White smoke from tailpipe

[Otto]

Hi everyone, last week I bought a bottle of seaform engine treatment. I followed the instructions to clean the intake & crankcase. They said there would be some carbon blowing out the tailpipe, but every time I start the engine forthe first couple of minutes white smoke comes out. It's only been a week, will this go away or is something else wrong like maybe an oxigen sensor. It's not black smoke, but almost a blueish white.Has anybody else experinced this?

[Green Dragon]

If you used Sea Foam, it is suggested that you run the VX about 100 miles after treatment, then change oil & oil filter.

[Otto]

I drove for about 75 miles that day and change the oil & filter. Sometimes I start her and a little smoke comes out and then sometimes a big cloud but disipates after a few minutes. While driving down the road, or taking off from a stop, no signs of smoking, just when first starting no differance if over night or with in half an hour.

[mbeach]

Take her in and have the compression checked.

White smoke is generally a very bad thing.

[Ldub]

:p It means they elected a new Pope! You have a "miracle" VX.

[Tone]

How many miles on the engine? Service intervals? Did it smoke before at all? Check for coolant in oil. Why did you do this additive?

[MZ-N10]

if i remember correctly bluish white smoke means there is a coolant leak and ur burning some coolant.
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[Otto]

There is 70K miles on the vehicle, I got her with 57K a year ago.I noticed I was loseing a Quart of oil every 5K miles and read this additive help this problem. No smell of any anti freeze out of tailpipe.I change the oil every 5K miles with Mobil 1. Compression is strong, It seems to run better after the treatment but now have the smoke problem.Don't see any lost anti freeze in over flow.

[Otto]

Thanks guys for your input, but it seems I only drove 50 miles the first week. The secound week I drove another 100 miles and the smoking went away. It seems it was just the seaform cleaning the rest of the carbon out of intake.Everything works fine, it idles better then before and pick up seems to be much improved. So far two weeks and I don't see any lost in oil. ;)

[Anita]

Maybe it was a sign of the election of a new pope-mobile. ;)

(Sorry...couldnt resist going there.)

[majork]

Whats the general opinion of doing a professional engine flush, such as BG Power Flush Sevice....is the Vehicross engine up to that or will it cause problems

[Maugan_VX]

I've also seen white smoke due to moisture in the exhaust system. Quite common around the beach.

[thedutchguy]

permanent white smoke = coolant
blue smoke = oil
Black smoke = fuel

[etlsport]

where do you put the seafoam in? i poured 1/2 bottle into the crankcase like oil... then i know i put the other half into a hose somewhere.. but i dunno which one.. i read its the one on the passenger side of the intake, but which direction? towards the intake or towards the block?

[nfpgasmask]

Good question Etl. I did some SeaFoam in my crankcase a couple months back. I didn't do any in the intake though, because I wasn't sure where to do it. I only drove about 50 miles and then changed my oil and filter. I want to run another half bottle through and drive for about 75 miles before an oil change because I still burn oil. Its really freakin annoying. Anyway, the SeaFoam did not cause me any trouble, but I am not sure if it helped much either. It seems like the oil burning was less for at least a month after I did it, and now it seems "back to its old ways" again. I did just roll over 50,000 miles, so my VX isn't the young lady she used to be anymore either! :)

Bart



where do you put the seafoam in? i poured 1/2 bottle into the crankcase like oil... then i know i put the other half into a hose somewhere.. but i dunno which one.. i read its the one on the passenger side of the intake, but which direction? towards the intake or towards the block?

[rowhard]

Tone, I take it from your tone, your not to keen on additive's.

[etlsport]

ok i went ahead and took the plunge.. here is a quick how to on what i did to add seafoam.. i feel like it made a pretty big difference.. and i definately got a lot of smoke out of my exhaust right away once i started driving, but not at idle

first, i ran my vx down to about 1/4 tank of gas, and poured an entire can of seafoam into the tank when i got to the gas station.. i used a funnel pictured later, that made it really easy, then filled up w/ regular gas

drove home, no noticeable effects yet

opened the hood, took off the oil filler cap and poured 1/2 pint (aka 1/2 of a can) of seafoam in with the oil


then i started the engine and let it idle for a minute, and pulled the clamp back off the hose and pulled the hose from the intake (grip it around the padded part, the rubber hose gets hot)
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/medium/seafoam_006.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/seafoam_006.jpg)

then I took a funnel w/ flexible hose i got at autozone for like 2-3 bucks and inserted the end into the intake like so...

