update on the white smoke
 

ok girls and boys,

today the queen came back from SA, TX and so I got to drive the 1988 560sel. drove this morning and nada....no smoke nothing....went to lunch and when we came out she says let me try to reproduce the smoking scenario...

so her being the queen, who am i to object. initially we went in another part of the parking lot, with a downhill slope, nothing.

we wnt down the highway and found another sloped exit. so we pulled in and parked on the slope, something close to 45 deg. I got out of the car and sat behind the tailpipe. after about 5-10 minutes white smoke/steam was exiting the tailpipe. i looked under and saw water dripping out of the exhaust....she also complained of a vibration and i felt something...maybe motor mounts, i'm not sure. anyway, the smoke/steam got progressively worse....i stuck my finger in the pipe and saw it was water....a little on the tongue....water....there was a smell but i don't know what it is...

the smoke or steam is white and when i took off out of the parking lot im sure that i ticked some people off as i was billowing smoke...

i turned around on I-35 at the next exit and within a couple of minutes of down the highway driving the smoke/steam subsided....

there's my update...i have reproduced the symptoms....

1. slope to about 45 deg
2. idle in park
3. a little shake in the front end
4. lots of steam after 5-10 minutes or so

opinions please....

lyle in austin

So; I'm krazy - may as well comment.

I have the thread on white smoke exahust.

Kicker: followed advise by putting Chevron Techron (2 btls) in full tank and ran and it has subsided and this morning (WV cold) it did not smoke - only the red check engine light comes on now but runs OK seemingly but temp keeps increasing.

As long as it runs OK I'm gonna try this tank and/or disconnect the batters to see if this will reset the computer.

I will wait a couple of days in case someone tells me it will self-destruct in 10 min so no one else will see this message. Still like Matt Dillon better. BTW; mine is a R129 500 SL. Considering a Jag.

Opinion? It could be something as simple as when you have the car on an angle, condensed water in the exhaust system, collected at some low point, is now able to flow somewhere it does not usually go or live, so to speak.

I can't tell you how many times I have followed cars away from stop lights, etc. with water almost pouring out their exhaust. It's condensation. Typically from cars which I suspect are driven a lot of stop and go without extended high speed operation to evaporate out the condensate.

I can even remember putting a new, stock exhaust on my old BMW 5 series, and water came dripping out even the first time I started it up!

Anyway, I hope it is something this simple for you. Let us know if you pin it down.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 327K
'88 300D, 167K

Hey Lyle - I agree with post #3 (still).

Do you ever do any long trips - when you would be driving for more than say 2 hours? If so take this car for this trip and see if you can repeat the problem with a really warmed through engine...

...I get the feeling that with a nice big car like this you could spend most of your time with the engine revving below 2000rpm - whereas in a smaller petrol engined car you'd probably spend most of your time with the engine revving a lot faster. I'm guessing it takes your car a long time to warm up properly.

Please note:- I don't consider a warm car to be when the temperature gauge has just reached its usual place - you need to drive it a lot longer than that.

Head gasket for huge amounts of smoke. Condensation in the exhaust system wouldnt last that long. There should be a pinhole in the muffler to let that come out, if not make 1.

Good luck.

muffler drain
 

yes doubles the life of the exhaust system. A 3 mm hole at the lowest point of the mufflers will suffice .There is no in increase in sound ,and the muffler drips away all the condensate .
mak

I have ordered a bottle of Steel Seal. an Alaska Airlines mechanic has used this on tow cars that he bought with blown gaskets for cheap and now they have been running like new for over 2 years. He swears by it but only if you have a lot of consistent smoke. I ordered some but thought i would use the cheaper stuff first from BARs. It's non aluma seal type but uses a special liquid of course. I had to add to the coolant and idle with heater om for 20 minutes. Let it cool down for three hours and then go drive it. Voila, no more smoke, no coolant burn smell or oil smell. Compression is much better. I'll leave it there for a couple weeks then flush it out and fill will good coolant and the Steel Seal to maintain it. Heard it works well on W124s.