Greetings,

I've just "cyber-stumbled" into this excellent forum and I have a couple of questions to start it off:-

1)At high speed (>90mph), the exhaust would cough impressive plumes of white smoke. No apparent smoke at 70-85mph but I can see white/grey puffs on decelation. The smoke will go away quickly as I further ease on the pedal.

Could this be caused by coolant/oil/brake fluid somehow being absorbed into the engine at higher RPMs? How? Where? Why?

2)The car has a 4-speed manual transmission. While the "stick shift plus Euro M110" combo gives near fantastic acceleration for such
a big beast, I kind of feel that the engine is begging for a fifth gear at >80mph. By the way, the car propels readily on second gear from a dead stop. Is this by design or is it due to non-spec gearing ratios that make (almost)drag race-like 1st/2nd
gear acceleration while foregoing lower RPMs at moderate/high speed?

I appreciate all input.

Thanks

Hisham
Kuala Lumpur
1978 W116 280SE Euro
1995 BMW 325i
1984 Volvo 240GLM
1995 Proton Wira 1.6XLi