8 replies to this topic

[bloke]

Hi gang, just did a short trip up the road and back again, when stopped at traffic lights, Min was engulfed in steam from the exhaust. Got back home and put hand next to exhaust and had a sniff. It didn't smell of anything, not even exhaust gases? 

 

Obviously sounds like a head gasket I suppose, however if coolant was leaking into one of the chambers, wouldn't performance be deteriorated, and also wouldn't it smell of something? 

 

Not looking forward to taking out the head in an MPI, but I guess it'll give me a chance to clean things up and repaint the head. 

 

Am I barking up the wrong tree? Could it be anything else?

 

Cheers, Ast, (Bloke)

[Carlos W]

Firstly don't panic, it may be that there was condensation in the exhaust and it has evaporated causing steam. This can be a symptom of short journeys and the cold weather.

 

Is the engine using any coolant?

 

You say there was no smell, burning coolant usually smells.

 

Keep an eye on things, especially coolant level, but don't go whipping the head off just yet.

 

Do you have a compression tester? 

[Steve220]

If it happened this morning I wouldn't be surprised. The humidity was massive last night which would have settled in cold exhausts.

[Badboytunes]

I have condensation every time I start the car from cold, in the winter/ cold mornings. Nothing unusual about that if the engine is healthy. Iven happens on the daily ( which is a new car )

[bloke]

I'll dig out the compression tester, somewhere in the loft (half a mini up there) :)

 

Thing is, it was getting embarrassing, It was like a steam train, and it didn't stop on the way home. No signs of coolant or oil going down though, I keep a fairly diligent eye on those, being used to Mini antics. But it was only a short journey, and by the time I got home I was hearing more imaginary noises than real ones. like you do. :)

 

Bit late today to start under the engine bay, will keep fingers crossed for nice weather tomorrow and test the compression/have a poke about, to see what's what.

 

I'm guessing if any of the plugs are a bizarre colour or wet, then that might point to something. I'd love it to be just condensation, but the bloke behind was bemused to say the least.

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

[Fast Ivan]

as above - keep an eye on things, maybe take it for a bit of a run

[Carlos W]

What exhaust has it got.on it? Upswept ones can allow rain in

[Ben_O]

I asked the same question years ago on another forum about an old car of mine. It used to leave trails of steam (or smoke as i thought) everytime i went out and when the car was just sitting idling, it would surround the car.

 

I was expecting the worst as i had only just done some quite major engine overhaul and it was my first go at doing such major work soi just assumed it was going to be bad.

 

Turned out it was just steam from condensation sitting in the exhaust and that was that.

 

I'm not saying that this is what you have but i hope it is.

 

As the others said, keep an eye out as you don't want to carry out major work for no reason.

 

Good luck

 

Ben

[bloke]

Well, I do feel like a bit of a wally. Tested the compression today, all very fine and dandy, went for a pootle in the Min and then a quick blast up the motorway. All fine. No steam, smoke, noises, nothing.

 

You were all correct, must just have been condensation. In all the 30 odd years of nipping round in Mini's I have never experienced it. And I'm on the edge of Plymouth, where it gets regularly very cold at night.

 

Carlos - It is the lesser spotted stainless steel rc40 single box. :)

 

Anyway, many thanks for all of your reassurances and I thank you all for saving me a from taking it all apart, for what would have been a wild goose chase.