By Dave Sayward on Sunday, June 10, 2001 - 07:45 am: Edit

1995 Discovery will billow white smoke around 65 mph. Happened only twice in last two weeks. Last time seemed to coincide with turning AC on at that speed. Turned AC off and backed off 5mph and it stopped. Time before AC not involved. No loss of power. Oil level fine. Not running hot. No leaks seen. Had perfect 90K check up at the new Bedford, NH USA dealer about 2K miles ago. Since then had to replace crank pulley. Other than that ...rough idle sometimes. Burning 89 octane what with the rising cost of fuel.

Surprised to look in rear view and see that cloud of smoke is mine, since I maintain this vehicle as I should.

Any thoughts?

By Joe Casey on Sunday, June 10, 2001 - 08:52 pm: Edit

hmmm, check around the head. sounds like a gasket is giving up the ghost. just a thought.

JC

By Norm Orschnorschki (Norm) on Sunday, June 10, 2001 - 09:17 pm: Edit

According to your '95 Owner's Manual, you shouldn't be using anything less than 90 octane -- and they aren't kidding. Actually, the higher the octane the better in these trucks. Using low octane gas causes predetonation and overheating at the cylinder walls which can be fatal to the aluminum block (also bad for your catalytic convertors). Check the RPi website under "V8 problems."

Have you checked the compression? You might be burning up your piston rings.

---Norm

By Dave Sayward on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 01:38 pm: Edit

Thanks to all for the feedback.

I had the compression checked...180 for all 8.
Pressure check of cooling system is OK
No coolant in Oil.
No coolant loss. No signs of leaks.
No bulletins.
Block check is OK.
Mechanic road tested 3 times.

I have switched to > 90 octane.

Could it be condensation in exhaust when it gets to boiling point??? Service manager (not Land Rover) sited a case in the Chevy S10's where that used to happen.

The tests were a small price to pay for the peace of mind.

-Dave

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 02:12 pm: Edit

It's the Lucas/James Bond feature to ward-off tailgaters

By Gabe Isham (Jet992000) on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 05:57 pm: Edit

Well guys the compression in a cylinder can be good and it still be burning oil because a piston has a few sets of rings and while the compression rings are still good the iol rings may not be allowing some oil to pass by causing it to smoke...2 cents

By T Carr on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 07:27 pm: Edit

Parking brake off?

By Chris 95 Disco on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 09:06 pm: Edit

Its something I spotted once or twice when accelerating out of a toll booth with foot close to flat on floor. Since I couldn't like you track anything down I forgot about it. You might want though to replace the o2 sensors can;t say any connection exists but exhaust has run cleaner

By Will on Thursday, June 14, 2001 - 09:22 pm: Edit

Hey...


Is it after rain or during high humidity situations?? Is it actual smoke or condensation??

Will

By Jon Williams (Jonw) on Friday, June 15, 2001 - 09:39 am: Edit

Chris LOL what you saw was genuine smoke from the volumes of gas being burned by your engine under your flooring acceleration.

Has nobody ever seen that before? Ever noticed (when following another car) the smoke that blows out of the tailpipe when the other car 'mats' it? Yes, modern cars do smoke when they burn gas, and replacing o2 sensors isn't gonna do anything. Also, a lot of the smoke can be made of carbon build-up being blown out of the engine and not just gas burning.

I don't know about Dave's case, though. That's weird. The A/C compressor kicking-in doesn't put THAT much load on an engine. But the next time anybody is out driving their Disco, floor it as you're looking in the rearview mirror and watch the smoke flow.