car: '95, stock, 66K miles, some light white smoke on cold startups that quickly disappears



today: changed plugs, started up first time, idle "good", some white smoke...idled for about 5 minutes then went around the block...

accelerating good, about to shift to 3rd when pop..acceleration vanishes with a kick as if i had tapped the brake pedal...starts running rough...car stalls...i limp the car back home..vibration..idling in driveway there is heavy, heavy vibration from whole car...some black smoke now(?)



questions:

1) what's the black smoke about?

2) could my changing of the plugs have anything to do with this? (i drove the car yesterday fine.) could reversing plug wires crap the engine? could a wire loose at the coil end cause this?

3) could a loose vac line cause this?

4) am i in denial?

5) does anyone have a time machine or a spare groundhog?







fritz

 

First things first, never assume the engine is blown because of a rough idle, I learned this lesson already. check all of your connections, sensors and your turbos, and do a compression check, or have it done. Black smoke is ussually a sign of running rich, blue-grey smoke is burning oil and white to pilow white clouds is water or condensation normal on startup, bad when warm. If you have black smoke see if your turbo locked up, no boost plus lots of fuel = black smoke

 

1) Black smoke equals burning oil, if it is grey then it could be too much fuel.

2) Plugs probably not the problem, if it ran good after you replaced them then you have no worries about the plugs unless one of them fouled fro some reason.

3) Lose vecline could cause rough idle, I am i the same situation right now with that.

4) You could be in denile but you need to do a comppression test, If you have no compression then you will not be in denile and will know that you blew thw engine

5) Nope, don't have one, Sorry!

 

1. Black smoke is running rich. Not oil.



Do the compression test- one spark plug out at a time, EGI fuse out, crank motor, listen for three good strong compression noises out of spark plug hole on EACH rotor. Front and back should sound identical.



If good, check vac hoses.



Is your map sensor hose still okay? This will make it run real rough with black smoke at idle.



Symptoms do sound like a motor. Good luck.

 

If you reverse trailing plug wires, you will blow your engine. I found that out the hard way.

 

Good to know! One at a time is a good idea. Good luck with the car!

 

thanks for the excellent responses guys! i'll keep you informed on how everything goes...thank God for nopistons...







fritz

 

I think that the map sensor came unplugged- Car acts like sheeyat w/o that sensor.

 

First double check the plug wires are in the right place if you changed the plugs?



Other then that its something that we all can guess on, but without seeing or playing with it its hard to tell. If its not a daily driver let it sit for a few days and see.



Does it start easy?



Map sensor--mentioned above.

 

sounds like ur map sensor vacuum line popped off fritz.. driving, boost, falls on its face, black smoke... pretty sure.. check on the firewall.. its that sensor that plugs up into the upper intake manifold.