Carter 250 white smoke

[Dallastx]

Good evening everyone. I recently finished replacing the engine in my Carter 250. I bought this buggy a year ago and got tied up with work and hadn't had a chance to try to get it going. I love the look of this buggy in particular. The stance is perfect in my opinion. Well I ordered a couple of cdis( thanks to those that helped me on that) and got to work on it. I cleaned it all up and it just wouldn't start. Took spark plug out and a fine mist of coolant sprayed out of spark plug hole. I was disappointed but figured oh well just a head gasket. Well I could not for the life of me find a replacement. But I had purchased a complete engine that was supposed to be new a while back. So I swapped them out and it fired right up. It takes a couple of tries to start. Messing with the choke. But once it fires up it'll fire up at the turn of the key all day long. It'll idle for 15-20 min at a time. Fan kicks on and off. No leaks. No smoke. Rode around the yard no smoke. But today I took it out for a good ride and it runs great. But when I come to a stop it smokes pretty hard. Looks white. If i let it sit for a bit and turn back on it'll idle great no smoke. But when I drive it again and come to a stop it's blowing smoke. Is this from the engine sitting for a few years or is there something terribly wrong. I hope not. Like I said it runs great. Plenty of power from what I can tell. And it'll idle forever without any smoke at all. Thanks

[liduno]

Do those engines have valve guide seals? Is there oil in the airbox from the crank case vent tube? Have you done a compression check?

White smoke usually means oil, antifreeze makes white smoke, but it's more like steam.

Antifreeze steam usually has a sweet smell and dissipates quickly, oil smoke will have a distinct burnt oil smell and the smoke lingers around.

Gas smoke tends to be blue or black and has a strong gas smell.

[SYCARMS]

Make sure you did not overfill with oil.

[Dallastx]

I thought that I might have overfilled it but it's right at the top of the hash marks on the dip stick. Maybe a mm on to the smooth part of the dipstick. With it screwed in. If not screwed on its right at the top of hash marks. Have not done a compression check on it. Like I said it runs great and starts right up. I don't smell antifreeze and I've put my face right on the smoke. I'm afraid to open it up because I can't find gasket sets for this engine and I don't want to have another engine just sitting there again. I thought I was in the clear when it started right up and I let it idle for half an hour to make sure the fans switched on and off as they should. I don't have the air box on it. I have a foam filter directly on the carb. I have not messed with the jets on carb. Only because on the other buggies I have as soon as I put open filters they idle bad and then I change out jets till the engine runs smooth. The Carter fires up and idles good so I didn't think I needed to change them out. Would too small a jet cause white smoke? Thank you for your replies.

[liduno]

Where is the crank case vent tube routed? It normally goes to the air box.

If the smoke were fuel related it should smell like gas.

I asked about the compression, and the valve guide seals, because both can give you puffs of smoke on deceleration.

[SYCARMS]

What size main jet did you install. You have 2 jets a pilot and main. the main is out of the picture at idle and does not come in until about 1/3 throttle. If the smoke is coolant it will definitely smell like coolant, if oil it will smell like burnt oil and will have a bluish gray color. If fuel it will be a grayish to black and will have it's own distinct smell from the hydrocarbons created from the unburned fuel.

[Dallastx]

Crankcase vent tube isn't hooked up to anything. Just a small filter. The smoke I get is whitish I believe. Def not black. I don't smell coolant. The jets on the carb are the original ones that came with this buggy. It's the original carb. I left the aftermarket carb on the other buggy I had and kept the original one on this one so I could rule out any carb issues. I haven't messed with them at all. I'll check when I get home what size they are. Also last night I realized I got 10w40 oil in there instead of 15w40 like it says it needs. Could that have anything to do with it. I'll check back later on when I get to the house. Thank you.

[SYCARMS]

Oil is fine. If you don't smell anti freeze and jets are stock then I would have to say either rings or very unlikely valve seals.

[Dallastx]

i Hope that's not the case. I'll be taking it out this weekend for a weekend ride at lake Murray in Oklahoma. Hopefully it makes it. If not I have also received some great news. This same engine is used in the can am ds250. So if I do have to open it up I can get the whole top end rings gaskets and piston for $100. That's amazing news. I'll be ordering that anyway to fix the engine I pulled out of this so that I'll have a spare engine ready to go. I was almost about to give up on this buggy for lack of available parts. Now I'm regretting selling the other one I had last month. But it went to a friend so I still get to ride it. He'll be glad to hear this as well. So for anyone that needs anything for the sym250 engine. Look up Can am ds250. Thank you to everyone that takes time out of their day to help out on these boards.

[EVILWS6]

Glad I could help. Like I said, the Eton Vector 250 is the same as well.
I know thast the intake manifold for the DS 250 only has 1 barb for a vacuum line, not 2 like the GTR.