Smoke.. but only under wierd circumstance
 

ok, so i was working on the car today and i had it in my driveway. My driveway is pretty steep but i parkt here all the time. Anyway, i started teh car since i had the radio playing and i had a **** load of smoke coming out the back of the car (exhaust). so i put the car in the street and let it run, and the smoke stopped. I drove around, no smoke. After i was convinced it was a fluke i put it back in the driveway. After dinner i started it up again and IT SMOKED AGAIN. and its smokeing a pretty decent amount. Oil is fine. What would cause this? Bad gas? need tune up?

-adam

what color is the smoke?

the color is what leads you in the direction of what to be looking for.

Blue smoke indicates burning of oil

Black indicates unburnt fuel (ie rich condition for whatever reason)

White sweet smelling smoke is burning of coolant

White/grayish smoke is just condensation being burnt off which sounds like the case to me. (freshly started and idling cars tend to do this quite a bit til all the water is gone.)

yea., its a whitish gray but why only when on the hill? if its condensation, wouldnt it do it when just idling in the street too? Also, this is alot more smoke than i would think is condensation. I kno when its cold out you get that smoke.. but this is waaay more than that

Head gasket?

no he said the oil is fine... if it were the gasket the oil / coolant would be brownish red and foamy kinda

does it smell sweet? if it does than its coolant.

otherwise i would stick with condensation and not worry about it unless a major problem develops.

on a hill it would make more sense because the muffler traps a lot of water, and on the hill it gives it more of a chance to be taken away with passing exhaust gases/heat. generally in a few minutes time it goes away.

all of my cars (all mercedes) at school do this on 60 degree mornings (im in FL right now) when theyre in open loop because most of them are constantly starting/stopping and idling all day long.

if it stops once the car gets a little bit of temp in it, i would guess it is prolly jsut condensation. it will also show more in the rear view when the car is on the slope because you are then looking downhill at it instead of it having to rise over the back of the car.

Possibly valve seals? If not it could be the narp valve...

First thing I'd do is rule out the hill thing. Park the car somewhere flat then start it. I don't think the angle has anything to do with the problem.

During the winter my car sits for weeks and when I start it I get allot of smoke/condensation out the pipe.

like stated earlier.. i tried it in the street and its fine.. no smoke. its only on the hill lol

you said you started it in the street after it had been running...from my understanding you meant it was already warmed up...

could be valve seals.. but is it carb'ed??

I'm quite sure that he's talking about the '01 SS - no carb there.

- Justin

a clarification may help.. he does have 3 cars in his signature..

I know, I clarified for you :mrgreen:

- Justin

His signature also says that the 86 (the only one there that might be carbed) has a seized engine... :nod: