Hello again.... I'm glad to be back, but unhappy with the circumstances.

I just bought this car Monday the 5th. I test-drove it on a dirt road for about 20 minutes, and looked everything over very carefully. Everything seemed to be in order, except the niggling stuff -broken dome light, missing radio....

But...come Friday night, a store clerk noticed a cloud of white smoke when I started the car to leave. I had no choice but to drive it home, and the smoke was behind me over halfway (about 10 miles), then it either quit or it got too dark to see it anymore, I'm not sure which.

The temperature guage: the first line is 100, second is unmarked, middle is 220. The fan doesn't start 'till a ways past the 220 mark.

The smoking is imperceptible -if it's there at all- 'till the guage passes that first unmarked line. Then, it shows up real light, but gets strong when I hit the gas.

It doesn't smell like antifreeze. And I don't seem to be losing any fluids.

But, it's not the classic blue of oil smoke, either. It's a light gray or maybe just tinged blue? It smells like really strong exhaust.

As I said this problem didn't show up 'till Friday evening. I drove the car over 80 miles on Monday, with a friend following. The heat never went far past the first unmarked line. Neither of us noticed any smoke. I drove it around town a little bit after, but never noticed any problems at all. I drove about ten miles once with the air conditioner on, and kept an eye on the temperature when I did but the guage never showed it getting too hot.

The car drives just the way an old Camaro should. No loss of power, no overheating smell, no hiccups or rough engine sounds. If it weren't for the smoke, I'd never guess anything is wrong. It just seems like an overall strong little car. But now I'm suffering a bit of buyer's remorse, wondering if the head gasket has been blown?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

 

If you have a head gasket issue, I would assume that you would be losing some coolant, or oil, or both. Do you see any coolant in the oil? There is a test kit that changes color if there are any side products of combustion in the coolant. Perhaps that may be a place to start. It could reveal if you have an intake manifold leak, or a head gasket leak that allows for coolant to get into the combustion chambers. Another thing that you may want to try is to do a compression check.
It could also be that your car is running very rich and it is fuel that is coming out of the tail pipe.

 

The oil looks used but not burnt, and it's not foamy or milky. I was planning to have it changed today, but don't want to drive it into town if I'm risking cracking the heads.

I don't see any coolant loss, besides a very small leak at one of the hose fittings. And the coolant looks green and clear.

Car does seem -to me- a bit hard on gas. I know it's a V8, but it certainly seems to gulp a bit. But...wouldn't that be black smoke? This might be a bit grey, but it's not black.

It doesn't seem to be water vapor, either. It's definitely smoke.

 

Its probably not this simple, but I had a Z28 that smoked in a similar manner when I got it. After a while the smoke would keep coming out after the car was turned off. I eventually found out that the inside of the cheap muffler had fallen apart (while it looked ok on the outside) and it was burning the fiberglass insulation. Just a thought...

 

I'll check the muffler as soon as it cools down a bit more. But it does stop smoking when I turn off the engine.

 

How do I test if it's running too rich or lean?

 

Uhmm.... My neighbor just checked my timing. He read it at idle at 14 degrees BTDC. But since there's no vacuum line at the distributor to plug, he doesn't know if he needs to turn something else off to get an accurate reading?

This seems a little bit high...his cars run about 5 or 6 degrees BTDC. Does anyone know what this vehicle should run at?

 

This is TBI, by the way. The FAQ's only have instructions for the TPI.

 

is this the dragon lady in Austin, Tx

 

No, sorry. This is the DragonLady in Arizona.

 

My brother's iroc Z had a problem like that for a while. He figured out the main oil seal was leaking and the oil would drift on to the headers and start smoking. He replaced the leaky oil seal, problem solved. When it smokes, what does it smell like? If the oil thing isn't the problem, then Check your coolant level and watch your temp, you could have a cracked block or a blown head gasket.

 

The smoke just smells of carbon.

I've been watching the coolant and the temperature, but have no fluid loss and haven't overheated it.

The smoke is coming out of the exhaust, not from the engine.

 

dragon lady do me a favor and check the brake fluid, had a booster mess up once ,sucked brake fluid thru the hose into engine .big time smoke,also check the pcv valve and hose.look at hose to see if theres oil inside it.later jimmy

 

Okay; I'll do that.

 

there is an ESC connector near the blower motor that you need to disconnect to see the base timing.

i would run a compression test and go from there. sounds like a head gasket to me, could just be a small leak that just gets burned up. this can be seen by a clean piston on the offending cylinder.

 

Dragonlady I'm having the same problem too with the 91 RS I bought a couple of months ago. And it is also a 305 tbi. Some people say it could be valve seals and others say its head gaskets. I dont have any coolant in my oil. Also my car dont overheat and the coolant is full and no sign of loss anywhere. It could be that my car sat for a couple of months and not stared in that time span before I bought it. How knows........Hopfully I can figure this out or something!

