after motor swap, tons of smoke

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1998typesh

New Member
where to start... well the car is a 1998 prelude type sh w/ jdm h22a & m2b4 swap. the car finally started and i drove it home from the garage. It now smokes a lot. the car does not have an intake bolted to it. Could this be the cause of the smoke? also, the car seemed to run fine with out missing. i didn't take it above 3k though because of the smoke, lack of vtec solenoid and it hast been running in 10 years so i am very cautious with this project

smoke is thick grey/white and didn't seem to appear until 200 yards down the road. idling was fine.
 
most of the timer white is coolant being burned, so maybe a bad head gasket or something letting coolant into the combustion chambers. and the air intake will not cause smoke.
 
keep an eye on coolant and oil.. one of them should drop.. my old accord started doing that and it was burning oil. basically my rings went out and from the time u cranked it till u shut it off it smoked like a train.
 
as an update, i only had a few minutess to look at the car tonight before it got dark. i pulled all the plugs out and they are dry with no sign of oil. i pulled out the pcv valve and gave it a shake, it clicked so i put it back in. i noticed that i have a few vacuum lines that are not attached and i have not connected the cai as of yet.
 
none of those will make the car smoke. like i said keep an eye on fluids.. one will get low.. that will give you a better idea of what to look for.
 
VACUUM lines not hooked up and it idles fine? That raises my curiosity b/c it shouldn't idle well at all.

But....like others stated.....that wot cause white/gray smoke. I figure you got coolant leaking. Maybe oil.....but I think it's coolant.
 
thanks for helping me trouble shoot this out. well, I don't think there is a problem with the motor, I could be wrong, but id like to cross everything off the list. The headgasket was replaced with an OEM gasket. I used ARP headstuds when I bolted things back together. The auto tensioner conversion kit was also installed before the motor was dropped in. A fluid check shows both coolant level and oil are well. Plugs are used, but acceptable and show no trace of oil.

I noticed Black oil in my tailpipes, but the oil in the motor is New... perhaps it's a clue?

New theory, maybe there is still old oil in the exhaust from when the last motor blew. I did drive it about 40 miles with a pretty big hole in one of the piston's. I can remember my plug was coated in oil. Perhaps, this is the old burnt oil soaked up in the cat and or muffler? I guess to test this theory I could just pull off the top part of the header and look for oil inside the runners. Simple enough test to do as soon as this "franken-storm" is over. :rimshot:
 
Aw, c'mon dude!!! Thats what you should have started with!!! If your last engine grenaded, and you git any kind of coolant/oil in the exhaust, OF COURSE IT GOING TO BURN IP AND SMOKE!!!
 
After my cousin's head gasket decided to let go in a spectacular, smokey fashion, he still had to drive it 20 miles home. He smoke screened the highway the entire way home, but made it.. Then, a month later when i had replaced the engine for him, it would fire up, then smoke like crazy after running for about 5-10 minutes... I frantically checked everything, and found no leaks, no nothing... It was the old coolant burning up inside the pipes, muffler, and resonator. Im pretty sure you're experiencing the same thing dude...
 
Aw, c'mon dude!!! Thats what you should have started with!!! If your last engine grenaded, and you git any kind of coolant/oil in the exhaust, OF COURSE IT GOING TO BURN IP AND SMOKE!!!

I agreee 100%. My excuse, this motor swap has covered about 10 years. I am having a very hard time remembering anything specifics about the car and its mods. As an example it took me about 5 minutes to remember how to open the damn sunroof. That button has no good reason to be way over there. :D

Whats the best way to clean out an exhaust on the inside?
 
and it would not be in the header, it prolly settled in the swag of the collector or something, just drive it until it all burns out.
 
and it would not be in the header, it prolly settled in the swag of the collector or something, just drive it until it all burns out.

i think i am going to take it off and let it drain possibly flush with gas and then re install.
 
i think i am going to take it off and let it drain possibly flush with gas and then re install.[/QUOTE]

Dont bother dude, if you have any kind of sound deadener in your exhaust, chances are the oil soaked into it, and you'll never get it completely out.... Just drive it!
 
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