Re: Smokin' exhaust - advice needed!

Does the smoke smell of rotten eggs?

Has it got (did it have!) a catalyst?

David Wilson

My 900 turbo 1985 seems to run fine except for a problem which seems to be more > in evidence - after driving for 3-5 minutes foul smelling smoke comes out of > the exhaust when the car stops at traffic lights. After that the problem seems > to go away. Only other thing that's new is turbo whine. Fluid levels are about > the same as ever - no major losses in dear/engine oil, though the water does go > down a bit. > > === Andy Evans === > Visit our Website:-
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Reply to
David Wilson
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Does the smoke smell of rotten eggs?>>

? more throwing socks on a bonfire.

Has it got (did it have!) a catalyst?

No - but it has a turbo. The oil looks alright. I did find a minor water leak in the top tube going into the cabin by the water tank (7541527) right by the cabin where it goes in after the jubilee clip. I therefore wondered if putting the heat full on in the cabin would help. It did seem to cut down the problem (not completely) and the leak seemed less/stopped. Does this suggest anything?

=== Andy Evans === Visit our Website:-

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Reply to
Andy Evans

Sadly, no clues from that - a knackered cat can make the exhaust smell of old eggs (it's platinum or palladium electro-deposited on fine ceramic, so expensive and fragile if you shock it with cold water (like driving through a ford - voice of experience!)) DGW

Reply to
David Wilson

Was the ford particularly water logged or just rusty and retaining fluid?.. :)..

It's a long shot - but it sounds to me like you are burning a coolant stop leak additive (you mentioned that your bottle was showing slightly down) as you are heating up the engine.. I think that you may have a head gasket or a bearing face in the turbo somehow out of torque.. You say that when it warms up enough it stops for the day?

Reply to
Dexter J

A thermostat gasket leak? Sounds like something is leaking under pressure and then stops about the time the thermostat opens up. Opening the heater vent may reduce some of the water pressure and that would help the situation. Check the hoses/seals at the heater core, too, and the water pump gasket.

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Reply to
LauraK

It's a long shot - but it sounds to me like you are burning a coolant stop leak additive>

Yes - I did put in an anti-leak additive, and coolant (but not recently). I've replaced quite a bit of water since then, though. How would the coolant get in the exhaust?

I think that you may have a head gasket or a bearing face in the turbo somehow out of torque.. You say that when it warms up enough it stops for the day? Yes. So the turbo is a possibility? Will this get worse or just carry on like this?

=== Andy Evans === Visit our Website:-

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Reply to
Andy Evans

Well - the turbo is always a possibility brother Andy - kinda like 'the butler did it' sort of thing..

My take is that sister Laura may also be onto something as the smell may not be coming out the exhaust pipe but rather from in the engine bay itself. But - your subject suggests that you are seeing plumes of steam at the back end - which it will do if you have a weak gasket or worn bearing on the head or turbo or if the system is over pressurizing on a bad thermostat (sister Laura's advise) with an old gasket or high mileage turbo bearing respectively..

All that said - I'm being more careful with my 'utility classic' these days by looking for small problems first rather than condemning whole systems and replacing them outright.. I think the old water cooled turbo is quite a but more robust then they give it credit for - but I have the same kind of chat ever spring when I go in for my annual - ".. what do you mean 'humm'.. it's cancer! Right?.. Cancer?".. My doctor has taken to teasing me in hopes of getting me to give up on cigarettes I fear..

Anyway - it's tricky to do - but often you can keep a SAAB going for some considerable time without milling and re-gasketing the head or junking the turbo by simply adding a pound of torque to the bolts.. You have to be VERY careful about it though as you never know if the previous owner did just that before you bought it..

SO - pull and replace your thermostat just in case it's over pressurizing something and yes, it very probably will get worse as time passes even it this fixes it now.. The outstanding question being how *long* this will fix it..

If it is strictly coming out the tailpipe - my first guess would be that you are looking at a head gasket as the gasket will sometimes re-seal as the engine heats up. The smell would be the additive starting to burn out of whatever it sealed - and you may want to look at giving it another dose

*before* you replace the thermostat..

Do it by pulling out the old thermostat and dumping the additive (I use BarsLeak exclusively) in - then leave the old thermostat out, reattach housing and take a solid drive on a warm day - let it cool down and then repeat a couple of times - then park it overnight - then install the new thermostat the following morning.. You will probably have to clean up the edge where the thermostat sits before putting in the new one and pay attention to see if it starts steaming on start-up instead of later on as you have been seeing..

Work on the assumption that you will gum up your heater core, but you might get lucky..

If it still is making steam and smelling bad as before after all this - then I would be looking at the head gasket first with an eye to replacement and having the head checked at a reputable machine shop (have them 'flux' it)..

Now - I could not help but notice that Radio Free Dexterdyne (my hobby bitcasting site) is pointedly missing from you online resources for arts and media folks.. I have a surprising number of fans in the UK (I think they go in for the Dean Martin/Sammy Davis Jr. stuff myself) and while this link music pages link is dead:

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-would I ever appreciate a link if it ever goes back up.. :) .. Best of luck - I'm at 330,000kms and counting..

