I have a 88 pacifica 2.2l turboI has white smoke out the tail pipe and behind the motor. checking to see what my options are for performance upgrades. and what would i need to add a intercooler????

 

Not sure about the performance upgrades for that car, but the white smoke is almost a sure sign of either a cracked head or block, or a blown head gasket. As far as the smoke from behind the motor, that could be from the exhaust manifold gasket having holes in it, which could be letting that smoke out of the exhaust ports on the back of the head (that is, if the manifold is on the back and not the front), or that could also be due to a blown head gasket. Smell the white smoke (don't put your face up to the pipe or anything). If it has a sweet smell to it, then your car is burning antifreeze. When the head gets cracked, it lets antifreeze into the combustion chamber, which is what causes the white smoke.

 

i know this sounds like a head gasket or a cracked head but there is no mixture of fluids and the car still ran perfect when it was parked about 11 months ago. just needed a starter and didn't have time to worry about everything at that time.

 

You don't have time to worry about what is mechanically wrong, but you are worried about the performance aspect? Blown headgasket+antifreeze in combustion chamber+blowby = Siezed up crank!!!

 

When the head gasket went on the first engine in mine there was no mixing of fluids either. It was dumping antifreeze directly into the cylinder. It did the same thing on engine #2. No milky oil, no foam in the coolant, just a ton of white smoke. It's your head gasket.

 

for one i didn't say i don't have time for it now ,i didn't at the time. that is why i am asking for some info now.... but thanks anyways Norm .. for what i'm not too sure...

 

Thanks for the info DAMAGE I do appreciate the help. I was also wondering how much improvement a inter-cooler would make and if it would be worth the hassle for this motor???

I would like to put some time in this car but i want to do everything all at once motor wise...


thnx Rick

 

Anytime you can cool an incoming charge, wether it's air or fuel (or both), it's gonna give you a gain of something. Just not sure how much. The perfect setup would be to have cold air, cold fuel, hot engine. Cold, dense air holds more fuel in a vapor state, cold fuel attomizes better out of an injecter, and the hot engine burns fuel better. Flashback from auto school... LOL!