White Smoke, Rough Idle, Start Hard, Losing Oil

[WetBehindEars]

What can explain this? I changed the spark wires and plugs. I used a bigger gap than chrysler recommended because of some idiot on the net. Or could it be I have put one of the wires in the wrong order?

Every time I go to start my car - it's like I have a dead battery or bad starter. Even after I discovered in the manual where says to press the gas a little before turning the key, and this did alleviate my problem somewhat - it still starts hard.

Then it idles rough, and white smoke pours out of the thing, especially in the really cold
weather.

And finally I have to add a qt. of oil very often. Could anything bad happen? I'd just as soon keep turning it over more and add oil since I am fully stocked from Walmart, than touch wires/plugs again.

It's an 88 k car. thanks

[ December 21, 2004, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: WetBehindEars ]

 

[Pablo]

This may not be the correct forum.

I suggest a real troubleshooting session, with someone 110% knowledgeable with your car. Set everything to baseline and go from there.

If the electronic diagnostic stuff doesn't help, then a leakdown test etc....may be helpful.

 

[Gary Allan]

Go here.

 

[55Test]

Have you checked your headgasket? It's a common problem on the 2.2/2.5 Chrysler motors. Check out www.allpar.com for more info.

 

[labman]

A cylinder full of coolant will make an engine hard to turn over. Once started, coolant leaking into the cylinder will cause a white exhaust. The oil can also leak into the coolant or cylinder. Do a compression check as well as a leak down test. Low compression on 2 adjacent cylinders nearly always means a bad head gasket. $$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[goldwing]

I've replaced 3 on my 1995 Ford Windstar. Vehicle has 104,000 miles The first two Ford covered under an extended warranty due to thousands of failures. The last one I paid $$$$ for. The Ford Mechanic told me this is a common problem on this year of engine design. He said its the way fuel is design to inter the head. The number 3 cyl is the one the fails.

 

[RF Overlord]

Well, the bigger spark plug gap can cause hard starting, and having the plugs wires on wrong can cause it to run very rough...and if it's mis-firing, that can cause increased oil consumption. So I'd say look at the work you just did as a possible cause, especially if the problems started right after...

 

[WetBehindEars]

Yeah I think you're right. I just went and switched the 2 of the longer wires and it is running better. I didn't realize until just before how rich that thing was running. I finally stood outside and watched it run. I mean the exhaust just stunk. It must not have been firing right. And I drove that thing for on 400-mile-round trip to Saratoga the other week like that. Bulletproof.