james.peebles Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 (edited) Hi everyone, Recently had a new cat installed, ever since I've noticed that there's a fair bit of white smoke coming out the exhaust, I'm not taking the car out on the road just keeping it ticking over at the moment as the radiator is shot. I'm concerned its the gasket gone but on another forum I went on they reckon the cat on an st205 never fails. Any thoughts? Cheers Edited December 21, 2012 by james.peebles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ams Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 is it thick white smoke, or is it just steam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james.peebles Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Too thick to be steam I think personally. Although could it be something to do with the fact that my radiator is cracked? - it's not blown it just lets off a very small amount of steam when the engine gets up to temperature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxxy Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 (edited) Sounds like head gasket, If the radiator is buggered you might have overheated it. Blown gasket is characterised by clouds of steam, temp gauge all over the place, oil in the expansion tank, water in the oil, the header tank overflowing and coolant disappearing. (not necessarily all those things at once). A new cat wont cause lots of steam. On the other hand, if you arent driving the car and only letting it tick over in cold and wet weather then the exhaust will not heat up enough to evaporate the water inside it. For every pint of petrol burned, an engine will combust(?) a gallon of water. A cooling system pressure test is the obvious solution but if your Rad is leaking anyway the test will probably blow it completely. Edited December 21, 2012 by foxxy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Chris_ Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Head gasket is very rare on a 205. If the car's not going out on the road I'd hazzard a guess the exhaust is full of water which boils off as steam. The other thing that causes white-ish smoke is turbo oil seals on the exhaust side. Does the smoke smell of oil ? or rich mixture ? or steam ? I wouldn't start pulling it to bits until you've at least done the rad and started driving it to see if symptoms persist. It's quite common for GT4's to issue clouds of white or grey smoke when started cold and left idling for long periods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowchinaman Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 If its steam like then it's normal. A good cat will produce water your exhaust being hit it will produce a lot of steam. If it's smoke then you've got a problem. Some kind of leak where oil is burning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james.peebles Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Ok thanks for all the responses guys the radiator is the first thing that is getting done in jan the leak is VERY small at the moment, luckily my local garage is literally 200 metres away from my house. Ive always started the car up and not let it get to temperature fully - theres been no spike in the temp gauge so im hoping everythig is ok. I shall get them to do a compression test once the radiator is squared away. Really hoping its not the head gasket I've had so much go wrong with the car in the short space I've had it! I need a bit of good luck right now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Baker Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Thick white smoke that lingers is burning anti-freeze you can tell this as the fumes will smell very sweet, blue tinted smoke means burning oil and black smoke is overfuelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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