Following a late 90s excel the other day, and it literally started billowing amazingly thick smoke

[dug777]

We followed it for another half-hour or so, then it turned off.

The smoke was thick & gray, and even though we were only ~20m behind it at 110km/h in a different lane we could barely see anything for most of that 30 seconds...

 

[Savij]

He accidently hit the smoke screen button?

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: dug777
We followed it for another half-hour or so, then it turned off.

The smoke was thick & gray, and even though we were only ~20m behind it at 110km/h in a different lane we could barely see anything for most of that 30 seconds...

Wow I diddn't know they continued offering that feature into the late 90's. My dad's old early 90's Excel had so many goddamn problems.

 

[BabaBooey]

seafoam ?

 

[nakedfrog]

Gray?
White, blue, and black, I know, but not gray...

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: Savij
He accidently hit the smoke screen button?

Bond, James Bond.

 

[AMCRambler]

Could have been some bad gas? Was it raining? Maybe it pulled some water into it's intake?

 

[warmodder]

Originally posted by: swtethan

Originally posted by: Savij
He accidently hit the smoke screen button?

Bond, James Bond.

Or some low budget imitation, bond wouldn't be seen in anything less than an aston.

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: warmodder

Originally posted by: swtethan

Originally posted by: Savij
He accidently hit the smoke screen button?

Bond, James Bond.

Or some low budget imitation, bond wouldn't be seen in anything less than an aston.

Z3
tank
double decker bus
VW beetle

 

[GoatMonkey]

Was he pulling out of an oil change shop? It could've been a fuel system cleaner going through it.

 

[Allanv]

could it have been a diesel because my diesel BMW does that if i accelerate hard i think all diesels do.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Where you stopped at a light or going down a hill? Really bad valve stem seals will smoke while sitting or right after taking off again and bad rings can suck oil into the combustion chamber while under engine braking.

 

[dandragonrage]

He just kept going after? Didn't break down or slow down? Could have downshifted, could have a blown engine, bad piston rings, whatever.

 

[Eli]

He stepped on the gas.

If it was grey, it was probably just steam.

 

[marvdmartian]

Saw something similar one time. Car sitting at a light turned right, going up a hill immediately. Man, the smoke/steam that was POURING out of the exhaust of that old rattletrap was so thick, that cars following him just about had to stop, due to the absolute lack of vision they experienced! Once he was up the hill a little ways (and thus, off the throttle a bit), it trailed off and stopped.

I assumed back then, and also now hearing your story dug, that they have a small leak of coolant into their cylinder(s), due to a cylinder head gasket leak. The coolant flashes off to steam, and creates the "smoke screen" effect. In other words, el cheapo Bond trick!

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Eli
He stepped on the gas.

If it was grey, it was probably just steam.

Agreed. He went wide open throttle.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Those cars were complete crap. I'm surprised you found one that's still running actually.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Those cars were complete crap. I'm surprised you found one that's still running actually.

Hey

My missus has one (her folks gave it to her a few years ago), and other than some electrical gremlins at one stage, it's been very reliable (the boot keeps rusting tho, must be the worst Korean tin imaginable).

To answer some of your questions:

It wasn't pulling out of a servo, and I've never heard of seafoam until I started reading AT.

There wasn't any strong reason for the driver to have floored it (cruising down dual carriageway with basically no traffic), but he could have been accelerating to pass us and another car in the left lane.

Excel just kept going afterwards, followed it for maybe half an hour before he turned off.

No diesel excels, at least here (and it was thicker than an diesel smoke I've seen).

No rain, but I guess water in the petrol/fuel lines would make a big cloud of steam when it hit a hot exhaust? If it didn't asplode something or hydro it...

I guess it was a grayish-white colour.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Nah, if you want to see smoke you should've seen the mid '90s Mercury Villager I saw the other day. It left a blue cloud behind that smogged out the car behind it, and it almost sounded like it had a broken rod.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
Those cars were complete crap. I'm surprised you found one that's still running actually.

Hey

My missus has one (her folks gave it to her a few years ago), and other than some electrical gremlins at one stage, it's been very reliable (the boot keeps rusting tho, must be the worst Korean tin imaginable).

To answer some of your questions:

It wasn't pulling out of a servo, and I've never heard of seafoam until I started reading AT.

There wasn't any strong reason for the driver to have floored it (cruising down dual carriageway with basically no traffic), but he could have been accelerating to pass us and another car in the left lane.

Excel just kept going afterwards, followed it for maybe half an hour before he turned off.

No diesel excels, at least here (and it was thicker than an diesel smoke I've seen).

No rain, but I guess water in the petrol/fuel lines would make a big cloud of steam when it hit a hot exhaust? If it didn't asplode something or hydro it...

I guess it was a grayish-white colour.

That sounds like coolant being burned off. Probably a blown headgasket or cracked head.