Terribly unlucky imo

 

Could be the Inlet Manifold Gasket.

 

Thats what someone else has said to me also......in a way i hope it is as it will be a dam site cheaper than it being shhh ( hgf :crazy: )

Thanks for your thoughts :thumbsup:

 

Ok bit Technical here .....

VERY VERY ROUGHLY the Dew point of a "Standard" petrol Engine is (Around) 6 to 8 degree C... (that means if the ambiant air temp around the car is WITHIN THIS RANGE it WILL blow WHITE SMOKE!!!)

The Dew point is where the water vapour contained in the air (that drawn into the Carb) condenses out back to water (I.e. White smoke) ...

ALL VEHICLES do this between the temps I mentioned above ........

GREAT EXAMPLE here ....Watch a plane at high altitude it leaves a "CON TRIAL" that is COLD air being drawn into the engine, heated & blown outta the back ..(i.e. Condensation or "White Smoke"...

So, following on from that lesson .............. YOUR white Smoke does NOT mean you have a HG failure the "Lumpy Starting" COULD BE a Mucky Maf Sensor

Rule of Thumb ...If yer get CONSTANT White Smoke & the air temp is in DOUBLE FIGURES (oC) then you may have a HG issue .........


Bet thats got yer thinkin Aint it !!!??? LOL!!

 

:hmmm: lol certainly has got me thinking.

It is pretty constant tbh, gets a bit better when engine is warmer but still coughs out quite a a bit....but i really don't see how it could be HGF it has been done twice in its lifetime and the car is treated very well never abused.
I cant be that unlucky to have it happen three times surely!

Mark at Z&F tuning who did all the mems work for MG told me that sometimes treating the K series with kid gloves can have an adverse effect and actually damage it in the long run due to the engine expanding differently due to not always having the same temperatures thrown at it....or something along those lines......i know one thing sometimes i feel like doing this :admin: grrr

 

I have had three go

And each time it's been water into the bores, with the misfire from cold that you have mentioned, once warm thou it was sweet as a nut.

 

Not want i want to hear lol That the thing it runs and drives fine, no loss of power, no gunk in coolant and oil.....only having to top up from min to max once a month ish.........Oh well more monies down the pan to fix!

 

Take it to the local MOT station & get the guys to do a "SNIFF" test on the header tank with their Exhaust Analysis probe...that will pick up any Hydro-Carbons (Exhaust Gasses) in the water or waterways

if it come back as ZERO .. it aint yer HG ... if it registeres Hydro-Carbons then it is DEFFO a HG Failure!!

 

Problem i had with sniff test was...

It did not show up lul as water was only creeping into the bores as it was cooling down.

 

Last time I had plumes of white smoke was when the coolant decided to dump itself into the bores with epic HGF

 

Ahhh that just filled me with joy hearing that lol

 

Won't make a difference Mate as the Probe will be stickin in yer header tank NOT the Exhaust!!

As Andy said .. it MAY NOT show up depending on where EXACTLY the HG has gone ..but in my experience 99% of them DO register Hydro-Carbons in the Header tank if a HG failure has occured ...

 

What i was getting at Keef, is once it was hot wherever the HG had gone was swelling due to heat and closing the leak off..So it was only allowing water into the bores while it was cooling down.

 

Many thanks guys for all your replys, have just dropped it in to my garage and they are going to pressure test it in the morning and let me know!

Fingers crossed for inlet manifold gasket instead of head gasket!

Will let you know the outcome

 

Just a quick update to all those who kindly replied, have just got it back from the garage and it was the inlet manifold gasket that was letting coolant into one of the cylinders and it was only fireing on three! All fixed now, white smoke gone and starting fine......:happy:

.....The best bit of news is my contact at the garage was in a kind mood today and didn't charge me for the work! What a legend! :bow:

Many thanks to peoples input as it helped along with the diagnosis. :bow:

 

Sweet man

 

Good news fella - a happy ending!:yes: