Bluish smoke

[Gho5t.0]

Hello everyone I have a Whipple 5.0 2019 with 55k miles on it. It has started to blow a bluish/white smoke whenever I get on the throttle. It blows a lot whenever I get on it hard. A small amount of smoke blows when I idle as well. I just had the cats and resonator removed because they both got damaged and never noticed any smoke before this. It has some sort of pop or crackle tune on it. Any help or advice would be helpful thank you. I just got the car 2 weeks ago and had no issues besides the cats going out.

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[CrackedHorn]

Blue smoke means oil is being burned

White smoke means water (coolant) is being burned

Could be anything from worn out valve stem seals to a cracked block, cracked head, blown rings, or failed head gasket.

How does your coolant and oil look? Any white buildup under oil fill cap?
Missing coolant?

One of the easier diagnostics is to get (or rent) a combustion leak tester which will tell you if you have coolant/combustion mixing.


https://www.harborfreight.com/combu...Jzs-LuMyHYm_n3lpcLwYZ1JB4D7toXGMaAinqEALw_wcB

 

[BluestreamDE]

Hey there. I believe white smoke is coolant being burned off in the cylinders and blueish smoke is oil burning. I'm thinking possible head gasket failure. Have you gotten a compression test? Under boost if there is a leak on your head gasket, it would pressurize your cooling system and push coolant into the combustion chamber.

Burning oil at WOT doesn't sound right either. Could be leaking past piston rings under heavy load or degraded valve stem seals.

If the Cats were clogged it would of caused extra pressure in the cylinders and created the issues you have now. Ask the previous owner what he experienced with the car.

 

[NGOT8R]

Bluish smoke is usually an indicator of bad piston rings. Did you purchase a warranty with the car? It might also be worth performing a compression test to confirm that the rings are in fact bad.

 

[Gho5t.0]

Blue smoke means oil is being burned

White smoke means water (coolant) is being burned

Could be anything from worn out valve stem seals to a cracked block, cracked head, blown rings, or failed head gasket.

How does your coolant and oil look? Any white buildup under oil fill cap?
Missing coolant?

One of the easier diagnostics is to get (or rent) a combustion leak tester which will tell you if you have coolant/combustion mixing.


https://www.harborfreight.com/combu...Jzs-LuMyHYm_n3lpcLwYZ1JB4D7toXGMaAinqEALw_wcB

So the oil and coolant look fine. I have good oil pressure and no over heating or loss of coolant.

 

[Hoofer]

I just had the cats and resonator removed because they both got damaged

How did they get “damaged”?

 

[Gho5t.0]

How did they get “damaged”?

I’m pretty sure it was because of the tune I’m not exactly sure but the cats blew for sure and were making a rattling noise and the resonator was ratting as well.

 

[NGOT8R]

I’m pretty sure it was because of the tune I’m not exactly sure but the cats blew for sure and were making a rattling noise and the resonator was ratting as well.

Did the car have catted long tube headers on it when the cats blew out? if so, unfortunately, good solid cats are going to be super expensive and even then, I’d be leery of spending that kind of money, not knowing if they will hold.

I blew mine out several months ago and had to make repairs as well.

 

[SheepDog]

I’m pretty sure it was because of the tune I’m not exactly sure but the cats blew for sure and were making a rattling noise and the resonator was ratting as well.

Do a compression test. Also, make sure your PCV valve is functioning properly (unless you have a catch can setup that doesn't route the PCV back to the motor) Excessive blowby can cause this, or a cracked ring land on one of the pistons

 

[SheepDog]

@Gho5t.0 Does it have a catch can on it?

 

[Gho5t.0]

@Gho5t.0 Does it have a catch can on it?

It does not

 

[Sig556]

Blue smoke means oil is being burned

White smoke means water (coolant) is being burned

Could be anything from worn out valve stem seals to a cracked block, cracked head, blown rings, or failed head gasket.

How does your coolant and oil look? Any white buildup under oil fill cap?
Missing coolant?

One of the easier diagnostics is to get (or rent) a combustion leak tester which will tell you if you have coolant/combustion mixing.


https://www.harborfreight.com/combu...Jzs-LuMyHYm_n3lpcLwYZ1JB4D7toXGMaAinqEALw_wcB

Best advice hands down.

 

[DrewT]

Is there a way to tell if the cats are about to fail or just have to notice the symptoms when they do?

 

[NGOT8R]

Is there a way to tell if the cats are about to fail or just have to notice the symptoms when they do?

It can be a rotten egg or sulfur type of smell or sudden change in exhaust note. In my case, I noticed the sound of the exhaust change (clogging and unclogging) when the section of blown cat was being blown out under WOT and sucked back in during gear changes. Finally, this is what it sounded and looked like afterward:

 

[DrewT]

It can be a rotten egg or sulfur type of smell or sudden change in exhaust note. In my case, I noticed the sound of the exhaust change (clogging and unclogging) when the section of blown cat was being blown out under WOT and sucked back in during gear changes. Finally, this is what it sounded and looked like afterward:

Thanks for the details! Very helpful.

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