Was just at the car, and its now running rough. its running that rough its causing the body to shake noticeably. its losing water, although there is a leak on the left of the engine from what looks like its coming from the turbo water feed. its also smoking white smoke, that doesn't smell of anything but burnt petrol fumes and my coolant doesn't smell for some reason.

 

I also popped open the oil cap and noticed that its got mayo on the inside edge. yet none on the dip stick.

 

I am at a loss to the cause, as it was running nice and smooth yesterday. but then when my golf HG failed, that went very quickly between pistons 2 and 3 and also caused the engine to shake the car noticeably

 

From what i can tell its not over heating as the gauge sits just below half way. i did remove a small blue Relay from the back of the fuse box yesterday. but the online service manual shows this to be the rear screen demister relay, so i am scrubbing this off my possible causes.

 

On the top water pipe that goes from the top of the rad, to the front of the engine, is two sensors, one is the temp sensor, what is the other one, as it needs replacing due to the connector on top being broken, so I'm not sure if there is a good enough contact. and i couldn't find it in the service manual.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

 

Or knows what HG failure symptoms are on this engine?

you could have coolant seeping into one cylinder and blowing it up the exhaust through the turbo hence the white smoke or steam.

So i could be looking at HG failure?

HG failure is a serious fault to have and despite many owners concerns it does take some doing to get to that position. Simply if it was ok yesterday and no major incident has occured then dont panic just yet.

 

The condensation that you are getting from the exhaust is just that, especially if its running a bit rough too, most likely a bad connection somewhere, temp sensor, injector ptu etc.

 

Even when these engines are running well they produce loads of water vapour and given we have the past few days had a general change in weather and the change in humidity I would not worry.

 

If the head gasket had a problem so bad water as getting onto the cylinder then you would know big style, overheating and extreme poor starting.

 

Get searching for a bad connection and when sorted take it for a long run, oh and the two sensors at the front one ( the larger one ) is the ecu engine temp sensor and the other single spade one is the dash temp gauge sensor.

 

Jeff TT

HG failure is a serious fault to have and despite many owners concerns it does take some doing to get to that position. Simply if it was ok yesterday and no major incident has occured then dont panic just yet.

 

The condensation that you are getting from the exhaust is just that, especially if its running a bit rough too, most likely a bad connection somewhere, temp sensor, injector ptu etc.

 

Even when these engines are running well they produce loads of water vapour and given we have the past few days had a general change in weather and the change in humidity I would not worry.

 

If the head gasket had a problem so bad water as getting onto the cylinder then you would know big style, overheating and extreme poor starting.

 

Get searching for a bad connection and when sorted take it for a long run, oh and the two sensors at the front one ( the larger one ) is the ecu engine temp sensor and the other single spade one is the dash temp gauge sensor.

 

Jeff TT

 

Jeff your a star, i did notice something strange on the drivers side of the engine, i pushed the injector connectors down, and the engine revs dropped, so i think tomorrow its harness off time and clean them connections. my engine is rather dirty at the min which is a reason i havent posted pictures.

 

I think the worst thing is going from an engine that blew, to one i fitted my self, to an unknown, making me worry more when i hear something going on, that i know it shouldnt be doing lol (im sure craig is the same as me on this one at the moment, but slightly less than me given his car is lovely, and mine needs some serious loving)

 

So i need to replace the dash temp sensor.

yes my zx had been off the road for repaint only running around workshop then first trip after white smoke galore,5 mins later all clear.just a build up of condensation in exhaust.

mine defo must be a swimming pool in my back boxes lol, had it running for over an hour the other day and it still spat out white smoke from both exits. think im just going to angle grind this old exhaust back boxes off and get around to fitting my mongoose ones. at least i know theres no water in them, it all dripped out when i took them off the last car :D

mine defo must be a swimming pool in my back boxes lol, had it running for over an hour the other day and it still spat out white smoke from both exits. think im just going to angle grind this old exhaust back boxes off and get around to fitting my mongoose ones. at least i know theres no water in them, it all dripped out when i took them off the last car :D

 

Remember when ticking over you most likely in these cool weather temps producing as much water in the exhaust than what is been vapour released, you need to raise the exhaust temperature to dry it out and only a long run will do that, also when the engine is not running well, missing or overfulling etc. the exhaust temp will drop and you guessed it will produce even more water and subsequent vapour.

