smoking tailpipes

[blackfire93]

I just noticed the other day when my friend started my car that a little smoke came out of the tail pipes. I know that i might be overreacting but i don't but i've never noticed this before. Then when i rev it to about 4k RPMs a little smoke comes out. Is this going to be a problem that i'll have to take care of soon or is it nowthing big? my car has 94,000 miles on it and it doesn't need an oil change. maybe the piston rings are leaking a little bit? thanx

[ryan34]

what color smoke?

bluish=oil
white=coolant
black=running rich

i would get it checked out though, my old eclipse was burning oil and when i went through inspection, they failed my emisions without even testing it. Don't know how they do it where you live. In DE they're a bit picky.

[blackfire93]

well it is kind of blue. instead of putting 4.5 quarts of oil into it i just put 5 quarts in.

[Mike71]

Originally posted by blackfire93
well it is kind of blue. instead of putting 4.5 quarts of oil into it i just put 5 quarts in.

u really gota be careful with putting to much oil into the car..u dont want the crank to start to churn the oil and cause bubbles

[raroZ28]

I wouldn't worry too much about putting 5 quarts in a 4.5 quart engine. Oil filter and lines probably hold about a quart themselves. If it's white smoke, sometimes it happens. I wouldn't worry too much about it, especially if the engine is cold and it's a little cool outside. If it's doing it all the time, then you need to start worrying. Like he said, blue is oil, black is gas, and white is coolant.

Keep us informed.

[blackfire93]

thanx for the info. I don't think that it's too much to be worried about. It's just a little puff every once in a while. thanx again for the help.

[Dave M]

Chances are you valve seals are getting worn. This is a common problem, especially on older engines. The fix, from what I hear, is not that hard but rather labor intensive and can be done with the heads still on the engine. But no harm should come from driving it like it is. You'll notice the smoke gradually get worse though as the seals get older and more worn. It will be especially bad when cold and may continue to smoke for several seconds after start-up. 3rd gens are notorious for this.

[Mike71]

if the seals wear down would that mean that gas would be flowing down the exh header?? if so it could ruin ur cat...running rich on my hoptie totaled the cats..sigh

[Benm109]

Originally posted by Mike71
if the seals wear down would that mean that gas would be flowing down the exh header?? if so it could ruin ur cat...running rich on my hoptie totaled the cats..sigh

No, those seals keep oil from getting in the combustion chamber and then, of course, burning off.



"3rd gens are notorious for this"

I can testify to that! My car used to smoke like that for the first 5 to 10 minutes after start-up, until I rebuilt the engine. If I punched it there would be this nice big cloud of smoke and dust behind me (looked kinda cool )

[ryan34]

mine does that, but only for a few seconds. valve seals of course. my eclipse did it when ever it idled for a while. so in line at the dmv really did help matters. like i said, if it gets worse I would get it checked if only for inspection. They told me that they couldn't test my emisions because of the smoke and failed me. So i bought that stop smoke stuff from pepboys and put it in. It stopped it just long enough to get through emisions and it started smoking again. I think that was bad rings though. Well any good luck with it.

[ryan34]

*didn't help matters is what i meant

[seannz28]

3.8L=4.5 quarts with new filter
5.0-5.7L=5.0 quarts with new filter
*if you didn't replace filter with oil change, subtract a half quart from total*

even a half quart too much oil will burn off and will do so by pushing past the rings.

another thing that will cause oil to push past the rings is the breather being clogged or blocked off.
I didn't read all of the reply's, so I don't know if this has been said (probably has) but try a compression test. the is about $10 or $20 at your local part store.