Thanks Stuart, anyone on here clued up on a rough price on replacing the head gasket?


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[verbal_kint]

Thanks Stuart, anyone on here clued up on a rough price on replacing the head gasket?


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Annoyingly, to replace an item costing only a few quid you could be looking at at least £700. There is a lot of labour involved with all the dismantling and setting it all back up.

I did my own last summer and being my first, took my time and did find another problem along the way but wasn't too bad and took about 12 hours all totted up I suppose.

Some thin white smoke from a cold engine and on the cold mornings we have now may be nothing to worry about and not connected with coolant loss

But do get it looked at by a couple and get quotes.

 

[tom.batch.90]

Annoyingly, to replace an item costing only a few quid you could be looking at at least £700. There is a lot of labour involved with all the dismantling and setting it all back up.



I did my own last summer and being my first, took my time and did find another problem along the way but wasn't too bad and took about 12 hours all totted up I suppose.



Some thin white smoke from a cold engine and on the cold mornings we have now may be nothing to worry about and not connected with coolant loss



But do get it looked at by a couple and get quotes.

Okay thanks mate, having spent a lot of the money on the car, I'd rather not get rid of it but at the same time I don't really want to put another grand in her! Is there anything else worth getting done whilst I'm there if I replace the head gasket?



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[verbal_kint]

It might be some valve seals leaking but get someone to do a compression and leak test first.

If it does end up being a head gasket then you might as well get all the belts and pulleys renewed unless you know they are fairly new.

Again IF it is the HG then you need to find out why it has gone.

Usually gaskets fail from overheating and a hot spot being created, often on the inner of the cylinders. If you know it had a HG done fairly recently then the fitting or the gasket quality may be the cause. Either way you don't want all the cost of replacing without knowing why it went so it doesn't just go again in a few months.

 

[tom.batch.90]

Okay thanks much! The car's in for a test on Monday, I'll keep you posted!


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