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Clouds of White Smoke and Oil in Coolant, not Milky Oil

A mid-size luxury crossover SUV, the Volvo XC90 made its debut in 2002 at the Detroit Motor Show. Recognized for its safety, practicality, and comfort, the XC90 is a popular vehicle around the world. The XC90 proved to be very popular, and very good for Volvo's sales numbers, since its introduction in model year 2003 (North America). P2 platform.
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timaa
Posts: 1
Joined: 2 May 2016
Year and Model: 2005 XC90
Location: Indiana, USA

Clouds of White Smoke and Oil in Coolant, not Milky Oil

Post by timaa »

Car: 5Cyl 2.5l 2005 FWD XC90, B5254T2
I did an engine swap from a salvage yard. Cracked block – coolant dripping out the bottom.
So, I figured while doing this engine swap, I would replace the turbo (new), it had a lot of miles on it.
Now, like the title says, I have a ton of white smoke – not much at start up, more at rev’ing up to 2500 rpm. Also have oil in the coolant reservoir tank, but no water in the oil.
We did a compression check – all around 120, we did an air leak down test, and #1 has a slight leak. We had all the spark plugs removed. Im a home mechanic, not a lot of blown head experience, but I believe this would cause water in the oil also, when the coolant is hot and the engine isn’t running the water is at high pressure compared to the oil, and oil is only in the pan. Since I have no water in the oil, I think the head is not blown.
Do I have two problems? Some sort of leak in the turbo – oil in coolant? Leaking oil cooler? Leaking Radiator, Intercooler? Or is my turbo bad and just leaking oil into exhaust and coolant side?

JDS60R
MVS Moderator
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Joined: 21 February 2009
Year and Model: 2007 S60R 2016 XC70
Location: Mount Juliet, TN
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Post by JDS60R »

White smoke is combusted coolant. ( Is combusted a word? - probably not - but coolant is getting into the combustion chamber)

If compression is 120 then return the motor to the junk yard. It takes a 100 psi to start. 120 will be very low on power.

Oil is at higher pressure than coolant ( 60 vs 22) so it will push into the coolant system wherever it can. Oil Cooler, turbo and radiator should always be checked ( wherever you oil gets cooled or meets coolant in the same assembly- different on different models) before you guess head gasket.

Either way at 120 psi compression the motor should go back to the yard so you can start again. You have coolant getting into the cylinders so turbo and head gasket top the list for that issue.
Retired

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