white smoke from a 1975 3 series 88

im getting a lot of white smoke from my series 3 and just wondered what may be causing it .

2 weeks ago we took the cylinder head off because the engine was making an awful sound which turned out to be a stuck valve and bent push rods. we replaced all the push rods because they were all damaged . we also re ground all the valves , stripped and cleaned the sump , replaced the oil filter and re set all the valve clearances .

since then the noises have all stopped and its sounding sexy but when i start it up there is a lot of white smoke coming from the exhaust .

i've drove it round my street a few times and the white smoke stops after a few minutes but it currently has no mot so would like to try and get the smoke under control before i stick it in for its mot .

any ideas what could be the problem ? or am i just being over nervous and need to give it a good old run before the mot

Petrol or diesel?

Davec said:

Petrol or diesel?

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oh yeah sorry im such a spaz lol

its 2.25 diesel , been sat on a farm and not moved for 2 years so not sure if thats going to make a difference or not ??

Possibly pump timing, but I don't know much about diesels. There are plenty of threads on the subject on here.

does it have a manifold vacume thingy fer the brakes as this can do that..

Beast o Bodmin said:

does it have a manifold vacume thingy fer the brakes as this can do that..

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no idea im pretty new to all this , give us a clue where it should be and what it looks like and i'll go have a look

white smoke is an indication of head gasket, as you have changed it and been for a run the problem was most likely a build up of water in the engine, this will or as dispersed as steam, but how did the push rods get bent, i would make a guess it was the head gasket, hence the water in the engine, unless water entered the engine via the inlet manifold when the engine was running,

brnocz said:

white smoke is an indication of head gasket, as you have changed it and been for a run the problem was most likely a build up of water in the engine, this will or as dispersed as steam, but how did the push rods get bent, i would make a guess it was the head gasket, hence the water in the engine, unless water entered the engine via the inlet manifold when the engine was running,

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no idea how the push rods got bent , the chap i bought it from said the car was dead when he got it and basically after he bought it he let it sit on a farm for 2 years and did nothing to it .

i took it for a drive round the block a few times earlier and the white smoke stops after about 2 mins after starting from cold , and ive started it every hour since then and it seems to stop smoking after abouit 45 - 60 secs . a few people have said this is normal and ive nothing to worry about but im just not convinced

most landys kick a bit of smoke out on start up think back when u went to school, hot surface when cooling down creates condensation thats what happens inside your engine and the white smoke is the condensation turning back into steam and dispersing thru the exaust, comprendy, i will stand corrected on this issue but that is the answer to it,

brnocz said:

most landys kick a bit of smoke out on start up think back when u went to school, hot surface when cooling down creates condensation thats what happens inside your engine and the white smoke is the condensation turning back into steam and dispersing thru the exaust, comprendy, i will stand corrected on this issue but that is the answer to it,

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you've won me over with your school logic lol , i was just a bit worried about it failing an mot

dont suppose you've got a basic school yard way of explaing what could cause my front wheels to wobble when they're pushed do you ?

what i mean is if i grab the wheel at the top of the tyre and push it the wheel rocks about on the swivel or drum or something and im pretty sure thats not a good thing

from what you describe i would say a wheel bearing is either on its way out or its coming loose

when i had mine it did a bit of this if it stood for a while, i just made sure it had a good run to the mot and was nice and warm as my place tended to do the exhaust test as soon as it arrived so no smoke!

i've read elsewhere that the smoke could be caused by the pump timing being retarded ? how easy is it for a novice to adjust that ?

dont start feckin with the pump, leave that to some 1 who knows what he is doing, if it starts ok, runs ok, and doesnt belch out black or blue smoke there isnt a lot wrong with the timing or the engine, and if it starts with in a couple of seconds on the key is an indication that the engine is fine,