 

This car sat for at least a couple of months before I bought it. What does that mean? It started right up, and while it blew a little bit of blue smoke at first, it quit within just a few minutes.

 

You said it's grey with some blue. Still could be oil. Check your PCV valve.

 

positive way to check for blown head gasket is pull the plugs, if 1 is really clean(looks new)its getting coolant in it,later jimmy

 

Allowing the car to sit for over two months will cause for varnishes to form in the fuel delivery system, therefore restricting the flow of fuel to the engine.
Replace the fuel filter and check fuel pressure. However, I don't think that this is what is causing the white smoke coming from your car.
Do a compression test on all 8 cylinders. If you can, do also a leak down test. If everything seems normal, a good think to do would be to either find the kit that they use at repair shops to check for traces of combustion materials in the coolant, or take it somewhere and pay for them to do it. It should not be an expensive test to do. If you have a bad head gasket or a leaking intake manifold, it would result in a color change of the liquid that is used in the kit. The compression test and leak down test will help you narrow the problem down.
On the other had, the suggestion of the faulty exhaust could also be a possibility, but I would assume that the smoke there would be more of a darker smoke.

 

Are you sure its not just condensation in the exhaust? It does seem to happen when cold right, and doesnt smell of anything but exhaust? All my vehicles have white smoke when theres condensation in the exhaust. If your not losing any fluids, then what else would cause it? The only thing I can see that would do it is the fiberglass in a muffler. As long as your car isnt smoking all the time and only when cold, I wouldnt think too much about it

 

The smoke is really white, or very light gray. If it's blue at all, it's just a tinge.

I'll have the PCV valve replaced tomorrow.

I'll buy a new filter tomorrow. But I have no idea how to check the fuel pressure?

I have a friend who says he can do that here, so I don't have to drive it into town. If it is the head gaskets, I'm sure to crack the heads if I drive it back in. But, I'd like to continue to eliminate other stuff first, as he won't have the time 'till sometime next week.

I'll look online and see if I can buy one.

No, it doesn't start 'till it reaches the second line on my temperature guage. Somewhere between 100 and 220.

I hope not! I had my face under there smelling it!!!

 

To check the fuel pressure you will need a fuel pressure gauge and you will need to check it by connecting the pressure gauge to the shrader valve on the fuel rail. However, if you had fuel pressure problems, you would have drivability problems. Check the spark plugs and see if you can see any oil or antifreeze on them. But if you are going to go through the trouble of doing that, you might as well do a compression test.

 

Hmmm...I have no driveability issues, other than the fear right now of cracking the heads or the block. But last I drove it the only symptom of anything was the smoke.

 

just curious have you put a fresh tank of gas in there since you bought it?

 

I didn't think of this, One of the members on here replied to my post and he said that he replaced his head gaskets and it still smoked. So he replaced his catalyic converter and it stopped smoking. Also said if it smells kinda odd and smokes thats what it more than likely be the catalyic converter. Thats what I'm going to try anyway.

 

Well, I didn't change the gas or anything, but I filled it up with high octane when I bought it, and added another half tank when it got low.

I was able to get the timing checked properly last night. It's set now at 4 degrees BTDC. Can anyone tell me what's the proper setting for the base timing? I bought the Chilton manual yesterday, and it says "0", but other tech places online have said "6", "8", and even "10". They can't all be right?

I'll see about having the catalytic converter checked out, too. I don't have to comply with emissions here, so chances are no one has checked it.

 

base is 0 but these cars like somewhere in the 6 degrees advanced area. your probably fine where your at but you can advance the timing more if you want more power. timing being off doesnt create smoke though.

i would run all that gas out of the tank first. its not a bad idea to replace the fuel filter either.

 

Okay; I'll get another fuel filter, and I'll let the gas run down to close to empty before I refill the tank again.

 

was working on a 351 windsor in a ford pickup not long ago that had a white/grey smoke issue when warm. Sometimes if a motor has been sitting for a while, a product we use at our shop called "seafoam" works pretty good at getting rid of smoke from motors that have sat for a while. something that "frees lifters and rings...rejuves valves and seals etc..." will do the trick probably. It should pour in the crank case. A bottle or two of injector cleaner sound like it wouldnt hurt either. would sure like to see the results of a wet/dry compression test on this thing.

 

being where i live my 305 throws greyish smoke too when i drive, not enough to see when i drive, but alittle when i go out and check, and usually this is normal, its just water and water vapor in the pipes. and when u start the car to the point the exhaust gets hot all that wator turns into vapor and leaves.

 

The best simple solution is to just look at the plugs, IMO. From there it's easy to do a compression test anyway so you might as well.

 

or give it an oil change and check for water, chances are its do for another oil change soon