white smoke after new radiator install. WHY!?!?!
 

Just put in my new aluminum rad and slim fans and now the car creates an UNGODLY amount of white smoke when it runs. What the heck... any suggestions?

did you spilled some water or coolant?? if so, you will get white smoke

like in the intake piping? If there was there wasn't enough to make the smoke screen that is happening now. Water creates the white smoke right? If my head gasket were blown wouldn't the car idle like crap?

if your head gasket were blown, you will get bluish smoke and engine oil will look like brown mud. So where is white smoke coming out from? intake piping?

There's a simple test to rule out the head gasket..

With the engine off, take off the radiator cap. Make sure the cooling system is cool enough to remove the cap first.

Fill the radiator to the brim with water. You do not have to drain anything. Just top it off, but make sure you fill it all the way up.

Watch the radiator neck while someone cranks the engine.

If water shoots up just as the engine cranks, you definitely have a bad head gasket. (or a severely warped head)


Did you replace your radiator to fight overheating problems?

Check your oil. If it's frothy or looks like greyish chocolate milk, it has water in it and would probably be a head gasket.

Not necessarily true, water could just be leaking into the combustion chamber.

OP, do what Godless said.
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One more thing..

I have seen cases where smaller coolant hoses were mistakenly hooked up to vacuum ports.
These things do happen.

I have even seen the black wire from a single wire O2 sensor hooked up to the underhood fusebox.

Thats what I was thinking.

But changing a rad shouldn't blow a head.

Have you been haveing overheating problems? Hence the new rad?????

If the car doesn't want to start after cooling down. And then your rad keep going dry. Well.........Sounds like a winner.

First just let it idle for a good while and see if it stops. And look at your exaust for water.

Then let it shut it off after white smoke stops. Check oil to see if it looks like yahoo coco milk.

If it doesn't... let cool down, then try to start again..... And watch for hard start and white smoke.

I had a car once that took months for the head to leak enough to finnaly not be drivable. But it will piss you off the whole time.

The car was everheating on my way back to springfield from saint louis but it just ran a little hot not totally overheated. When I got home I found that my second fan (passenger side) had completely come apart and wasn't working = hence the overheating. I replaced the rad because it was super old and cracked. I am going to put the bumper on right now and will check the oil. Thank you so much for the input so far guys I am dreading smoke screening my way to work tomorrow...

The engine will not overheat with just one fan working.
There has got to be another reason.

Also, if there is not enough coolant in the system, the gauge will not peak.
In other words, the engine may be overheating badly, but with enough coolant loss, the gauge sender may be just out of the coolant and not register properly.

On the highway I run at 4k rpm I can't emagine that running on one fan alone would be able to keep it from getting a little hot. Checked the oil. It was a little low and just the usual murky half way between needing an oil change color. Why would the coolant come out of the radiator if the head gasket were blown?

I just don't get how it can be fine yesterday and suddenly be so bad. What the heck...

calling a bunch of shops tomorrow to get quotes for the job. I just don't have the time to do it myself. Boooo.

Woah woah woah man, too fast.

When does it smoke? When I relaced my rad it created large amounts of smoke for the first couple of miles which was excess crap I'd spilled all over it. If the rad was dropped in shpping or something, it could have cracked and could be leaking.

If it only smokes when things are up to temp, but if it smokes from the start then... Well not sure. There's no probably reason that a car should have a rad replaced and have the head gasket break because of the job.

A hose could be spraying hot coolant everywhere or vaporized coolant, did you remember to secure the upper radiator hose? When I forgot it would spray coolant. It culd be something as simple as that. Replace the shitty stock aligator clips with worm gears; I went through the whole car and did that and I don't regret it for a second. Cost me like 20 bucks for 2 ten packs of clips from Lowes.

With the above, as soon as it came up to temp it would be pouring white smoke; as soon as it pressurized it wuld overwhelm the seal, and the pressure would have to go somewhere.

Where is the car "producing ungodly amounts of white smoke"? Out the exhaust or under the hood? I'm getting the feeling its one from one of your posts and the other from another one.

That is really not an issue, we all pretty much run at 4K rpm on the highway.
I bet you anything you can drive for hours on end on the freeway at 4K rpms with your radiator fans removed, and the engine will not overheat at all. Getting in stop and go traffic, that's a different deal.
4000 rpm in top gear produces the sort of constant airflow through the radiator the fans would not even dream of producing.

The coolant would shoot out of the radiator in the test I described in my above post, because:
Let's assume the head gasket is blown for sure for a sec.
(I am not saying you have a blown head gasket. My post above also says "do this test to rule out the head gasket". There's nothing conclusive here. This example is just to illustrate the relationship between the head gasket, the coolant and cylinder vacuum/pressure)

A blown head gasket means the sealing capabilities of the gasket is compromised, and it can no longer maintain a seal between the cylinder pressure, oil, coolant, and the surrounding environment.
Since the most stressful duty of the head gasket is to contain the pressure generated by the cylinder, that particular area is naturally more prone to failure.
And, in cases where the coolant manages to make its way into the cylinder, where it makes its presence known to the rest of the world in the form of a white, sticky cloud which tends to hug the ground after "burning" during the combustion cycle, just the opposite, where the pressure generated by the piston moving up "leaks" into the coolant system also takes place.
And, this pressure leak into the coolant system is best observed at the lowest possible rpm levels.
The lowest possible rpm level of the engine is cranking rpm. Idle is much higher than that.
I have seen a water column shoot up about a foot in really bad cases.
There should be no movement with the water other than the slight disturbance associated with the vibration caused by cranking.

BUT

Please make sure your hoses are intact first.
Before you spend any money on expensive items, please have your radiator (along with the rest of the cooling system) pressure checked. It should hold 14 psi all day. If the pressure gauge drops rapidly, start looking... :)

(Sorry if I come across a bit confusing. English is not my first language.)

This thread is fucking retarded.

WHERE IS THE SMOKE/STEAM COMING FROM? AND WHEN?

Without understanding that, no one can give any kind of real help.

O hai guyz..I has question? When I start my car, it makes a humming noze? What the deal? I jsut replaced a tire valve cap and now car hums.

Doppel - Did you check your headlight fluid?