Alabama thread!

of what the fact that people dont tell me to stop taking my clothes off when i start??? thats not anything to be jealous of... also it's you're*

 

No, that I don't take my clothes off when your around! My phone autocorrects you're, to your for some reason.

 

You're*

 

I'm sick of this fucking rain. Cuss or discuss, go.

 

at least its beading up on the 80!!!

 

At least the 80's lifted 6" on 37's so I can drive through the flooding, lol. I need an Evinrude on the back of the 100.

 

Point proven!

 

Yeah... I put the new radiator in today. That kept coolant off the ground, but it was still making some white smoke, although that got better after I drove it a bit. It's knocking pretty bad or something though, it isn't running right at all.

 

I took a video of the noise at idle and revving it up, if anyone has any input I'd appreciate it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFp7ydg-h2c&feature=youtu.be

 

Sounds like a rod knocking... Idk though

 

A FREAKIN MAN...my yard is a jungle due to lack of grass cutting. tempted to cement the damn thing and paint it green

 

So, I sent this video link to my automotive brain trust. (Some close friends I grew up with who are all into wrenching).

I found the responses both constructive, and humorous, and thought I'd share:

"I have no idea, sounds kinda broke. Need more info."

"Maybe it overheated and blew the head gasket? Check oil cap and see if the oil is contaminated (milky). Dunno about the sound though... it does sound brokeded."

"I'd figure out why it was running hot and blew the radiator in the first place. That'd be a good starting point. Definitely do a compression test to see if the head gasket it alright."

"I recommend peeing on it as soon as possible."

 

Haha, thanks. Why was it running hot? Because the radiator shat itself! Why? Because it is a POS 16 y/o radiator and the plastic-aluminum seals failed. JK, I appreciate the input.

Buddy of mine pointed out his engine sounded very similar when he had an exhaust manifold leak. Made it run rough and really screwed up the tuning, made it run very rich. And now that I think about it, I got some white smoke out of the engine bay along with the exhaust, I wrote it off as coolant that splashed on the heat shield burning off, but now I think it's time to tear into the exhaust along with doing that leakdown test...

If i need a new engine, exhaust will have to come off anyway, so no harm done.

 

Doesn't sound good man. The 2000 and 2k1 cherokee's are notorious for blowing heads and head gaskets do to a forging error in the heads. Almost all the threads describe similar things to what you are describing. Overheat and then white exhaust.

If I were you, I'd dump the oil and check its color first, then do a compression test. If you are pulling coolant into the oil it will get a chocolate milk color to it (same thing with water). That should help steer you in a coolant/engine related direction to start isolating the rest of the systems. When I sunk the cherokee, I pulled out the entire intake system including manifold and cleaned it up really well. Then I pulled the plugs and let everything dry out after turning it over a few times. Reinstall, let idle, and the white exhaust went away after about 10 minutes. The oil went back to normal after two changes (about 3 months).

Bill, correct me if I'm wrong, but white exhaust is either smoke or condensation, and the humidity and odor of the exhaust immediately identifies which it is.

 

Well turns out most of those videos that sounded the same had some kind of serious engine problem to go along with exhaust manifold leakage.

Well, we knew it was burning some coolant. I think the white smoke is gone, although I have to crank it today to find out. I did an oil change along with the radiator change, and the oil actually looked good.

I think you're right though: consensus among miata people that track theirs is that I should just start engine shopping. Swap it out as soon as I have a garage, and then I can look over the motor in it. They only cost around 500 bucks, worst case I have a spare motor.

 

Have you got a stethoscope? If you do or can find one cheap, start trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. It's the shade-tree version of something like Bill's "chassis ears."

 

I don't. A more experienced ear would probably get something from that, I think I'm too much of a noob.

I think at this point I'm probably going to do a compression test and replace the exhaust manifold gasket and see where I am. I am fairly confident I have an exhaust leak, I'll test it out with some seafoam tonight to make sure. Even if the problem is something else, I'll need a new gasket there regardless, so may as well fix a known problem.

 

Crickets... I've taken the mantle from Justin in thread-killing.

 

and also from Floor for vehicle killing....

 

Yeah, I've now got my compression tester, I'll be looking at that tonight. The more I read, the more I think Paul's right. The guys at miataturbo who are more familiar with this than I am had a general consensus of engine shopping time.

My latest and greatest theory is: Engine gets really hot, old radiator cap sticks, radiator overpressures and blows, engine overheats very quickly, causes head warpage / HG failure, and here we are. Whoopee!

Oh well, $500 later and I'll have a junkyard motor in there.

Oh, and at the end of the day? Totally worth it. Track time is fun as shit. Especially track time where you have a trailer for your old beater car, so zero fucks are given and you flog it like you stole it.