Hi,

So last summer I did a motor swap on my 1,2 2010 ciao, it had a bad oil-pump, which made the clearances go all over the place, so she got a new 1,2 188A4000 which had done around 35.000km at the time, I've done around 10-15kkm on top of that in the last year, we almost never run it hard, meaning 3000rpm is our normal limit, some very rare times its been to 4000rpm, and once I've had it to 5000.

I noticed the white smoke the other morning (the wife pulled out of the driveway), didnt think much of it as it was a frosty morning. but doing a springcleaning today it had coolant midway between min and max while being topped up not a month ago, and the oil is ever so slightly mayo-ish - I do have a test set, but I doubt its necessary as the symptoms are there - but I will of course check before changing the gasket.

But my question is, what did I do wrong? swapping the gasket, will that just cure the symptoms, and it will reoccur shortly afterwards? I've not overheated - what can cause this?
Also it's not running badly in any way, starts right up, and sounds right.

And will any further harm come to the motorblock from me postponing the gasket swap a month or two?

Thanks for reading,
Tobias

Coolant may have gone through the overflow drain. I never top up till max when cold. It should be (a little) over min when cold. Slight mayonaise could be from condensation in the cold. I don't think DK has had higher temps than NL lately
Don't worry too much.

gr J

A3jeroen said:

Coolant may have gone through the overflow drain. I never top up till max when cold. It should be (a little) over min when cold. Slight mayonaise could be from condensation in the cold. I don't think DK has had higher temps than NL lately
Don't worry too much.

gr J

Click to expand...

We have had a full 8C today!!!!

hmm, ok, I'll do a fluidswap and test after a month - by then the weather should be nice to play with wrenches in again... thanks for the response, it makes sense, the coolant levels just varied a lot between my two pandas, so much that I got worried

White smoke this time of year seem quite common with the Pandas. Mines looks quite bad for the first couple of miles till the condensation evaporates off.

See quite a few Pandas like that.


Was the mayo under the filler cap or on the dipstick. Mayo under the filer cap can occur due to condensation if the car is only used for short journeys.

The oil on the dipstick If you wipe it on some kitchen roll is it brown or grey. If the oil is grey I wouldn't carry on driving the car until more tests are done.

You can put some kitchen roll over the end of the exhaust if coolant is entering the system it should be evident. Well it use to turn pale blue In the old days but never tried with this pink stuff

Best to keep an eye on it all the same.


Would be surprised if coolant was entering both the cylinders and oil. Without it empting the expansion tank and the car running okay. Normally if coolant is entering the cylinder head the hoses will go firm instantly the car is started

Brown oil.. it rarely runs for less than 30 minutes-1hr

I had a hg failure on another motor, same pink coolant - nice blue/white smoke... similar to what I saw here, hence my slight panic..

Ill check the antifreeze for carbons and feel its tubes..

TobiasBB said:

Brown oil.. it rarely runs for less than 30 minutes-1hr

I had a hg failure on another motor, same pink coolant - nice blue/white smoke... similar to what I saw here, hence my slight panic..

Ill check the antifreeze for carbons and feel its tubes..

Click to expand...

Brown oil that's good.

When its grey and like water its not lubricating properly.

Pandas do seem to emit a lot of moisture into the air if the conditions are right. Not having a down turned pipe doesn't help as you see it in the rear view mirror. Guess a lot is normally condensed by the centre box on most cars but my Panda only has a back box.


Noticed Ford Focus's also emit a lot of steam this time of year also.



Guess its something manufactures will address in time as each year their are always slight improvements. We come a long way from the Datsun 120J

I like it more when I have fresh clear oil in (though that last only the shortest of trips) - but I'm glad that brown oil is good!

The amount of moisture is directly linked to the ammount of fuel burned, unless you fill your coolant into the cylinders (which makes for nice and clean cylinders/sparkplugs.....)