... my Max is smoking.

well,....when I take off from a red light anyway. It only does it if its been sitting for a few minutes running. Like, say you get stopped at a red light, and you have to sit there through the whole cycle, when I take off, the car puffs a little white smoke. Any ideas on what this might be ? To me, it acts like valve guide seals or maybe a bad oil ring, but I`ve never known these cars to smoke like this. Maybe it was run hot before I got it, I dunno. The performance is still good, so I would think that kinda rules out a bad oil ring, and it doesn`t really use any oil, so I`m kinda stumpped. It doesn`t really bother me, but it kinda embarasses the wife sometimes, so I thought I`d just ask to see what everyone might think it is.

Thanks

I bought this car as a "beater", but the more I drive it, the more I like it. I was screwing around today, pulled up to a red light next to an older model Z28. The light turned and he punched it, so you know I had to punch it too. I don`t know if he missed a shift or what( had the windows up and the AC going ), but I pulled about 1/2 a car on him and stayed there till about 70. When we got to the next light, the guy wouldn`t even look at me. I`m really likin this car more and more.

 

Unscrew the oil cap. Does it look clean or all varnished? If it looks varnished, I bet the valve stem seals are hard/cracked.

My old motor would use oil pretty regularly but I never noticed smoke from a stop. It could be a faulty PCV valve.

Could do a compression test. You could have excessive blow by if the rings are bad. ie.. pressurizing the upper valve train area and putting oil though the crankcase ventilation tubes. In high vacuum situations (ie.. idling), the engine could be sucking in more oily vapor.

 

If it's "white" smoke, that's coolant so suspect head gasket or cracked head (normally the head gasket). Note that it's normal to see white smoke when the engine's cold...
Sounds like oil control ring allowing more oil than normal to enter the combustion chamber. Very typical of japanese engines if they overheat too often & for too long. You'll notice the blue/grey smoke on take off after idling and on over-run i.e if you're coasting down a hill & then you accelerate.
If it blows smoke only on start-up, that's worn valve guides.
Blocked PCV valves usually result in oil being pressurized in the crankcase & can cause excessive blow-by or may result in an oil leak from front or rear seal.
Black smoke is the engine running too rich i.e. over-fueling.
FYI - you can use a lot of oil for the cost of an engine rebuild so providing it's not too bad (smoke lasts for only a few seconds & isn't excessive), just keep driving & keep an eye on the oil level.

 

boy the only thing I can add is that it was probably white trash in the Z and a mid 70s one with the whopping 155 hp 350.
of course I'd rather have the torque of the 350
oh yeah already got about 10 camaros at the moment

 

Thats what was so surprising, it was a 93-97 model.

Nismo, it it was coolant, wouldn`t I be seeing some coolant in the oil, i.e., a mikly white oily mix ?

Jeff, is the PVC valve an easy fix ? Any write-ups on replacing one ?

 

Now keep in mind that it could be any of the above reasons. I made a huge mistake with my Chevy V-8. It was smoking just the way that you said. Didn't smoke on start up, but only after idling. The mechanic told me that it was either bad valve guide seals or a cracked oil journal. I ordered a brand new crate motor and had it installed by another mechanic. Long story short, the "new" mechanic told me that there was nothing wrong with my motor and that the only thing wrong with it was that the oil return holes in the head were clogged. This causes a build up of oil in the valve covers and then it is forced into the valves and burns off. The mechanic pulled the covers on the old motor before installing the new one and he showed me the problem. He was exactly correct. The thing that ****ed me off is that the dealer wouldn't allow me to return the new motor so I just had him install it and I sold the old one. Just don't rule out something simple as the solution.

 

Yeah, I had thought about that too, especailly since when I changed the plug, 2 of the front plugs had oil sitting on top of the plug, kinda like the valve cover was etting oil leak into that hole that the plugs go into. Could the excessive force from the clogged oil journals be causing this also ?

 

PCV valve should cheap. But it's in a bad area. Rear head on the firewall side. Near where the heator core coolant lines run.

Oil on the plugs. That could be from a valve cover leak. That valve cover gasket goes around the plug hole to seal it. If you get a leak, it can leak oil down into the plug holes.

 

Not always - a head gasket failure or cracked cylinder head can also allow exhaust gases to enter the coolant system, which is why that test involves measuring if their's any carbon monoxide in the coolant. If the smoke is a coolant leak, you'd be adding coolant all the time, sounds like you can rule that out.
You can try an engine flush to try & eliminate blocked oil ports. Not sure how good "over-the-counter" flushes are in the US - here in NZ I've found STP are one of the best.
I've also flushed engines by mixing equal amounts of kerosene with oil & running the engine for a few minutes (but only a few minutes & with a very warm engine!).
My brother once "flushed" the engine of his Sentra by filling it up with oil at a gas station - gallon and a half & 1 mile later, the car stopped.
He found out what the dipstick was for, but lucky for him the engine went for another 80k miles and was still going strong after he sold the car

 

Thanks for the help guys, I`m gonna keep looking for the problem as the budget premits.

 

I had a similar problem with my 93 maxima. There was a hose that was leaking coolant and so when you're driving you don't see smoke. At stop it's visible. Mine was white and smelled real bad. The hose is on your right side if you're in the drivers seat. Just replace the hose and your good.