My firebird lets out a little white puff of smoke when i turn her on for the first time each day.What does that mean am i burning oil the firebird has 115,000 miles.

 

if its cold out in the morning then its probably condensation in the exaust if it does it for a minute or so. If the exaust has a sweet smell to it and your loosing coolant the smoke, steam, or what have you is probably a good indication that the intake is leaking coolant or possibly a head gasket is blown.

 

I have the same problem as well as my friend and he has owned 2 firebirds that do it. my car is an 87 Iroc z28 and a mechanic i know as well as my uncle who works on camaros a lot as well as other daily drivers he owns says its the valve seats are leaking oil. buy new heads if u want it fixed because taking it apart is a job and u might as well upgrade when u fix it as it isnt going to be cheap even though new valve seats are under 50 dollars its more labor than anything.

 

if the smoke is blue in color then its the seals and your burning oil on startup.

 

White smoke = Coolant

Blue smoke = Oil

Black smoke = running rich (unburnt fuel)

Thats all I know to look for.

But yeah, as its been said, if its some white smoke at startup that goes away within a few minutes then its just condensation in the exhaust. If its a LOT of white smoke than it may be something a bit more serious.

 

my white smoke goes away after a second or two but most of the time when i first start the car it is like noon and its not cold out. what could cause my problem if it isnt valve seats? and what do you mean by blue smoke?

 

hmmm i have an 86 Firebird and i get that puff of white smoke too i think its condensation to be honest. Its always done that even with my new engine i dont think its a matter for concern unless your smelling coolent as said above.

 

Like mentioned above, it could still be the condensation. It may also be a small coolant leak, in which coolant is leaking into one of the cylinders. If it is this, it's probably small enough that you wouldn't notice it during normal operation, but if the car were to sit long, enough coolant could build up in the cylinder/combustion chamber to be able to notice the burning of all of it at start up. I would guess if it is this the leak would be a small leak in the intake manifold gasket between the coolant flow and the front cylinder on either head (#1 or #2). I wouldn't worry about it until it gets bad where you notice it a lot. Oil burning will actually give the exhaust a blueish tint, so no worries about valve guide seals.

 

I got that 2 at start up, i say got cuz im in the middle of rebuilding my whole top end. Just those first 5 secs at start up i figured it was condensation especially since my cats gutted.

 

its white smoke and its there for about 2 seconds at the most but it did it today and its 65 degeres today at wisconsin.

 

Doesn't matter how warm it is.

I have condensation pouring out my tailpipes in 90 degree weather when I start her up.