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/medium/seafoam_008.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/seafoam_008.jpg)

then i poured the rest of the 1/2 can i had left into the funnel slowly, if you pour too much in the engine will stall, you can hear your engine start to stutter if too much goes in, just lower the funnel some and the seafoam will run back into the hose and your engine will recover, then slowly raise the funnel back up and continue until youve poured the rest of the seafoam in...

disconnect the funnel from the intake, reattach the hose back to the intake and put the clamp back on, let the engine idle for a minute longer... turn it off and wait at least 5 minutes, restart the engine and let it run for about 5 minutes.. all done..


i went for a drive about 30 minutes after completing this process and looked in my rear view mirror.. the street behind me was thick with white smoke.. gradually the amount of smoke went down and now it smokes only on startup and for a minute or two after

hope this helps!

[JGeorge264]

We did this on Saturday also... mainly because we were doing the annual cleaning of the egr, idol control valve, and throttle body and noticed that the intake manifold was coated with oil.. ah haaa thats where all my oil has been going. Anyway - to get the seafoam in there we pulled the pcv off and snorted it in through there. He held the hose up to the can, I gave it a little gas to keep it from dying and it sucked it right in. We let it sit about 30 minutes, started it up and it smoked like crazy for about 20 miles or so. Now it's running much smoother, better acceleration, much better power. We also treated the oil, full can of seafoam, ran it about 15 miles then up on the lift and changed the oil. Full can into the gas tank with a fillup too. I'm anxious to see if this helps with my oil consumption. While we were at it we threw in a new fuel filter and pcv.

[Y33TREKker]

I've always heard that it's best to change the oil and filter after running any type of fuel system additive to get rid of the carbon particles that are broken loose (and can end up in the crankcase) during the process. Is an after-use oil change recommended in the directions on a can of Seafoam?

And could the white smoke experienced by some simply be a by-product of the petroleum based chemicals being circulated with the engine oil, and being burnt off in the combustion chamber, after a crankcase treatment? I've smelled Seafoam before and it smells somewhat kerosene based.

[Chopper]

Be nice to avoid running all that stuff thru your cat...not so easily done.

[Otto]

Hi, First you disconnect the hose from the PCV and slowly pour half a can into the intake while the car is runnig. Then you shut the car off for about five minutes. During this time you reconnect the PVC value. After five minutes you start the car and go for a ride. You will see lots of white smoke from the tail pipe (carbon). Eventurally it will clear up as you drive. You will immedatley notice more power, quicker starts, smoother idle, and better gas milage, beacuse your intake & injecters have been cleaned

[Seidmanrob]

One quart of oil in 5K miles is like using no oil at all. If you change it every 3K then it is a non issue. Just my 2cents.

[JGeorge264]

How bout 1 & 1/2 to 2 qts per 3000?

[VehiGAZ]

Etlsport, JGeorge, & Otto... some follow-up advice, please.

I poured half a can in with the oil and started her up to get it mixing and circulating. No problems there. But when I disconnected the hose from the intake to the PCV valve (at the PCV valve) the engine died immediately. I restarted and tried doing it with my wife's foot on the gas, but it still died immediately. If I left that hose on and pulled the PCV out of the valve cover, it would still run OK.

How did you guys add the Sea Foam through this hose? Did you suck up the Sea Foam through the PCV? Or were you able to keep the engine running after disconnecting the hose from the PCV?

Etlsport, I pulled the hose you identified in your pictures, but there was pretty much no vacuum on it, so I didn't want to just dump the sea foam in there since it seemed like it might just sit in the intake tube.

Thanks!

[etlsport]

i poured it in with the engine running.. slow drips until the engine started to sputter then i would back it off until the engine recovers.. and repeat until 1/2 can is in... where did you put the seafoam? i know that if you put too much into the intake hose, your car wont want to start because tehres too much liquid in the intake

i would get the engine started and let it rev around 2k rpms or so for awhile to help burn the seafoam down to a level that your engine can manage it

[VehiGAZ]

I only put it in the oil, since I couldn't sort out how to add it to the intake :confused: (hence, my post).

So it sounds like it definitely got sucked into the intake when you added it.

What about the through-the-PVC-line guys? Did you have any problems with the engine stalling out as soon as you unplugged the hose to the PVC?

[Dino]

Just put it in the gas tank and drive it through. It will clean anything that really matters. ;)

[VehiGAZ]

Will Sea Foam do anything more than Techron would then?

[VehiGAZ]

Um, never mind about how to add it to the intake. I realized that the whole mess, injectors included, will be replaced next week with the install of the supercharger, so there's not too much point in cleaning it with Sea Foam now.