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i got white smoke blowing out my exhaust when i attempted a steep incline while 4wding a while ago, thought nothing of it but it continued to smoke for a while after driving on flat land. After the 4wd the smoke stopped and was good for weeks. I just recently went for a 4wd and the same thing happened, this time there was a lot more smoke. Any ideas what it could be. hopefully its just the angle of the car and nothing too serious. But i dont like my chances. the car seems to be driving fine on the road everyday to work. small flat spot at low revs. cheers paul

Is your car parked outside at nights? It's possible theres some moisture buildup in one of your mufflers making a small puddle in there and it only gets disturbed when your car is on a big angle. This means the water runs down the rest of the exhaust and gets vapourised causing the smoke. Just a thought...

Havent got too much oil in the motor?

Check also to see if you havent got oil build up in your air cleaner.

Is the car an auto?
Steve

Your going 4wding without us??


Dave

Paul's car is a manual trans.

I have a very similar sounding issue w my L wagon. EA82 webber carb. When on the road all is fine. But when off road in 4WD mine blows black smoke rather badly. Obviously very bad when on the accelerator but still putters black smoke even when idling. I have not been off road (or on road hehe) much lately so cannot say wheater it is burning oil etc.

Isn't black smoke = petrol, blue = oil and white????

white is usually water vapour I think

The black smoke could be caused from a too higher float setting in the carb

Weber Carbys are a bandit for flooding when your 4wding. Mine used to stall everytime i got it air borne.

Dave

It is deffinately oil burning because its smells and the oil level is lower. The air filter is fine and the rocker breather pipes are all connected good. Could the oil be running back from somewhere and burning that way, or maybe and oil seal? Cheers .

valve stem seals?

I had a problem with my old 84 wagon, when offroad and on a sideways slope with the driverside downhill it blew a bit of blue smoke. When i rebuilt the motor later and had the heads tested it turned out the valve stem seals were worn and damaged.


just a thought.

IN your aircleaner is a fibrous filter on the PS rear of the air cleaner if that is dirty it will cause oil to be drawn into the aircleaner under high revs

Recently inherited a '93 wagon,on way home it let fly with a smokescreen!Checked oil and found it way overfilled.I drained the sump to correct level,had alook in the aircleaner and found it flooded with oil.I cleaned the fibre filter,but its got worse to drive,losing power till it clears itself of smoke.Also seems to be more oil about.Be grateful for any feedback.;)

As fara s L's go, this is something my parts guy at Subaru recalled as being possibly caused by a hose or hoses that connect in around or to the carb and air filter box being either shagged or incorrectly hooked up. Sorry i can't help with more info. The oil in air box could be from the PCV hoses from rocker cover tops to air box. If it is an L and at their age need some attention, clean out, repair, replace...how is the rest of the state of the engine?

Appreciate your response,Steptoe.Engine runs well,no tappet noise and pulls well.I ran around without the element for a day or two which stopped the blowy oil.Since then I've changed the oil and filter,so far so good!I'll keep an eye on it,if its still problematic,I'll have a look at the hoses.

white is steam from water. could be head gasket.

Hopefully it is just steam but oil normally is the grey smoke, But if your just putting around for a while and then giving it a boot full to go up the hill in a conventional engine this would indicate to me valve stems so assuming the symptoms would be the same on a boxter engine. If it is this i'd just drive it till it croaks it (almost forever) after all if you don't burn the oil someone else will!
Sorry Robdddd just saw your post, living up to your name I see.

Head gasket. Or inlet manifold has a coolant leak into it. Check around the carby base gasket and pressure test the coolant system.

fuel is black smoke and oil is white smoke...so is water in the motor......check stem seals by the following....rev the engine then back off and rev it right away agian..mite take a couple of times but if it blows smoke and then settles on idle quickly then the stem seals are gone....if its rings it should flutter a little smoke even on idle.....stems seals will also smoke on first start up if left sit say over night..they will also smoke under load on higher revs like 4X4ing as your on and off the throtle a lot