Darkness Posted June 6, 2005 Report Posted June 6, 2005 With just over 1100 miles to go to hit the 250k mark, my car took a dump on me on the way to work this morning. This morning was going to be a great day, nice and warm, I had the windows down, the top open, the music playing... gas was $1.98 for the 93 octane stuff, so I filled up. Everything was swell. Right before pulling onto I75 I noticed smoke coming from the rear of my car. I thought that maybe the left rear emergency brake was partially engaged again, so I pulled over to maually release it. Much to my chagrin, white smoke was pouring out of my tail pipes. And I mean pouring... I managed to limp the car a few miles back to my house and popped the hood. The engine is making a ticking noise like some kind of huge hyperactive clock. The smoke is not as bad, but I don't think I'll be driving it anywhere. I had to drive my wife's 4-door Hyundai Elantra in this morning. :x I have neither the time, place, nor patience to do a teardown on this thing, so chances are high that I will take a butt-load of pics tonight and throw an ad in the For Sale section. Watch for it after work! Quote
GP1138 Posted June 6, 2005 Report Posted June 6, 2005 Oh no!!! Damn man! I'm sorry to hear that! Quote
jdcutty Posted June 6, 2005 Report Posted June 6, 2005 That sucks. The worst part must have been being seen in the Nissan. Quote
Darkness Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Posted June 6, 2005 If I can get a decent amount of change for the TGP for some cash down, I am looking at a used 97 GTP. Miles on it are kinda high at 133k, though, so I am not sure. What do you guys think? edited to remove the link, which was causing the screen to scroll. The vehicle was sold, anyway. Back to looking Quote
buckethead Posted June 6, 2005 Report Posted June 6, 2005 I'd try to get some lower mileage for that price... there was a '98 around here a few months ago with 85,000 miles for just $6000. Quote
ZoomZoomFan Posted June 6, 2005 Report Posted June 6, 2005 Sorry bout that. You should pull it w/ a truck just for the satisfaction of seeing 250K on the odo. Quote
Darkness Posted June 6, 2005 Author Report Posted June 6, 2005 Well, the GTP was sold. So, no worry about that. I have no idea what might be wrong with the TGP. It could be something as simple as a broken valve spring or a failed lifter. But then, it could be broken rings with a piston slapping around in there. Just hard to say. Maybe when I get home tonight I'll pull a valve cover and take a look. I really would like to get it to it's 250K mile mark. I am really disappointed that I got so close. And I was going to start modifying everything, too! Heck, it's not costing me any money where it sits, so I might as well get the tools out and work on it in the driveway to see what it might be. Quote
Darkness Posted June 7, 2005 Author Report Posted June 7, 2005 I just don't get it... I got home tonight, fired the car up, no ticking, no smoke, no nothing. I drove it around for about an hour and it ran without a single complaint. So, anyone have an theories on what might have happened? Did a big chunk of crap shake loose from somewhere and fall into a cylinder, burning and causing all of the smoke maybe? Quote
GP1138 Posted June 7, 2005 Report Posted June 7, 2005 :shock: That's really odd. Maybe one of your coils is dying and flaking out off and on. Quote
z34_nut Posted June 7, 2005 Report Posted June 7, 2005 Maybe one of your coils is dying and flaking out off and on. Thats what happened to me... Could be that the smoke was the fuel going into the cylinder, but not getting spark. Sounds like shit and runs like shit. But it may be completely different for you, after all, I didn't have any ticking, just a bunch of vibration. Quote
Guest Anonymous Posted June 7, 2005 Report Posted June 7, 2005 Well, the GTP was sold. So, no worry about that. I have no idea what might be wrong with the TGP. It could be something as simple as a broken valve spring or a failed lifter. But then, it could be broken rings with a piston slapping around in there. Just hard to say. Maybe when I get home tonight I'll pull a valve cover and take a look. Thats what the RPE was like... huge plumes of smoke and a loud ticking noise. Not sure what it was, that engine is probably now the fenders of a few new civics.. If you do a part out... ive got a few requiests,... Quote
dbtk2 Posted June 7, 2005 Report Posted June 7, 2005 White smoke = coolant. If a headgasket blew or a lower intake gasket or something like that it could easily cause coolant to get into the engine causing the white smoke, thus causing internal engine damage. Check the oil and see if there is coolant in it. Shawn Quote
Darkness Posted June 7, 2005 Author Report Posted June 7, 2005 No oil in the coolant or vice versa. Tomorrow night I'll pull the plugs and take a look. Quote
Darkness Posted June 8, 2005 Author Report Posted June 8, 2005 Well, crap. I didn't get the chance to work on the car last night, so I am going to try again tonight. New coil packs at Autozone run about $29 a piece for delco, so I think I am going to replace all three, plus the wires, and I already have replacement AC plugs in the garage. Hopefully this will solve and prevent future problems. The TGP is still running great, so who knows what really went on. Less than 1k miles to go now! Quote
jdcutty Posted June 8, 2005 Report Posted June 8, 2005 good luck with all that. Hope it works out for ya. Quote
Darkness Posted June 20, 2005 Author Report Posted June 20, 2005 Well, here is an update. I just got back from a week-long vacation in a beach house in Outer Banks, NC, and since it is Father's Day I took advantage and started to do some car work. I had some new plugs and wires, so I decided to pull them and figure out if I had a bad coil pack. The front 3 plugs could be used in a manual on how a used sparkplug should work. Great color, no deposits, nothing bad at all. So, after fiddling a while, I tried to start it up and remembered I really low on gas, so I went to fill it up. About 2 minutes after filling the tank, I started to smoke again. I remember that the last time I smoked was right after topping off the tank. It smokes for a few, then quits. Do I maybe have a hole somewhere in my fuel tank filler neck, maybe, that when I top it off, I get raw fuel running down the outside of the tank and on to the hot exhaust :?: Other than that, the car runs like a champ, so that's my theory. Quote
5speedz34 Posted June 20, 2005 Report Posted June 20, 2005 The car would ignite if that happened, I would think, unless it was such a minute amount. Quote
PeNZ Posted June 20, 2005 Report Posted June 20, 2005 Do you see any stains on the exhaust or gas tank anywhere? From the gas leaking? Quote
cutlsp Posted June 20, 2005 Report Posted June 20, 2005 i'd say the seal at the top of the gas tank isn't seated right or has broken down and is leaking now. Quote
Darkness Posted June 20, 2005 Author Report Posted June 20, 2005 I don't see anything unusual as far as stains go. On closer inspection, the smoke seems to be definitely coming from the exhaust and not from any of the pipes etc underneath. It smoked badly for only a few minutes, and then quit. On the ride in to work this morning it had no problems at all. I am at a loss, but if the problem can be solved by not topping the tank off, I can live with it. ~700 miles to go before the big 250k! Quote
jeremy Posted June 20, 2005 Report Posted June 20, 2005 ~700 miles to go before the big 250k! you'll get there soon enough! Quote
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