wrocki

I fixed my problem with warning lights and P0012 code by getting a new LEFT CAM TIMING CONTROL MOTOR VVTI fitted as advised on another thread here.

Thanks to those who contributed especially lobuxracer and Joe Z. So I wonder if anyone can offer any advice re another problem I am now encountering with my car.

Three times now, once the car is warmed up after 20 miles or so, when I make a left turn (I’m in the uk) and accelerate down an on-ramp using the paddles to shift but then lift off the gas at about 5000rpm to merge with traffic, I’ve suddenly seen a huge cloud of white smoke in the rear view mirror. I’ve slowed down and stopped when I come off at the next exit and the smoke is coming out the left rear corner of the hood and from under the left side sill and left rear wheel arch. I’ve lifted the hood and it seemed to be coming from between the back of the engine and the bulkhead.

The most recent time on Wednesday I was able to stop on tarmac and underneath there were a couple of small puddles and droplets of fluids dripping off the undertray. One seemed to be oil or ATF and the other coolant or possibly a/c condensate. The next day it was mostly still there but soaked into the tarmac so clearly mainly oil or ATF.



Stopping the engine just for a couple of minutes allowed me to restart and drive 5 or 10 miles home with no warning lights or gear shift issues. Engine runs smoothly as ever. When I got home I let the car cool a bit and then checked fluid levels. Coolant had been on low, but clear pink not brown, last time I looked when cold just before the latest incident and now it had disappeared. The engine oil level was fine and oil clear not milky (only 500 miles since changed). Once fully cool I topped up the coolant but it only needed less than a quarter of a pint to put it back to the minimum line so I added enough to take it to full and will keep an eye on it. There does seem to be some white specks on a new top hose and pink on some alloy bits at the front of the engine possibly caused by leaking coolant. I can’t see any leaks or red residue on the bulkhead but haven’t used a mirror or anything.





I recently had the radiator changed (before the vvti motor but the car has been used very little in the last 18 months) because of some issues some people have had in the UK with radiator cores mixing ATF and coolant. That could be a coincidence but maybe the ATF level isn’t right or maybe some of the hoses and ATF lines have a slight leak. But why is it mostly fine then the sudden huge amount of smoke?

I’ve had it back to the shop twice now and they checked it on the ramp and couldn’t see any signs of leaks. I can’t seem to get the problem to happen and then immediately drive to the workshop while it's still smoking so they have only seen it when it has cooled down and dried off.

It’s a 30mile drive back to the shop again before I can get the ATF level checked and I’m concerned in case it is now too low and I risk damaging the gearbox which is just what I was trying to prevent by changing the rad. As far as i'm aware there's no dipstick or ATF level warning light on these cars?

We don’t tend to see the valley plate issue in our cold wet climate here so could this be a head gasket or is the rad change too much of a coincidence? What else could it be?

The car has done 150k miles. It has always consumed about a quart of mobil1 very 1,000 miles ever since I bought it which I was initially concerned about but it never seemed to get any worse

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

Without knowing what the fluid is, it's hard to say. Initial reaction says valley plate (has nothing to do with weather conditions) is leaking because coolant is low and you're seeing white smoke. Oil would always be bluish, even ATF. If it's ATF, the issue would be the vent at the top of the gearbox (one member had a problem with this a long time ago). That's the biggest difference in the AA80E transmission for the IS F. The venting is done completely differently from the other non-F models using this gearbox. The best way to check for valley plate leak is to use a borescope sized camera (preferably ~5mm in diameter) to take a look under the intake manifold. I would not be at all surprised to find your valley plate is leaking, it's very common, and almost seems to be a "at some point in time, this will fail on all of them" issue.

wrocki

Thanks, I'm planning to drive the car (gently) back to the shop this week and i will ask them to check for a valley plate leak as you suggest. I wish i'd collected a sample of the fluid when it last happened but i didn't.