Loads of steam from exhaust + needs water top up every month

[eltelturbo]

Hi all,

Since its been cold I have been having comical amounts of steam from my exhaust. I know its steam because it fogs up my rear window! M20B25 btw

It is also really lumpy for a minute or two after cold start.

It uses about 1 litre of water/month so I have come to the conclusion that water/condensation is accumulating in the cylinder heads and exhaust over night.

What I want to know is...

whats it gonna cost, has anyone experinced this and should I get the rest of the engine re-built at the same time.

I dont fancy doing this myself because I havn't got the time or space.

I got a feeling most of you will say ditch the M20 engine for something else but I recon this aint a bad engine considering its over 20 years old

[capri_rob]

All the E30's I've had seem to produce a lot of steam once the weather temparature takes a nosedive.

Lumpy idle can be down to a number of things - blue temp sensor ( replace ) airflow meter ( clean out ) air leaks ( check/replace hoses ) ICV ( clean out ), throttle body/TPS ( Clean out ) fuel filter ( replace ).

I'd be more concerned about it getting through a litre of water a month - get it to a garage and get them to do compression and "sniff" tests which should tell you if you have head/headgasket issues, or if you keep your fingers crossed just a water leak from somewhere else than can be easily fixed.

[eltelturbo]

It's only lumpy for the first couple of minutes and most of the smoke stops after around 15 mins driving. I will get it compression tested.

I was at the lights yesterday and I couldn't even see this biker who was waiting down wind of me! When he emerged from the cloud he gave me a dirty look

maybe if it doesnt get any worse I can just keep feeding the smoke machine water

Thanks

[Eddie25]

Off topic slightly apologies but I do find that mine produces alot of condensation type fog out the exhaust. It is not using any water and appears normal but my mates have commented on this when following me.

[davidt]

I don't know the reason but e30s when cold blow lots of condensation from the exhaust in winter, makes driving in slow traffic interesting watching the car behind disappearing in a cloud of steam