1) my engine starts to steam, not smoke, after i turn it off. i took a pressure washer to it and it still does that. i tightened the head gaskets and nothing worked. what's up with that?

2) my car shoots out blue smoke in the beginning but stops after one "puff" and the engine starts, then it's followed by white smoke for the next 10 minutes. is this just cause the car is warming up or do i have a leaking gasket somewhere?

 

1. I bet you are just burning off funk and film that was displaced by the power washing. You sorta jostled everything around and I bet you have a greese film that has covered your motor. When that film burns off the smoke/steam should go away.

2. You have bad valve seals. This is common. When they are cold they let a lot of oil go by them that seeps through the valve guides and into the combustion chamber. As the engine warms up they swell slightly and block off all oil. You need to replace them sooner or later. They can eventually get so bad that you burn a tremendouns amount of oil. Age and mileage kill valve seals. Mine were shot with only 30k miles.

 

I've got that trademark ThirdGen smoke puff at startup as well. Not a whole heck of a lot of thirdgens I've seen without it, lol. How difficult of a procedure is it to change those things out? I've spent enough time working on my car this past few months...

Bruce (90RS305)

 

is there a place and brand you recommend to get them from? i'm going to be tearing my baby apart pretty soon so i can do it then.