Smoke from exhaust, 2007 model, 2L petrol engine (code B5204T5)

[2001V70B5204T5]

Smoke from exhaust, 2001 model V70N with 2 litre petrol engine (engine code B5204T5). Video shows the smoke from cold start. After driving the car for 18 kilometers in 25 minutes, the smoke is still there. What may be the problem(s)?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tjrLHeeekFI

[2001V70B5204T5]

I have a road trip coming up in a couple of days, where I will drive 170 kilometers (roughly 3 hours) per day for two days. Can I drive the car with the smoke issue? Or is it a terrible idea?

[scot850]

Probably not a good idea. Initially looking at the video I was confident that the smoke was white. The likely cause of white smoke is coolant or brake fluid. However, later in the video it almost looks like a hint of black smoke as well.

I don't know if you have car skills for repair. If you do, I would consider pulling the spark pugs and have a look at the color of them. Are they all the same color or are any of them looking really clean compared to others. If this is the case you likely have a head gasket failure.

Are you losing coolant? If you are not losing coolant then it may be brake fluid being sucked into the engine. Check the level.

If neither are going down then I don't know. Engine does not sound rough so thinking it is likely not a burnt valve or bad piston.

When the engine is cold, remove the coolant cap on the header tank and see if there is any white powder residue from coolant being forced past the cap seal. That would also a sign of the head gasket pressurizing due to a head gasket failure. That can be checked with a coolant tester (the fluid in it changes color when the engine is running).

Last possibility is maybe the oil cooler has failed internally pushing water into the engine, but that would show the oil as going chocolate color.

Neil.

[2001V70B5204T5]

Thanks.

It's past midnight here in Norway. I can work more on the car later this week. Have to travel tomorrow.

However, I do have some photos on my phone.

The photos below show the oil on the dipstick from today. The photo on the oil cap is from about 2 weeks ago. On the engine oil cap, there seemed to have some milk shake thing. However, I suspect it might be condensation, because I did not find milk shake thing elsewhere. And the car had only been very sporadically used since November last year.







The coolant looked like this two weeks ago. There seemed to have a little oil in it. However, I'm not sure if the oil was engine oil, because I read online that coolant itself contains a little oil.





I have two more photos of the smoke from today, taken around the same time as the video that I posted in the beginning of the thread.





I have a feeling that the coolant level might have dropped by 1 centimeter in the expansion tank. However, I'm not really sure, because the car was parked at two different locations and I thought the uneven ground might have contributed to it. I will test drive the car for another half an hour or so tomorrow or on Wednesday, and see if the coolant level drops.

What do you think?

[scot850]

Volvos can store a lot of condensation in their exhaust systems, especially if they have been stood for some time. Maybe a careful 30 minute run with some spare coolant and see if the exhaust clears.

Neil.

[2001V70B5204T5]

Thanks Neil. This V70 has been run for around 100 kilometers in the past four months. It definitely has been standing for most of the time in the past four months. The weather here had been quite cold most of the days. The past two weeks had been warmer. Instead of snowing, it rained for some days. Yesterday the snow came back. However, it was so warm that snow instantly melted.

I will drive it for 30 minutes or longer and see if the smoke disappears from the exhaust and also check if the coolant level drops.

[2001V70B5204T5]

Actually, I drove the car for like 27 minutes last night. The smoke did not disappear. However, I was driving slowly due to speed limits in the roads that I drove (around 30-50 km per hours), because I didn't want to drive on the main roads. So if it is condensation, I may need to drive for much longer than half an hour, to test it out.

[br0dy519]

I bought a used muffler that was full of water and took a week to get rid of the steam. Not my greatest moment.

Had a Ranger that blew black smoke, threw a bottle of Lucas fuel injector cleaner in and never had the issue again.

[dikidera]

Coolant is slightly oily, but no, no oil should be in the coolant. At all.