Old skool vw polo , white smoke/water from exhaust ...

[Mikey D]

1993 polo chucking water and white smoke maybe steam ? Out the tailpipe

After much work for MOT After very dodgy previous mot , now this rears its head .... now it's not my car my partners daughter , she loves the thing .....

So guys any ideas and will it pass mot do u think ??

Cheers mike

 

[qwakers]

is it loosing coolant? could just be condensation... or a headgasket.

 

[ian of leeds]

sounds like head gasket

 

[gaz1]

@optima21 i think

 

[roofman]

Its going to fail MOT as a smoker..do the head gasket,its only a days work hoping that the head surface is still flat.

 

[Mikey D]

Doesn't seem to be loosing coolant I'll ask her , been stood for a couple of months so might need a good thrashing / Italian tune up

 

[optima21]

if its not using water or oil it'll be fine, it could just be condensation with the temperature being a bit cooler the past few days if the engine hadnt warmed up. If it is a headgasket its easy enough to do on a polo as thet are simple engines to work on.As to weather of not it'll pass an mot, the only way to know is to take it for one. the headgasket on my mk2 polo was last done in 1998

 

[Mikey D]

I'll take it anyway booked for Monday ,she says she not topped up coolant and it wasn't low so will suck it and see.
I'll report back Monday pm

Cheers mike

 

[Other Daniel]

I'll take it anyway booked for Monday ,she says she not topped up coolant and it wasn't low so will suck it and see.
I'll report back Monday pm

Cheers mike

Try and take it for a good run, before turning up for the test.

 

[bricol]

Ex'es Polo of similar vintage head gasket failed to chuck oil down the front of the engine - MOT man said there were two fixes . . . a new gasket, or a shield over the alternator to stop the oil wrecking it and keep topping up the oil.

Did the gasket . . .and a week later, did it again with new head bolts and a head skim . . . in the week in between, the re-used head bolts/or relaxed head caused gasket failure to let coolant into the bores . .

 

[Barking Mat]

1993, a mere, 29 years old, good stuff.

I don't know vw's.

But renaults, at 20 years or 300,000 clicks, the head gasket rots out of fails, common.

That's what I'd be thinking.

Not necessarily mayonnaise in oil. They generally blow the coolant out.

Ask me how I know....

Edit:

And Peugeots, if your doing the head gasket, has it over heated, is the cylinder head still flat?

 

[Morrisman]

It still amazes me how much water can pour out of the exhaust of some cars. I often see it at junctions when I'm on my bike. Some just dribble, some have a steady stream, continually, not just as water sloshes to and fro in a back box.

 

[Mikey D]

Come to think of @morrismans
Post the new backbox was outside stood up ,so maybe it's got a dose of rainwater /snow inside
Feck I'll laught if it's that

Cheers Mike

 

[Barking Mat]

Come to think of @morrismans
Post the new backbox was outside stood up ,so maybe it's got a dose of rainwater /snow inside
Feck I'll laught if it's that

Cheers Mike

If your lucky.

I've equally found exhausts full of acorns.

Possibly rodents too.

 

[T5 TDI]

It still amazes me how much water can pour out of the exhaust of some cars. I often see it at junctions when I'm on my bike. Some just dribble, some have a steady stream, continually, not just as water sloshes to and fro in a back box.

Exactly. I don't think any sensible MOT man would fail a 1993 car for excessive steam. But assuming it is a petrol engine it might struggle/fail on emissions if it is one of those hardly ever driven Polos, they end up a bit like someone whose lungs are gradually filling up. Unless you can see anything obvious on VCDS, blast it up and down your local dual carriageway and cross your fingers..

 

[pedrobedro]

Hydrocarbon fuel produces up to 2 pints of water for a gallon of fuel burnt and it comes out of the exhaust as steam and droplets when the exhaust is cold, the hydro prefix means water as in hydroplane and hydroelectric.

 

[mr haynes]

I tipped around a litre of water out the zost on my car after it had sat for couple months

Would still query HG though

 

[m_c]

As has been said, unless it's losing coolant, it'll just be water build up from combustion.

Modern exhaust systems often have drainage holes in silencers to let water drain, rather than have it build up.

 

[Nomad]

If there's no mayo under the oil filler cap, no oil in the water, and the fluid levels aren't changing, I'd suspect it's just condensation and needs a good run to get it up to temp and clear the system.
Petrol or diesel? If petrol - remove the plugs and see if they're all the same colour or if one is very different.

I've just changed the headgasket on a 90s Golf mk2 (same engine?), very easy to work on but I had to buy a set of "VW-specific Torx" sockets for the headbolts (not the same as standard Torx).
The headbolts I took out felt about finger tight ! There were conflicting reports if headbolts are re-usable or one-time-only stretch bolts so I bought headgasket and new bolts, £40 total.
When I had it apart I changed the timing belt and waterpump (belt should be changed if it's removed, pump is almost a consumable item, worth doing as it will trash the head if it jams and the cambelt snaps)
The car is now running very nicely thanks for asking.

 

[Mikey D]

Sage advice nomad ! Thank you .
I have the cambelt to do as well .visually it's ok but we have no idea when it was last changed , will splash out on a water pump too ,
I'd cry if I did all this work and a week later the engine was toast !