Exhaust smoking after hot drive

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Hey all, I didn't find a current thread where this would fit in per-say so I decided to open a fresh one.

Just the other night I took my car up the local mountain (mount lemmon in tucson az). This is the first time I've actually pushed the car hard. (6,500miles) 3rd and 4th gear, any where from 45-75mph, for about 14 miles. About 90°F and it was 9 o'clock at night.

After the awesome run, and we got to our destination which is an overlook, I parked and let the car idle to cool down since I was running it hard, then I noticed it was smoking. The smoke wasn't dense (more like vapor) but it had a faint blueish tint to it and smelt different from anything I've smelt burning out of an exhaust. It continued to smoke at idle for about 5minutes, I shut it off for 5minutes and then went back down the mountain. (Was still smoking at idle before heading down.)

I engine braked for pretty much the whole trip down and once at the bottom I stopped to check if it was still smoking. It wasn't smoking at idle anymore but still had the odd smell, and would smoke if the throttle was blipped/jabbed.

I dropped it off at the dealer (they gave me a loaner 2018 Fit, and I really appreciate it, but I want my car back that actually moves when you touch the gas) the next day (yesterday) and explained the whole event and my guesses. (Possibly turbo leaking oil into the exhaust etc.) They called today and said they drove it for an hour last night with no smoke and drove it for 2hrs this morning with no smoke. They said I could pick it up or leave it with them for another day. Well they called right before I leave for work so I said I'll get it the next morning. They said they'll let it sit outside the shop and idle for a good 15minutes before they take it for another hard drive to try and reproduce it.

Side notes,
I knew I should've taken a video of it when it was happening.

Some questions,
is this a normal condition for a turbo engine after it's been run hard? I was thinking maybe my stock down pipe was the cause since it's the first time it's probably gotten this hot, I looked at it right after noticing the smoke and it has changed colors to blue/green but not excessively.
I figure since it can't be recreated under normal conditions then it may not be a problem?
I have a mishimoto oil catch can (it's not full at all) and it comes with a one way valve between the can and the intake manifold to prevent boost pressure from going into the can/PVC. The stock PVC line doesn't have a one way valve. Does this sound like a cause? Could I have been running it so hard that what little oil was sitting in the bottom of the can somehow got down into the intake?


Anyways, since the dealer probably won't be able to recreate it, at least I have a record started on this issue if it does come back.

Sorry for the long post!!! I just tend to ramble when it comes to cars!
Cheers!
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PowerPerLiter

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First thought is you ventured into the highest areas of load cells all at once and the car may not have had adequate time to adjust. Possibly causing some real detonation knocking piston rings around etc. Could be as you suggested turbo seals as well.

Take away point drive the car consistantly how you expect it to run. Not baby it and then bonsai it.

It's probably fine just keep an eye on it. Worst thing to do is leave that car unattended at the dealer... ever
 
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Yea I'm not too thrilled about leaving it there for so long especially when they would have to drive it to recreate the problem. But I have no choice because of my work schedule.

@PowerPerLiter can you elaborate on the "load cells". Not sure what you mean and why would there be detonation, I was well above 3k rpm the whole time. Are you referring to an altitude change problem? The starting altitude was 2,856ft and ending altitude was 6,431ft. So a difference of 3,477ft.

And by knocking piston rings around you mean just enough to let oil by? Not meaning rotating them and throwing off the clocking orientation that they need to be in?
 
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I know nothing's perfect but isn't this car made for this type of driving?
 
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btw the blueish tint is probably coolant mixing somewhere.. you had a coolant leak last time right? that may be related to it.
I was thinking that. But the leak I had was the expansion tank failed and was leaking from the seems. Also just because the coolant is dyed blue I don't believe it would burn blue. Just like cars with green and orange coolant still burn white.

And it definitely didn't smell sweet like coolant.
 


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tucson is real close to mexicoborder id go get it before it crosses and becomes some crime bosses car
 

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By load cells I mean where the targets for fueling and timing get adjusted based on the "load" on the engine. The cars are shipped with everything essentially zero'd in the middle of an adjustment range that should compensate for varying elevations temperatures and uses. This can be a very wide range of operation. What Im saying is the car basically "dials" itself in to your individual use and area but needs some drive time to do this correctly. One of the many reasons people are suggested a "break in time" BUT if you never venture into higher rpm's and higher load/stress/boost to some degree the car would never adjust these areas in the computer until you do.
 

