today after startup (engine still warm) i noticed a puff of white smoke/steam a sec or 2 after turning the key before it dissapeared. earlier the car reached 120 on the temp gauge but it always gets hot in traffic due to fmic. the car drives spot on and temp comes down to 80 once on the move. could it be the head gasket? car is a cvh turbo.

 

update, its not steam, its oil/smoke

 

tis still there and its oily smell. only does it for a second or two. am thinking valve guides as i changed the top hat stem seals about 500miles ago. fitted brand new turbo last week. the amount of smoke is only visible if you look for it. i saw someone have stem seals go after 200miles so im not ruling that out. doesnt use any oil nor water so may fix when its convenient rather than panic about it, what you reckon?

 

Stem seals usually give some blue on overrun, get someone to follow you and watch for puffs of blue. But usually white = h/g.

 

cheers rab, no smoke on over or on/off boost. only on initial startup, when engine is up to temp. havent tried from a cold start yet. i thinking valve guides or poss a breather related issue. car is vented to atmosphere atm, may try plumbing it up the oe way. i saw someone develoip a similar issue AFTER venting to atmosphere and when plumbing back via metering head, the problem went away!! odd one but with try it i think.
https://passionford.com/forum/ford-e...w-smoking.html heres the other guys thread

 

maybe oil in pipes from turbo just burning off ?

 

id still put my money on HG

 

The fact that it's doing it when warm is pointing at the h/g fella. It's actually a very easy job to do on a CVH, just make sure you get the Ford/Payen original gasket. None of the aftermarket ones come close!

And PS, do it now while it's a puff of smoke. If you wait until it's a plume, you'll likely need a skim at the same time.