I was minding my own business when this spotty youth decided to drive his hair dressers car right up my ****. So I pressed the sport button and floored it , he was soon just a dot on the horizon. However ,In my mirror I noticed a cloud of white smoke being emitted when the engine hit 6500 rpm on the first upshift. didnt really see anything on any following up shifts. When I go home I parked up and reved the car to 6500 and sure enough there was the cloud of white smoke the first time I did it , then nothing. Now I'm sure white smoke is a sign of a head gasket issue, but its normally continuous. Im not loosing coolant and the power is fine, so what I'm thinking is that the exhaust is collecting water. I dont drive far or for long in her, so is it possible that water is collecting before the over axle part of the exhaust, then when I boot it, it gets ejected. Then when I boot it, the pipe is dry? Anyone else get this issue or should I get a top end gasket set ready just in case?

 

I would have a chemical combustion gas check done to your coolant. If the HG is leaking it will deposit material in the coolant that can be detected with the test.

 

Sounds like a very small head gasket leak that when high suction is applied gets bigger.

For a very short term concern I would ask is there any sign of coolant in the oil.

 

Back in the day, I thought white smoke meant transmission fluid burning.

 

Not sure how transmission fluid would get into the exhaust.

White smoke in my world has always indicated coolant.

 

The combustion gas test is the first step usually. I have seem it give a false negative for a minor blown head gasket.

Next step would be a leak down test. I had multiple false negatives from that also from a reputable jag tech (multiple test on the same car for the same problem).

For me the obvious sign was the coolant level. Check it in the morning before cold start. Do that the next day or after a few days and if it is leaking you should see it go down slightly as long as you drove it reasonable far. If you can detect any milkyness in the oil at all you should not run it. The oil may still be bad even if it looks ok, but mine looked ok on a UOA after driving for a few weeks with a minor blown headgasket. Mine did finally fail a leak down test when it got bad enough. The jag tech and dealer just kept telling me it was fine and to drive it until that happened

 

+1

 

Sounds like the head gasket to me. Gut check time about the car and cost.

 

neither coolant or oil are losing level, I thought a head gasket would leak water all the time and would be especially noticeable on startup. Why would it leak on the first blast to 6500 rpm, then not leak immediately afterwards? Which is why I'm leaning towards water pooling in the exhaust pipe

 

You may be right. When you start the engine first time of the day do a sniff test at the tail pipe. Coolant has a distinctive odor as I'm sure you have noticed.

Just keep an eye on the coolant level and drive the car long enough to get it hot whenever you can.

 

There is no white smoke on startup, just a few droplets of water and small amount of vapour which quickly disappears as the engine warms up. i would have thought that someone else might have noticed it on their car though?