When I start my car in the morning I get a puff of thick white smoke. I dont see any smoke when I'm driving around not even when I let it idle for a long time. It only happens in the morning and after I let the car sit for few hours. Any ideas what it could possibly be?
Thanks for any help you can provide.

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How many miles do you have on the car? I'm around 140k and I am having a little of that going on. If you are above 100k it's just a little oil leaking past the valves, or something like that. Nothing to worry about unless it smokes constantly. Or at least that is my opinion.

 

isn't white smoke coolant and blue smoke oil?

 

Depends on your interpetation of white and blue. I got a 350 in Caprice with 232,000 miles on it and it does it everymorning like clockwork. Just old age. You might want to go to a thicker oil or try adding some Marvel Mystery Oil. After I did that during an oil change, the smoke wasn't as bad.

 

this would be blue

and I am sure we all know what white is

though I know if you look at it the blue smoke might look white

I was scared to death on mine b/c I saw the white smoke and thought I was burning coolant
but when I took a better look it was just oil
though with no cats on my car that is normal

 

the car has 128,00 miles on it.
When I first got the car i noticed smoke coming from under the hood I looked under it and found the bolts were loose on the thermostat and coolant was leaking onto the engine. I tighten it and havent had a problem.
Then last week I was burning out and my heater vavle broke and coolant was all over the place. I drove for a little while then the car started getting hot so I pulled over and put some coolant and water in. Went about 2 miles and the coolant came right out of the broken heater valve. By the time I got to the parts store the car was red hot. I replace the heater thing. Its working fine.

Even though I had the white smoke before these problems, I though they might be warning signs. Help!! What should I do??

 

When the car sits, the oil collected in the the heads leaks down past the valves into the cylinder... the way I understand it. Normal for a car with 125k+ miles on it. My '83 Z did it, my '86 Iroc does it.

 

I used to have an '87 LG4 formula and it puff a ton of white smoke out at start-up when it was cold (in the morning) or when it had been sitting for a while. The smoke was unburnt fuel vapor (one whiff of it and you knew it wasn't oil but gas) which turned out to be a few bad sensors and a messed up automatic choke.

 

High milage= wore valve seals. That is oil leaking down the valve stems and burning off at start up. NO BIG PROBLEM this is common to the SBC.

 

r u sure its oil. becuz on my brothers 91 z28 when ever he starts it for the first time it blows alittle smoke and thats becuz the seals for the injectors have gone bad , so extra gas from the pressure just pours it into the cyclender and when he starts it is smokes and the smoke is white in color and doesnt have a bluish tint to it or anything. is ur car a tpi engine or no? if its not a tpi it could be oil. what someone said before add a heavyer oil and try some motor honey. its an oil additive to make the oil a bit more thinker. my brother used it on his 86 sport coupe and it doesnt smoke no more. just a little help. later

 

ok i had the same exact problem with mine wut it is with out a doubt if its just when u start it up. it is your valve stem seals. i got mien for 16 bucks and they were crane cams. u have to take off your rockers and your springs but dont forget to fill the chamber with air or u will loose the valve. also get some little o-rings that go on the valves cause ain't gettin your seals off without them bein ripped off. well i did mine in 2 days and first time i started it up nuthin and nuthin since i did this witch was over the summer. the only prob i had was i didn't have my engine at TDC when i adjusted the rockers. lol i tuned that thing for 2 weeks be4 i finally just gavce up and readjusted them. but anyways good luck

 

it really is just a chevy thing. all chevy engines get that way sooner or later. its probably the valve stem seals. i wouldn't worry about. my car does the same thing. its not bad at all. just a very little white smoke when starting up. hope this helps.

 

Hi, I have an 89 RS ,my car use to do that!!! I changed the valve seals and no longer have the problem !!! It took about 2 hours for me to do the job. I had to purchase a valvespring compressor , so I could get the springs off, it was not very hard. If a woman can do it ,how hard can it be?

 

Hey guys! So I own a 1988 Camaro IROC Z 305. The car was stating like crap and a huge cloud of black smoke would come out when I started it. I was told it was the injectors, so I changed them.... It helped a bit, but when I start it its like making a un easy noise (kinda like when a car is already on and you try to start it again) and some smoke is still coming out... Looks dark with a bit of white in the smoke. Not sure what the heck to do. Any ideas?

 

As mentioned above, you have bad valve seals. Its not a really a problem, just annoying to see smoke out of your car. Valve seals are cheap, the work is a PITA.

 

Its just oil leaking pass the valves and burning off when u start it up, I had that problem but I got it fixed because I was getting tired off topping off my oil every month, if left untreated it could sludge up the bottom end.

 

this subject is often brought up . there is a way to reduce if not eliminate it with little mechanical talent . remove valve covers , clean oil gunk/sludge from valve train area , (it can be very messy) clean drain holes at lwr. front & rear of cylinder heads , they allow oil to drain back down to crankcase . when gunk/sludge builds up in drain passages and it does not let drain oil back down fast enough it drains/seeps past valve seals . has worked for me several times in the past . several good engine flushes after will help alot . good luck .

 

Mine does a little too..I think every car does.. I see almost every car in the morning blowing smoke out their tail pipes because they dont let there cars warm up in the morning. BRAND NEW cars do this, look at cars at stop lights in the morning 90% of them do it.

 

Valve seals like was said. My car only has 49,7** on it and it does it, plus I have no cat so you notice it more. I had a 86 Monte Carlo with a 305 in it that did the same thing.

 

Mine was smoking on start up every morning until about a year after I switched to Mobil 1 extended performance synthetic 5w-30. Maybe its a coincidence but the smoke is gone.I really cant think of anything else that could have fixed it.(89,000 miles)

 

Good call! I am going to try that. I think the people at work are tired of me fumigating the parking lot.

 

White smoke = coolant
Blue smoke = oil
Black smoke = fuel

 

My 92 RS smokes just when started but it doesnt matter if its morning noon or night. Looks like white smoke to me and it seemed to start doing this after i flushed the coolant, but if it were burning coolant wouldnt it be doing this constantly?

 

Yea Deff. read the above posts ^^^ I think your fine buddy...if you were burning coolant you would kno it.

 

Mine does it bad enough that I am fouling plugs I think. The car is hard to start, 3 times before it fires, blows smoke on start up and it is stumbling and missing a little. Getting the valve seals done next week- any other things to worry about? It has 190,000 miles...

 

Anyone know if there is a video around on how to do the valve seals?