Engine Smoking

[Lotus49]

Well, the disaster of my new Lotus Elan Plus 2 continues to plunge to new depths. I bought this car 2 months ago and enjoyed it for 30 miles of driving. After that a severe issue developed with the right rear wheel which necessitated parking the car. I've been waiting for an appointment for these past 2 months. During this weight I have been starting up the car every week or two charge up the battery. I don't have a tender yet for this car and did not think the wait to bring it into the shop would take so long.

Anyway, today after I start it up, not one minute into running it, I see smoke coming out of the hood. I shut off the engine and pop the hood and see traces of the smoke disappearing. I start it up again and see after just one minute smoke coming from the whole engine block, maybe from the valve cover, but hard to say. I shut it off again. The engine is cold. I check the oil: OK. Nothing is leaking under the car. There's coolant in the radiator. The tail pipe looks OK. In the past I did see some smoke in the pipe with higher RPM's, but nothing was visible today.

I've never seen this happen during the short time I drove the car, nor in the few months of it sitting waiting for the service appointment. Today was was the first time. I ran the car one last time to pull it into the garage and again, large amounts of smoke came from the engine. Gently rising, not shooting out of an obvious hole.

What could possibly be going on here?

[rgh0]

OIl leaking dripping onto the exhaust ? Maybe from the valve cover ?

cheers
Rohan

[gjz30075]

Or coolant coming from the upper hose where it's mated to the thermostat housing (happened to me)?

[Lotus49]

OIl leaking dripping onto the exhaust ? Maybe from the valve cover ?

cheers
Rohan

I'll try and look for evidence of this. Thank you for the suggestion.

Tom

[Lotus49]

Or coolant coming from the upper hose where it's mated to the thermostat housing (happened to me)?

I'll also look for this.

Thank you very much.

Tom

[promotor]

First thing to ascertain - is it smoke, or steam? What colour is it? White, blue or black?

[alanr]

You raised this problem some weeks ago:-
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=53158&p=387522#p387522
It would be better if you kept it all in the same thread. Otherwise we are all just repeating what we said before and going over old ground again.

Alan.

[Lotus49]

You raised this problem some weeks ago:-
viewtopic.php?f=37&t=53158&p=387522#p387522
It would be better if you kept it all in the same thread. Otherwise we are all just repeating what we said before and going over old ground again.

Alan.

No, this is a different issue. In the previous thread I mentioned smoke in the tail pipe. This current thread is about smoke rising out of the engine bay. In only one minute of running, on a cold engine, very significant amounts of smoke come out of the engine bay. Enough to see through a closed hood, which is a lot.

I have no idea how this problem could develop with the car just sitting for a month, but as of yesterday, this problem has just appeared.

Tom

[alanr]

Tom,
Smoke, steam or burning hydraulic fluid from the brake servo getting into the engine or whatever it is I am pretty sure that it is all the same problem regardless of coming out of exhaust tailpipe of under bonnet(hood).

Alan

[Lotus49]

Tom,
Smoke, steam or burning hydraulic fluid from the brake servo getting into the engine or whatever it is I am pretty sure that it is all the same problem.

Alan

Thank you for the idea. Would pumping the brakes cause fluid to leak to the floor in this case? (assuming the engine is off not allowing anything to burn.).

[alanr]

If the seals have gone in the brake servo the engine is injesting the fluid when running and it will give you clouds of smoke out of the exhaust and if in sufficient quantity will show under the bonnet as well. Pressing the brake pedal repeatedly will make it worse.
Check the brake master cylinder fluid level and see if it the fluid level is low.
On the other hand if it is steam coming out of the exhaust ( head gasket or whatever)and not smoke, it will if there is enough of it,give you clouds of steam under the bonnet and out of the tailpipe.
Check the coolant level ( Engine cold!)
It is all the same problem that you have I am 99% sure of it.

Alan

[h20hamelan]

One never knows.

What’s disappearing?
Brake fluid into the booster? But I think your new smoke if from topping up the oil??
Oil from inside the engine?
Coolant?

Are you monitoring fluid levels?

What other vehicles do you own, do you have Haynes manuals. They offer very good basic automotive information in the first section of every manual. From oil to spark plug readings, basic brakes and steering.
Another thought, not to be rude. Some local schools might offer automotive classes. Could be good for you to sit in on a few and have some chin waggling with others?

[Lotus49]

If the seals have gone in the brake servo the engine is injesting the fluid when running and it will give you clouds of smoke out of the exhaust and if in sufficient quantity will show under the bonnet as well. Pressing the brake pedal repeatedly will make it worse.
Check the brake master cylinder fluid level and see if it the fluid level is low.
On the other hand if it is steam coming out of the exhaust ( head gasket or whatever)and not smoke, it will if there is enough of it,give you clouds of steam under the bonnet and out of the tailpipe.
Check the coolant level ( Engine cold!)
It is all the same problem that you have I am 99% sure of it.

Alan

Thank you very much for your reply. I did not realize there was a mechanism where brake fluid could get into an engine. That confused me at first but after reading about servo's it is now much clearer. The engine runs, in my opinion, very well. The fact that there's smoke is odd but your idea would very much explain this. Hopefully my car can get into the shop soon and get this and the other issues taken care of. It's past time for this!

Have a great day,

Tom

[Lotus49]

One never knows.

What’s disappearing?
Brake fluid into the booster? But I think your new smoke if from topping up the oil??
Oil from inside the engine?
Coolant?

Are you monitoring fluid levels?

What other vehicles do you own, do you have Haynes manuals. They offer very good basic automotive information in the first section of every manual. From oil to spark plug readings, basic brakes and steering.
Another thought, not to be rude. Some local schools might offer automotive classes. Could be good for you to sit in on a few and have some chin waggling with others?

I have not detected what fluid is draining down. I have not checked the brake fluid so that would be the next suspect. The oil and coolant are OK. I have not added any engine oil.

I'm pretty sure the smoke is from a material burning so likely not coolant.

[Lotus49]

If the seals have gone in the brake servo the engine is injesting the fluid when running and it will give you clouds of smoke out of the exhaust and if in sufficient quantity will show under the bonnet as well. Pressing the brake pedal repeatedly will make it worse.
Check the brake master cylinder fluid level and see if it the fluid level is low.
On the other hand if it is steam coming out of the exhaust ( head gasket or whatever)and not smoke, it will if there is enough of it,give you clouds of steam under the bonnet and out of the tailpipe.
Check the coolant level ( Engine cold!)
It is all the same problem that you have I am 99% sure of it.

Alan

One question: if the engine is ingesting brake fluid and burning it in the combustion chamber, why wouldn't all the smoke exit through the tail pipe? How can it leave the engine in the engine bay?

Thank you,

Tom