• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Just curious- billowing white/grey smoke?

T

Tinster

Guest
Guest
Offline
What does it usually mean when you hear kind of a dull bang noise, the cars loses power and whitish/grey/black smoke
billows out the exhaust pipe? Just jurious. Blown head gasket?

Best regards,

dale(Tinster)
 
white = water problem
grey & black are other problems in the engine

No telling what the dull bang noise could mean....broken rod, valve hitting something it shouldn't, push rod jumped out from under rocker, etc.
 
Tinster said:
What does it usually mean when you hear kind of a dull bang noise, the cars loses power and whitish/grey/black smoke
billows out the exhaust pipe? Just jurious. Blown head gasket?

Best regards,

dale(Tinster)
Head gaskets don't normally make noise when they give out. If this was definitely an immediate effect, I would suspect a rod thrown into the block cracking both a water jacket and allowing crankcase oil into the exhaust. If there's antifreeze in the crankcase, that'd be a dead giveaway.

I think we're all assuming this is a lbc with a manual transmission. Automatic transmission fluid will also give a white/grey smoke if it's finding it's way into the combustion chamber or directly into the exhaust. I've had a transmission fail in exactly this same way (1987 Ford Tempo company car), sound effects and all. The only difference is that it was less than a 1/4 mile before I lost all forward gears and I then lost reverse the first time I used it (to get the car off the road).

If you're losing power it's likely an engine failure. Check the oil and each spark plug and that should tell the tale.

Good luck!
 
I had that bang happen on a mazda b2000 truck. The head gasket blew and pushed the piece of metal gasket between 3 and 4 cylinder over into cylinder 4 and broke part of the piston and this forced cylinder compression into the crank case and blew off every vacuum hose on the engine and this sounded like a truck letting off the air brakes. One 30 dollar piston, one rings set and a new head gasket and it was back on the road again. I put about 30k more on it and gave it to my dad who put 20k more on it and sold it off to a preacher.
 
Tinster said:
What does it usually mean when you hear kind of a dull bang noise, the cars loses power and whitish/grey/black smoke
billows out the exhaust pipe? Just jurious. Blown head gasket?

Best regards,

dale(Tinster)

It ALWAYS means $$$$$
 
70herald said:
Tinster said:
What does it usually mean when you hear kind of a dull bang noise, the cars loses power and whitish/grey/black smoke
billows out the exhaust pipe? Just jurious. Blown head gasket?

Best regards,

dale(Tinster)

It ALWAYS means $$$$$

+1

Never heard it for a rebate !!!!
 
Head gaskets may normally not make noise when they let go but you should have been with me when my bugeye blew the head gasket between 2-3 cylinders this summer. Wow it was loud and the Su carbs piston diaphrams were dancing up and down so hard it sounded like little hammers in there.!
DaveatMoon said:
Tinster said:
What does it usually mean when you hear kind of a dull bang noise, the cars loses power and whitish/grey/black smoke
billows out the exhaust pipe? Just jurious. Blown head gasket?

Best regards,

dale(Tinster)
Head gaskets don't normally make noise when they give out. If this was definitely an immediate effect, I would suspect a rod thrown into the block cracking both a water jacket and allowing crankcase oil into the exhaust. If there's antifreeze in the crankcase, that'd be a dead giveaway.

I think we're all assuming this is a lbc with a manual transmission. Automatic transmission fluid will also give a white/grey smoke if it's finding it's way into the combustion chamber or directly into the exhaust. I've had a transmission fail in exactly this same way (1987 Ford Tempo company car), sound effects and all. The only difference is that it was less than a 1/4 mile before I lost all forward gears and I then lost reverse the first time I used it (to get the car off the road).

If you're losing power it's likely an engine failure. Check the oil and each spark plug and that should tell the tale.

Good luck!
 
Back
Top