Reply to
Dexter J

Smoke is coming out of the exhaust, and nowhere else - I thought I'd said that (?). So could be early signs of a blown gasket. I guess this could turn nasty at the drop of a hat? I'm thinking of driving away for the weekend................. should I take the train?

=== Andy Evans === Visit our Website:-

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Reply to
Andy Evans

White smoke? Is it the exhaust itself that smells or is the odor something you smell in the car?>>

I can smell it in the car, but maybe because the windows are open in summer. The white smoke is from the exhaust.

Have you had a lot of rain/humidity or used a different gas station than usual?>>

I've been going between four star and lead-free without changing anything in the engine. Weather's been hot here in London UK.

Try a bottle of the gas additive that takes water out of the gas tank. That could eliminate the white smoke after one or two bottles>>

OK - I'll look at that. I had the car MOT tested in Spring and there was a bit of grey smoke then - mechanic said it was all measuring fine on the Krypton machine. Some gas stations have problems with water leaking into the storage tanks. There's a BP station near me I won't use because of all the problems I've had with water in the gas.>>

I've changed the tank once or twice - could fill up again and see.

If you're smelling burned coolant/additive inside the car, it probably isn't coming from the exhaust unless you've got a hole in the exhaust. The smell is coming from something leaking coolant and dripping on hot parts. The odor comes up through the vents.>>

could well be............but note the open window confusion

So you may have two problems instead of one. :) If you're smelling burning coolant/additive at the exhaust pipe, it's probably a leaking gasket. >>

Arghhh! I smell money...... For a do-it-yourself test: put newspapers under the front of the car and some white paper towels on top of those. With the car running, hold a white paper towel over the end of the exhaust pipe so that the exhaust passes through it. After a few minutes, look at the towels and see what you've got. Water? Oil? Coolant? I've run cars with leaking head gaskets for months without a problem, if circumstances required it. Could do damage, hard to tell. For the last year, I think the Lincoln had more stop leak in it than coolant. BTW, my knowledge of cooling systems comes from 5 years of owning and working on a 1980 Ford Fiesta. Great little car with the cooling system from hell.>>

I did put two doses of some gunge into the water system. The mechanic then changed the radiator. There may well be too much pressure from somewhere. >>

Thanks for the ongoing ideas! I'll have to do some tests and report back. Busy

- have to address a conference on the weekend, so writing speech. Andy

=== Andy Evans === Visit our Website:-

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Reply to
Andy Evans

Oh I have been soooohoho there..

What a great little car that was - I ran the guts out of a 5 (4?) speed I rented for a while..

It was kinda like the mini Austin would have made if they were making Fords.. You almost never had to break into a corner if you kept winter tires on.. Willing to bet my hat that your cooling pwobs (leaks and cracked rads aside) mostly related to ignition timing being a little hot - but that gave them a serious fun factor so everyone set them that way..

I have often thought about picking a rusted out one from a yard and taking it ice racing come winter around here - it might even make a decent clubman rally outfit if I took out the, what, 6 and half pounds of interior?..

Reply to
Dexter J

Oh I have been soooohoho there..

What a great little car that was - I ran the guts out of a 5 (4?) speed I rented for a while..

It was kinda like the mini Austin would have made if they were making Fords.. You almost never had to break into a corner if you kept winter tires on.. Willing to bet my hat that your cooling pwobs (leaks and cracked rads aside) mostly related to ignition timing being a little hot - but that gave them a serious fun factor so everyone set them that way..

I have often thought about picking a rusted out one from a yard and taking it ice racing come winter around here - it might even make a decent clubman rally outfit if I took out the, what, 6 and half pounds of interior?..

Reply to
Dexter J

The water pump wasn't the best and for the rest of it, Ford admitted that the cooling system was badly designed. There was a company in Oregon that specialized in performance and replacement parts for the Fiesta. And I saw one on the street not too long ago. It had a double barrel carb and 70% of its weight over the drive wheels. Incredible in snow. Shorter than a VW Bug but roomier inside. I was living in Washington, D.C. at the time and had to park on the street. It's shortness was a primary reason for buying it. Hell to work on. The engine compartment was sort of layered and everything had to come off to do anything, which is why I did the work myself. Labor charges were astronomical. I didn't like to work under it when it was on jack stands so when I needed that type of work done I'd take it to a garage up the street from me. The owner used to start cussing me out in Japanese as soon as he saw me pull in.

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Reply to
LauraK

Like I said - fun car to rent and I'll bet it'd make a wicked little ice racer/clubman rally ride..

My other toy is a long body '77 GMC 260 motorhome with a big old 403 Bird motor and an RV cam in it.. Previous owner dropped on a holley (which is OK

- but I'm not sure it's better than the OEM Rochester) and I put an open pipe on her last year - goes like the wind, and it now sounds exactly like a 6.6 FireBird.. It's a hoot to rev her up at stop lights and spin the tires on take off - I sometimes win the light just because whoever is beside is having trouble absorbing it all in realtime.. :) .. Front wheel drive on a 425 tranny to boot!..

I mention it because there are a pile of 260 owners who have a Ford Festiva toad strapped on and they say about the same thing regarding the Festiva engine bay.. However their comment is that if you have it finally working and running a little rich, you don't have to play with it all that much after than.. It's a Ford - if you can get it running and it'll drag you down the road all day usually.. :) ..

Reply to
Dexter J

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