hey i was out today working on my 85 z28 with a 350 in it and i noticed at idle there was a small trace of white smoke coming out of the exhaust as it warmed up to operating temp it came out a lil more steadily. anyone else have this problem or some starting points to pin point my problem.

thanks
ryan

 

Does it have a sweet smell to it........could possibly be water or oil burning. Most of the time if your seals on your valves are old they will allow some oil to run down the valve on top of the piston and create a small amount of smoke upon the next cold start.......could be. Check your fluids for any leakage.

 

if that is true would the smoke just disappear after awhile of running or would the seals continuly leak while engine is running

 

valve seals generally just puff at startup as the residual leakage that seeps past gest burnt off.

If the engine is smoking constantly (doesnt quit for at least a minute or more) I would definitly verify the smokes "identity." If its really white, like said, coolant is finding its way to the chambers.

After verification of the smoke, do a compression test or leak down test on all 8 cylinders. If you have a leak somewhere, 1 or 2 cylinders will be significantly lower. You are looking for a gap larger than a 10% difference here.