Car is smoking

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 9:17 am

Arrived home tonight, parked, and noticed smoke coming through the hoodscoop.

Opened it up, and it looks like its coming from underneath the engine...

Very acrid, not stinging, but definitely not hot coolant.

Any ideas?

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 6:35 pm

Oil dripping past valve cover gaskets onto exhaust manifolds?

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:09 pm

How can I tell, and what do I do if it is?

Manarius · Post by **Manarius** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:29 pm

Put new valve cover gaskets on...that's an easy job. Could also be rear crank seal. That job though is a little harder.

As for how to tell...just look for where the oil starts.

206er · Post by **206er** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:35 pm

what kind of smoke is it? oil or what? maybe there is a dead animal on your exhaust.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:39 pm

Its not black smoke, its gray

Its not so thick that you can't put your head in it, its not stiffling, but it definitely has an acrid odour.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:08 am

Just took it out to bed-in my new KVR carbon fibre pads, ran around for about 20 minutes between 20-60mph, on boost tons

The only smoking was from the brakes

I had the oil changed on friday, is it possible that despite driving it 2-3 times for extended periods of time since then, that I just didnt notice the smoke?!

Or can valve cover leaks be intermittant?

92whitelegacy · Post by **92whitelegacy** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:18 am

Mine leaks from the valve covers, it burns off the up-pipe ALL the time. You only notice it when idling for longer then normal periods of time, and after you shut it off it smokes for a bit still. Just as you say the smell is not UNBARABLE but its there. Turn on the heater and its there too. Replace your valve cover gaskets its like 3 bolts! im gunna do mine this weekend.

Your nose will thank you for it

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:03 am

It may have just been oil spilled during the oil change... it might not have dripped down onto the exhaust until last night.

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:49 am

Holy shit, Lordco wants 58 bucks for a gasket and grommet set for the valve covers

That cant be right

92whitelegacy · Post by **92whitelegacy** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 4:22 am

Bought my stuff at auto zone.

3 quarts of mobile 1 full synthetic.

valve cover and grommet set.

fram oil filter.

A can of sea foam. all for less then 60$ so yea maybe they thought you meant headgaskets?

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:18 am

No it was definitely the valve cover gaskets...

I got my friend who runs the performance shop to get some for me, 37 bucks CAD

Still seems like a lot to me.

Matt Monson · Post by **Matt Monson** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:44 pm

Those little grommet gaskets are pretty pricey from what I remember.

Only time my engine ever smoked was after the custom turboback install. One of the muffler guys left his "fireproof" glove sitting on my passenger side header and it caught fire!

Also, a rear main seal leak would never cause burning. It's way to far away from anything hot to burn...

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:23 pm

I think Im getting close to the point where Im going to have to do a full rebuild, I just need to get another 6 months out of it, and then I can tear into the block.

Matt Monson · Post by **Matt Monson** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:38 pm

Just keep the oil up and you will be amazed what these cars can take. I drove around for 2 months with what turned out to be 3 spun main bearings. And I know another car locally that ran on 3 cylinders for 1000 miles because the car owner didn't have time to fix it and it was his only transportation. Subbies are pretty bulletproof...

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:15 pm

lol... there was a huge carbonized mosquito inside my passenger side valve cover

Splinter · Post by **Splinter** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 11:55 pm

haha!
No more smoke!

The job was fairly straight forward. My only advice to anyone who hasnt done this before is make sure you have an open-end 10mm wrench. It would have been 100x easier with that. The furthest back bolt you cant get at with a ratchet, theres not enough clearance.

I took the opportunity to give the valve cover a really good scrubbing, and it looks brand new. There was an amazing amount of oily grime all over it before.

BAC5.2 · Post by **BAC5.2** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:12 am

92whitelegacy wrote:Bought my stuff at auto zone.

3 quarts of mobile 1 full synthetic.

valve cover and grommet set.

fram oil filter.

A can of sea foam. all for less then 60$ so yea maybe they thought you meant headgaskets?

3 quarts of mobil 1?

What about the other 2 quarts?

I would advise against putting SeaFoam in the engine oil. Leave it for the intake and the gas tank.

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Car is smoking

Car is smoking