Hello all.

I've just about completed replacing my burst valley hose with a silicone one from Swallows Racing (UK) minus the wipers and a couple of bits of trim. Starting her up for the first time to carry out the coolant fill/bleed procedure the offside exhaust pipe is emitting a not-huge-amount but noticeable thin white smoke (steam?) It was around 8*C outside)). I idled for half an hour and it was still coming out with very little pressure felt at the opposite tailpipe. I was admittedly worried I may have blown a head gasket, although the engine got up to temp nicely at sat bang in the middle with no problem, nor was there any bubbling in the coolant reservoir tank or loss of coolant AND checking the oil (once cooled) showed no signs of coolant exposure. The next day I started up again and again got the white smoke although this time less and about 10/15 minutes into idling it had subsided and all seemed well. Jumped in for a spin around the block to check everything over and it returned, albeit only when stationary at lights etc. Drove around for a good half an hour, checked for blown gasket symptoms again and everything seemed fine. I'm a little perplexed as to what could be causing this, EGR perhaps? Or a leak somewhere else in the system ?
Bear in mind I am absolutely no mechanic, replacing the valley hose is the biggest job on a car I've ever attempted...

On a slightly unrelated note I also noticed a noise coming (I think) from the supercharger, hard to explain the sound but I'm fairly sure it wasn't there before, almost like a grating but not too harsh, disappears with revs. Any ideas? Will try get a video or something up when I have a moment.

 

After any cooling repair it's not uncommon to get strange smells and odd bits of smoke? Do you smell coolant? I usually do and think it just the old coolant that was spilled getting burned or evaporated. I would drive it some more and keep an eye on the coolant level. Top up coolant as needed as it usually does need some additional fluid.

So far from what you posted I see no problems?

If SC noise is suspected it's very simple to check? Take off the SC belt and drive the car. No damage will occur BUT the car will be a gutless slug! I know as I lost a tensioner pulley on the SC belt and had to wait a week for the replacement to arrive. I sure got tired of driving my STR with no power!
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