Thats a great start as far as being clean underneath!!! Is it just an illusion, or does that water pump pulley walk forward/towards the radiator when it fires up???? Sounds like you have a hung caliper, or two also. Pull the #6 plug and see if its wet. Youve got a good one with a lotta potential there!!!!
First car, lx450!
- Thread starter tug123
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That’s sounds like dragging worn out parking break. Shoe could be metal to metal by now.
That smoke seems like oil burn does it clear up after it’s warmed up?
That smoke seems like oil burn does it clear up after it’s warmed up?
- Thread starter
- #43
Love to hear that, kept watching the video, fairly certain it's just the way it was filmed. Don't have the tools yet to pull spark plugs, will do that when I run compression tests next week.
You know what, I think I'm an idiot. Parking break was definitely on, mechanic or towing guy must've kept it on. Makes way more sense because when I drove this the first time I got it did not screech at all. Didn't even think to check it only thought about it when you said it, but that's definitely what that was.
Agreed on the oil burn, but my clothes reek of gas right now. It's pretty weird, my buddy didn't believe me when I said "white smoke, smells like gas" until he smelled it too. It does clear up a little bit after idling, but if I go drive it a mile it'll be thick clouds of smoke the whole way there.
Sounds like a blown head gasket?
You got a stuck open injector(s). I bet your cat converter is or is on the way to melting down. The spark plug(s) in that cylinder(s) is most likely fouled out as well.
Stop operating until it’s figured out before serious damage results.
- Thread starter
- #46
Sure hope not.
Figures, that was your guess before too. Spark plugs easy to pull and check, cheap to replace. Make sense to use the stethoscope to verify fuel injectors/still run compression+leak down? FSM is really detailed for testing fuel injectors so that's nice, seem like kind of a pain to pull though.
Seems like its probably better to deal with catalytic converter after engine troubles are solved, but would make sense. No idea how long it was operated while spitting out this smoke.
Absolutely yes. If compression is below 120ish do a leak down on that cylinder.
Also see if you can drain the fuel tank of old fuel if it was sitting for a long time. Or at least dilute it with fresh fuel.
Start with simple stuff first. Sometimes the cheap solution is the right solution.
- Thread starter
- #48
Awesome this is a great place to start and think I'll be able to find a lot more from that. Tank was straight out of gas when I got it, mechanic ran it dry too. Pretty sure there isn't anything left in there. I've put easily a half tank in it already so probably okay.
- Thread starter
- #50
Couldn't agree more, can't even imagine what I would have to pay a mechanic who knew all of this
I cannot stress this enough, do one thing at a time. Where people feel overwhelmed is when they have multiple problems, which you have, and try and deal with them all at once. I would make a list of all the jobs you know of currently and then look at which can group together (e.g., checking the #6 spark plug can be accomplished because you need to pull it to do a leak down test).
I would also suggest the first job should be the one that will have the highest potential for impact, in your case it would be the leak down and compression. If those come back low or with issue(s) then you know you have a bigger job to deal with and can adjust accordingly without waste time and money.
I would also suggest the first job should be the one that will have the highest potential for impact, in your case it would be the leak down and compression. If those come back low or with issue(s) then you know you have a bigger job to deal with and can adjust accordingly without waste time and money.
- Thread starter
- #52
Thank you! That is absolutely what I'm learning, there are many things I could be doing, but compression+leak down+spark plugs was my thought process to start. It can be pretty overwhelming, but it became pretty palatable once I figured out that I should do these in batches. I feel like by the end of this I'm gonna be a pro at pulling out spark plugs
. Brake fluid test strips are also another easy win.
Good advice right there.
Cool cruiser!
As others have said keep your focus on one issue at a time, starting with the most critical and going from there.
As others have said keep your focus on one issue at a time, starting with the most critical and going from there.
sbman
Supporting Vendor
Another thing that can cause extra fuel and white smoke is a failed Engine Coolant Temp sensor, happened on mine. That one is really easy to check, plug an OBD tool into the port and read the coolant temp live data with it. As long as it is close to reality (like ambient temp when you first start up), it's OK, but if it's reading freezing or below freezing like -40F when it isn't really that cold, then you've got a coolant temp sensor failure and the ECU is running with fueling for that very cold temp, which is too much fuel. The coolant temp indicator on the dash uses a different sensor, so even if the dash indicator is reading normally, the ECU's sensor can be bad. This happened on mine.
Another easy check is to use a laser temp gun to read the exhaust ports on the exhaust manifold right at the cylinder head. This will identify a non-firing cylinder quickly and easily. Just run the engine a little bit to warm up the manifold and point the temp sensor at the manifold right outside each exhaust port. You'll see a significant temp difference between firing cylinders and non-firing cylinders. An easy check that can help point you towards more detailed diagnostics. If you find a cylinder that isn't firing that way, when you do compression checks you'll know which cylinder to pay attention to.
Another easy check is to use a laser temp gun to read the exhaust ports on the exhaust manifold right at the cylinder head. This will identify a non-firing cylinder quickly and easily. Just run the engine a little bit to warm up the manifold and point the temp sensor at the manifold right outside each exhaust port. You'll see a significant temp difference between firing cylinders and non-firing cylinders. An easy check that can help point you towards more detailed diagnostics. If you find a cylinder that isn't firing that way, when you do compression checks you'll know which cylinder to pay attention to.
- Thread starter
- #56
Honestly kind of surprised you're the first to suggest OBD sensors, but absolutely - it's a pretty easy win. Have one of the cheap ones ordered, seems like as long as it works you can just use bluetooth with one of the many apps.
Don't particularly want to keep running it, but makes a lot of sense. Think I'll probably just end up spending a couple hours running compression test on all cylinders, for experience if nothing else. Didn't realize the temp guns were that accurate though that is good to know.
pretty late to the party and if already suggested, just ignore... bore scope in the spark plug holes to see if one looks wet from gas... also the resources section here has the FSMs in PDF and can be handy for searching.
these cruisers tend to smell rich in the exhaust... i think if you have antifreeze in the radiator and you dont' smell maple sirup in the exhaust you might be pretty lucky on that purchase.
these cruisers tend to smell rich in the exhaust... i think if you have antifreeze in the radiator and you dont' smell maple sirup in the exhaust you might be pretty lucky on that purchase.
- Thread starter
- #58
Alright mostly ready, just waiting on new hood struts so the hood actually stays open. A few questions for the compression test:
- engine needs to be warm, but I'm not excited about running this for 5-10min - just do it and hope nothing gets messed up?
- FSM says battery needs to be fully charged. I planned on jumping it since my battery is dead, probably worth it to replace before?
- FSM also says on low compression put a little oil in the spark hole to see if that fixes it. Planned on just listening for where air escapes on leak down test, but might as well try the oil too?
sbman
Supporting Vendor
You can get comparative numbers without warming up. If one cylinder is much lower than the others, you know you have a problem in that cylinder. The leak down test is also comparative, the absolute readings have little meaning, but compared cylinder to cylinder they can give a useful result. Leak down is most useful when it is done on a service schedule as you can see changes in the readings as the engine wears. They want the battery fully charged so you get good cranking speed.
Oil in the hole only helps briefly if your rings aren't sealing well, it won't make any difference if you have a leaking valve, but no improvement doesn't necessarily mean that rings aren't an issue.
- Thread starter
- #60
All makes sense to me, much appreciated answers all my questions. Interesting on leak downs too, never thought of doing them say annually but I like it.
