Smoke from exhaust and loss of acceleration on the highway

Tiny
TEX PLUS
  • MEMBER
  • 1995 NISSAN ALTIMA
  • 4 CYL
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 43,000 MILES
My car stopped accelerating on the highway. The accelerator was completely non-responsive, but it could still slowly creep in drive and neutral. (Still wasn't smoking) I crept it at less than 5 MPH all the way to my driveway. Coolant and oil was very low but I refilled it.

The next day, while my car was idle and while I was pressing on the accelerator (still non-responsive) big clouds of white smoke started going out of the exhaust and now it smokes as soon as I turn it on.

Checked codes and got P1400. Ordered a EGRC Solenoid (yet to replace). I cleaned the EGR Valve and replaced a torn purge hose.

Car is now responsive to accelerator, but smoke is still coming out.

I'm new to cars so I'm tying my best to learn. Thanks!
Tuesday, October 5th, 2021 AT 10:51 AM

4 Replies

Tiny
AL514
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,138 POSTS
Hello, do you know the Sub-model for this vehicle? GLE, GXE, SE, XE? Big clouds of white smoke like that sounds like it may be a fuel injector that is either stuck open or the ECM driver for it has shorted out and is keeping the injector on all the time.
What you can do is while its running, unplug each injector one by one, so unplug one see if it stops smoking and plug it back in, then go to the next one, don't leave them unplugged. This is just to check if it's a driver issue, a wire issue, etc. Keeping one open.
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Tuesday, October 5th, 2021 AT 11:42 AM
Tiny
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Went ahead and tested that. It seems that less smoke is produced when I remove the second injector. Still, some smoke comes out. Also, the area around the top of the injector was a little oily (nothing crazy) and that injector was very easy to take out compared to the other 3.

Also, the model is XE.
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Tuesday, October 5th, 2021 AT 12:15 PM
Tiny
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Wait, I'm realizing the injector isn't what the spark plugs are connected to which is what I tested.
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Tuesday, October 5th, 2021 AT 12:23 PM
Tiny
AL514
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Okay, or did you unplug a sparkplug wire? I see this car has a distributor system. Here are the wire colors for the fuel injectors

Don't touch a sparkplug wire while the engine is running, you'll get a bad electrical shock

Okay, so I see this code p1400 is the EGR and canister control solenoid valve, the canister is part of the Evap system, which is a sealed system that takes the fumes from the gas tank and purges them into the engine at a metered rate. If that solenoid is stuck open it can cause a rich condition as well. Meaning too much fuel is getting into the engine. I would replace that valve first, and then see how it runs.
It's odd that this system would have the EGR and evap system combined like this. But that's the way this one is built. An overly rich system can definitely cause white smoke like this, that's why I thought of an injector first. I didn't realize that solenoid controlled both systems. After you replace the valve, erase the codes and give the car some time to burn that extra fuel out of the intake manifold.
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Tuesday, October 5th, 2021 AT 12:36 PM

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