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If you had not beat on the car at all and your first "run it hard" scenario is uphill AND changing that much elevation for a longer period of time you could have really been testing hondas calibrating ability lol. Like I said the car is probably fine and there are many "safety" catches to keep the engine safe.

And yes by "knocking the rings" I mean exactly as you understood it.
 

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coolant burns white and is often confused with steam which is also white. blue is oil. brown/black is fuel. red is q16 race gas :)
 

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I know nothing's perfect but isn't this car made for this type of driving?
sure.... but there is a way to do that.... which generally involves not only monitoring temps, but also checking fluids between sessions. Details here:

http://roadraceengineering.com/blog/2011/09/24/evo-track-day-prep-check-list/

1. 1Qt of your favorite motor oil. You will want to check your oil levels after EVERY session. Similar to fuel, oil will be consumed and burned off much more than normal. If you run out, you will be towed home. Make sure you have extra oil and make sure to check your oil!!
 


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By load cells I mean where the targets for fueling and timing get adjusted based on the "load" on the engine. The cars are shipped with everything essentially zero'd in the middle of an adjustment range that should compensate for varying elevations temperatures and uses. This can be a very wide range of operation. What Im saying is the car basically "dials" itself in to your individual use and area but needs some drive time to do this correctly. One of the many reasons people are suggested a "break in time" BUT if you never venture into higher rpm's and higher load/stress/boost to some degree the car would never adjust these areas in the computer until you do.
Completely understand now. After your first post I kept googling "load cells" and all I got was "how a semi weigh station works" lmao.
As far as running the car hard on this run I was referring to the speed and fact of staying in lower gears and climbing the mountain spiritedly.
It's the 3rd time I've had the car up the mountain, but the first 2 times I felt it was too soon after "break in" to hammer it (first mountain drive was after 2500mi.) Also the first drive went as high as the one in question and the 2nd went to the highest point with an elevation of 9,157ft. No smoking for either drive.

If you had not beat on the car at all and your first "run it hard" scenario is uphill AND changing that much elevation for a longer period of time you could have really been testing hondas calibrating ability lol. Like I said the car is probably fine and there are many "safety" catches to keep the engine safe.

And yes by "knocking the rings" I mean exactly as you understood it.
And no it hasn't been babied, I mainly daily it but once a week it'll see the Wot accelerations and there's been a hand full of all out 120mph pulls. But it hasn't been to a track yet, which would probably have been the safer bet for a "first hard run".
And for the safety catches you mention I figured there's so many sensors and what not that since there was no CeL and the car didn't behave differently or seem to have any power loss it probably wasn't too serious.
 

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Completely understand now. After your first post I kept googling "load cells" and all I got was "how a semi weigh station works" lmao.
As far as running the car hard on this run I was referring to the speed and fact of staying in lower gears and climbing the mountain spiritedly.
It's the 3rd time I've had the car up the mountain, but the first 2 times I felt it was too soon after "break in" to hammer it (first mountain drive was after 2500mi.) Also the first drive went as high as the one in question and the 2nd went to the highest point with an elevation of 9,157ft. No smoking for either drive.



And no it hasn't been babied, I mainly daily it but once a week it'll see the Wot accelerations and there's been a hand full of all out 120mph pulls. But it hasn't been to a track yet, which would probably have been the safer bet for a "first hard run".
And for the safety catches you mention I figured there's so many sensors and what not that since there was no CeL and the car didn't behave differently or seem to have any power loss it probably wasn't too serious.
I think youll be fine then all that being said I would not stress or take the car anywhere near a technician unless its really something obviously wrong.

high performance engines will consume SOME oil. especially after some good pulls. I bet you had a blast though!!!!!
 
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I think youll be fine then all that being said I would not stress or take the car anywhere near a technician unless its really something obviously wrong.

high performance engines will consume SOME oil. especially after some good pulls. I bet you had a blast though!!!!!
Thank you! I appreciate the input!
If it ever developes into something more consistent I'll be sure to update this thread.

Side note:
my 98 gsr teg has been up the mountain plenty of times and will usually trip a CeL because the computer doesn't adjust to the elevation quick enough. A quick ignition off and back on while still driving clears it for the rest of the trip up and then it will usually throw the same code once back at the bottom. But again a quick on-off clears it. But it never smoked lol.
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