I search and search, and when I was done I search some more, still no answer. Most of my searching lead to threads about Test/Race Pipes, Which I don't have.

When I start my car up in the morning have alot of white smoke coming out of the passenger side, and a little from the drivers side. I have a true-dual exhaust, so something on the passenger is a little "off". The temps in the morning are around 28-40F, and there is always dew/ice on my car. At first I thought maybe I have some condensation forming in my muffler, then when it heats up it produces steam(white smoke), but now I don't I just installed HFC's, but the temps were a bit warmer, so I never noticed any smoke.

Also when I start my car up, I don't have the exotic sound of my HKS. I get a fast ticking sound all the way thur the RPM band. I didn't have that sound with my stock cats, or when I first installed my HFC's. After I installed my HFC's, my HKS still have that exotic tone, just louder. Now it sounds almost like a lawn sprinkler. Today I re-torque the all the bolts from the beginning of the H-pipe and back, to Infiniti spec's. I found some loose bolts, but I still have that sound. I didn't have time to re-torque the manifold to HFC's bolts(triangle flange), I will try during my next oil change in a week or so.

I found this thread with some answers: After headers and test pipes being installed....

Any other input would be great thanks.

 

Check your oil for coolent and check your res for oil. Might have a blown head gasket.

Also, does the "white steam" smell like steam or gasoline? Your passenger side (bank 1) coil packs might not be firing. White smoke can also be unburnt gas fumes...

 

I forgot to said that after my car warms up and I drive to work, the smoke stops. So I don't think is my head gasket IMO, however I have been wrong before.

I'll see what other info I could find out about my coil packs/spark plugs.

 

Mine smokes/steams alot in the mornings. Ive always had ticking sound even with my Nismo and tp's. My HKS clicks a bit and there is white steam, not smoke. Smells alot like steam mixed with gas. Those fumes suck.

 

White smoke usually equals coolant. Blown head gaskets are usually pretty easy to identify. If it is real bad, 1. you will have white smoke/steam coming from your tail pipes even during normal driving. 2. If it is leaking slowly then it may only be present on start ups or hard accelerations. (more than likely it is option 2) Or of course, diagnosing things over the interet leaves the opportunity for me to be totally of base and out to lunch.

When you say you had loose bolts, it makes me think your gasket probably failed. When gaskets fail, air rushing through the seperated gasket paper will produce a ticking/buzzing sound. Is this something like your hearing?

 

If the head gaskets is leaking slowly and it may be present on start ups and/or hard accelerations, what about high rev'ing in neutral? The reason I ask is, if I had someone stand behind my parked car while I was rev'ing, they should should see smoke, right?? This will simulate a hard acceleration, which I will not be able to see.

The loose bolts that I found were from the mid-pipes, circled in the pic below in red. The tic'ing sound, seems like it's coming from the back of the engine/HFC's area. However the gasket between the passenegers side HFC and H-pipe, didn't seem to line up 100% (I think the gasket was sticking out a bit from the oval flange)

I'm not sure on the smoke/steam smells like, I post it as soon as I find out.

 

double check clearance issues on that rear strut. When the car is on, and the exhaust is flexing it may be tapping that strut. I had that problem with my borla. Also do the same for the rear differential, that one pipe can come close to either of them depending on how your hangers are set more towards the front of the car.

Honestly bro, most all cars will puff out a littel white smoke/steam on hard acceleration. If it is a blown head gasket, the smoke would be obvious, even with you driving looking out your mirrors. if it is anything less than that, than it's hardly worth fixing because it will continue to run effeciently even with it puffing out some white smoke on a cold start up. Annoying? Yes, Makes you feel like yoru car is a POS? Yes perminant effects? No more than you see now.

I would pull your plugs and check for oil. Also drain some coolant out and make sure there is no oil in there. If there is, you got problems.

 

^Will Do thanks, HondaKiller

 

I would pull the gasket where the headers meet the head and see if there is any noticable carbon desposits on the gasket. The whitre smoke at startup and these temps are usually normal and you stated that is goes away after the car is warm. I am going to say that it is normal, might want to start the car next to another car fo good comparison. In the engine bay it is not normal. I would suggest tomorrow morning start the car and look with a flash light where it is coming from. Then look for any carbon deposits around that gasket.

 

I got home from running errands all day and I had white smoke coming from one side of my exhaust. Car sounded normal, oil press good, a/f good. I had 13 gallons of fuel in can in the trunk area. I unloaded my car, drove around the block and when I got home the smoke was gone. How could strut clearance create the white smoke? I hope this is what it was.

 

bump

 

clearance on the rear strut bar was in reference to the metal on metal ticking sound he was hearing. The white smoke was another issue.

 

Would the OPs mods contribute to or create this problem?

 

No. But having a REVUP engine certaintly can.

It could be a classic case of oil consumption.

 

rarely do bolt on mods cause any sort of failure. Typically it's due to abuse the car endures once the owner puts the mods on As stated above since he has a rev up its likely his engine is burning oil.