 

Jeff TT

well ill give the connectors a good clean and also check the plugs see if that improves anything. might even give the engine a bloody good clean as well while im there.

 

And see about getting these back boxes on.

got the chance to go visit the motor again today, for some much needed diagnostics. first thing i did was check all connections, and im surprised they are remarkably clean, no green fluffy stuff anywhere, come to think of it they were all shiny lol.

 

Anyway, started the car again, and it still had a lumpy idle, so went around checking all the rest of the other connectors, noticed the Det sensor wire had been fixed before using some electrical connectors and one of the wires had frayed that much is was only connected with 1 thread. so sorted that out.

 

Then with the engine running, pulled the connector off the top of each coil pack to see if that was causing my lumpy idle. low and behold, took the connector off number 4, and no change in the engine. so turned the engine off, and swapped it for coil pack 2 to see if it was indeed the coil pack.

 

Well it must of been seated wrong, as no rough idle.... all back to being nice and smooth now :D panic over.

 

Ooh, also one of me mates popped up to see me, who i haven't seen in ages, he works in a body shop in the spray department, and is going to respray me car for me, to bay side blue. all i have to do is supply the paint, thinners / lacquer and hardeners.

Edited March 22, 201015 yr by vodkashots

got the chance to go visit the motor again today, for some much needed diagnostics. first thing i did was check all connections, and im surprised they are remarkably clean, no green fluffy stuff anywhere, come to think of it they were all shiny lol.

 

Anyway, started the car again, and it still had a lumpy idle, so went around checking all the rest of the other connectors, noticed the Det sensor wire had been fixed before using some electrical connectors and one of the wires had frayed that much is was only connected with 1 thread. so sorted that out.

 

Then with the engine running, pulled the connector off the top of each coil pack to see if that was causing my lumpy idle. low and behold, took the connector off number 4, and no change in the engine. so turned the engine off, and swapped it for coil pack 2 to see if it was indeed the coil pack.

 

Well it must of been seated wrong, as no rough idle.... all back to being nice and smooth now :D panic over.

 

Ooh, also one of me mates popped up to see me, who i haven't seen in ages, he works in a body shop in the spray department, and is going to respray me car for me, to bay side blue. all i have to do is supply the paint, thinners / lacquer and hardeners.

 

Nice find! glad it turned out to be nothing expensive.

 

H.

Bet your glad it was just a coil pack.

Nice find! glad it turned out to be nothing expensive.

 

H.

 

Always worth diagnosing things. never can be too sure. just didn't have the time last night, so thought id ask first.

 

found a nice site that can do, all the paint / thinners / hardeners / base coat and lacquer to do the respray in bayside blue, all for £180. told him what car it was, and he had someone else who had purchased paint for their 300zx. so new how much they used to do the whole car. not a bad price to be honest. and they sell it by the litre. so looks like ill be sorting that out come may / June time, ready for the summer. aarrggghh cant wait :D

 

@ shrek

 

Yeah just a bit lol, i dont mind doing a HG, as its just time consuming more than anything. but still, would rather not.

Another update, yay, well found out where the water leak is, its a small bit of rubber piping that bridges two small metal pipes, under the plenum on the passenger side and then runs down in between the turbo turbine housing. it drips down the side of the turbo, and ends up on the floor. so need to get that sorted out now. means I'm going to have to employ a small child for some labor :lol: , well looks like ill be removing all the loom and pipe work down the left hand side of the engine.

 

Once that's sorted out, ill know if I'm losing water else where.