Very occasionally , after the 2000 XKR has been sitting for a few weeks I get a small puff of white smoke on start up.

Any ideas?

 

Crying for being neglected.

Condensation in the exhaust turning to steam .......?

Graham

 

drive it more!

 

All of the above,

Slight smoke on start up generally means a valve guide is leaking. Nothing to worry to much about!

 

I have the same issue, and have at started at least one thread about it. My "puff" however is not small. Given the approximately $ 3,000 cost to pull the heads and put in new guides/seals, I'm resigned to living with it. It seems not to have any noticeable effect on the way the car runs.

 

My 98 with 75000 miles will also do that, on occasion. Given the age of the car, the length of time left sitting, and the mileage, I am not at all concerned.
Regards,

 

Is there any gunk in your coolant reservoir? The "white" smoke has me thinking about a little coolant leak from a head gasket. Condensation "could" be a logical possibility to though, considering how little she gets driven. Even mine, which gets driven daily, takes a little while to fully warm up the exhaust system in the morning.

 

Thanks team

That all sounds pretty innocuous

Yes , I know , I should drive it more.

Just waiting to get the thermostat and cooling system checked out.

A month back it scared the bejesus out of me when stopped in traffic for a while , the aircond stopped blowing cold and the temp gauge hit the red for about 2 seconds until I slipped into the left lane and got moving.It immediately dropped back to normal

Out on the road it's fine . Went to my Indy Jag mechanic a few days after that and he said it hadn't logged any error codes ?

Just want it checked first

 

Maybe lack of flow, could be water pump failing?

 

Now we're getting down to the detail. You didn't mention the overheat.

You cannot rely on the temperature gauge in the XK8/XKR. By the time it moves into the red the engine has already seriously overheated and an overheat by itself won't log an error code. Overheating can very rapidly lead to head gasket failure or warped heads as several members have discovered.

I'd add a compression test to the 'to do' list.

Graham

 

White smoke is called steam, blue smoke is from burning oil & black smoke is when the mixture is too rich.

 

Since it's not a serious leak as of yet and you have momentarily overheated the engine, have them bring the engine up to operating temperature and then run a cooling system pressure test overnight. If the next morning they start the car and the smoke is significant, then it means there's a head gasket leaking. Or they can run the same test but with the spark plugs out of the engine and look for coolant in the cylinder(s) the next morning.

 

Thanks addicted and others

It did the puff of smoke thing before the alleged overheat

I will get them to do that test soon

Until then I'm reluctant to drive it far

The $ and mechanic time are currently going towards

1. Getting a 1998 Land Rover Discovery 1 ready to sell.
2. Getting a 2004 Landrover Discovery 2A we just bought , up to scratch.

Pete