Hi all,
I bought a 99 GTP a few weeks ago and have been loving it, Until Yesterday when I noticed a very heavy white smoke from the exhaust. Temp got up to 210* at idle, But cooled off after i started driving again and revving the enigne up to around 3k produced a heavy white cloud that you could not see through. Strange part is smoke does NOT smell like coolant or oil, but I am losing a good amount of both. I think the oil is being lost via a leaky valve cover gasket. Smoke was very white, no bluish color at all, and there are no puddles under the car making me think im burning it.
I've spent all day researching and browsing the forums, and found so much conflicting information I had to make a thead. My best (uneducated) guess is headgasket or LIM gasket.
My notes:
No oil in coolant or coolant in oil
No air bubbles surface with rad cap removed, but level does dip maybe an 1/8th in when revving, and raises again as rpm's drop.
temp stays consistent and cool while moving, and spikes a bit at idle.
No loss of power or fuel economy
Putting a piece of paper up to the exhaust makes droplets on the paper in 30 sec
It doesnt pour smoke contantly. Sometimes ill rev it and see no smoke at all, but after letting it idle for 30 sec or more i get heavy smoke on the next rev and a steady "puff puff" from the exhaust at idle.
from what I gathered, the LIM gaskets are poorly designed and notorious on these engines. They have coolant and oil passages, both prone to leaking. Can coolant enter the combustion chamber by a failing LIM gasket? I'm guessing it gets into the head and eventually makes its way into the chamber?
Going to do a compression test right now will post results. I've already ordered a leak down tester,but it won't be here for a few days.
Desperate for any suggestions/ideas. Sorry for my lack of knowlege, very new to these engine.
Thanks in advance.