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White smoke at start

Old Oct 15, 2015 | 09:11 AM
  #1  
NiG's Avatar
NiG
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From: Italy
Car: 1989 Gray ttop GTA
Engine: 5700cc
Transmission: auto 700R4
White smoke at start

Hi Guys

I've this embarrassing and annoying problem. When I start the car, just at the start, it makes this big white cloud of smoke. You can see it in this video of me (normally it's bigger):


[audio badly synced]

It's embarrassing because if I start the car near some people or next to a bar/pub/club, sometime the big cloud goes toward people. Super ugly.

Does anybody know what I can be? They say to me the valve seals, that causes oil leak inside the cilinder. Other opinions?

THANKS
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Old Oct 15, 2015 | 09:20 AM
  #2  
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Axle/Gears: 3.27
Re: White smoke at start

valve seals
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Old Oct 15, 2015 | 09:30 AM
  #3  
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From: Adirondacks, New York
Car: 92 Camaro RS
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Re: White smoke at start

valve seals
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Old Oct 15, 2015 | 01:20 PM
  #4  
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From: Italy
Car: 1989 Gray ttop GTA
Engine: 5700cc
Transmission: auto 700R4
Re: White smoke at start



is it a serious thing to replace ASAP, or can I stay with that for some time?

thanks!!
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Old Oct 15, 2015 | 01:42 PM
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From: Yorkshire, England
Car: '89 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305
Transmission: Auto
Re: White smoke at start

Mine has the exact same issue when it's warm. How easy are these valve seals to replace?

Also what oil do you guys recommend I use on the car?
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Old Oct 15, 2015 | 02:07 PM
  #6  
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From: Huntsville AL
Car: 88GTA
Engine: 5.7TPI
Transmission: Auto
Axle/Gears: 3.27
Re: White smoke at start

Hold on a second... If its smoking on startup when its warm, say 1/2 hour after you shut down and then go to start it and it smokes white...we're talking about a fuel thing. Fuel leaking into intake flooding the cylinders or injector leaking by.

Smoke on startup in morning, bluish gray/white is valve seals

There is a procedure on here how to do the seals with the heads on the car. There is 2 methods...1 is using a rope in the spark plug hole and 2 using compressed air from a compressor holding the valves up.
Both ways are pretty straight forward to do but also time consuming, but a knowledgeable person can do it on a Saturday.

Injectors are a piece of cake to replace. ForTPI remove runners and plenum and change em out. TBI R&R the 2 injectors in the carb.

Either problem needs to be verified before jumping to conclusions.
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Old Oct 15, 2015 | 02:12 PM
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From: Yorkshire, England
Car: '89 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305
Transmission: Auto
Re: White smoke at start

Originally Posted by Bob88GTA
Hold on a second... If its smoking on startup when its warm, say 1/2 hour after you shut down and then go to start it and it smokes white...we're talking about a fuel thing. Fuel leaking into intake flooding the cylinders or injector leaking by.

Smoke on startup in morning, bluish gray/white is valve seals

There is a procedure on here how to do the seals with the heads on the car. There is 2 methods...1 is using a rope in the spark plug hole and 2 using compressed air from a compressor holding the valves up.
Both ways are pretty straight forward to do but also time consuming, but a knowledgeable person can do it on a Saturday.

Injectors are a piece of cake to replace. ForTPI remove runners and plenum and change em out. TBI R&R the 2 injectors in the carb.

Either problem needs to be verified before jumping to conclusions.
Mine does both. When fired up from cold it throws out white smoke and when it warms up a little it goes away. Then if I shut it off after say 10/15 mins of driving and fire it up again it throws out some smoke and that's it.

So would I need to replace my valve seals?
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Old Oct 19, 2015 | 06:13 AM
  #8  
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Car: Firebird
Engine: 5737cc
Transmission: 700R4
Re: White smoke at start

Mine did that since new...thats how these cars start with abit of smoke i guess.Its not blue smoke or constant.

EDIT:
watched your other vids with your car ....dude the underside of your car is cleaner than most people's kitchens haha

why you even drive it if its that clean ...

Last edited by FirebirdUSX; Oct 20, 2015 at 06:27 AM.
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Old Oct 19, 2015 | 08:43 AM
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Car: '89 Iroc Z28-15,100 Original Miles
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: Limited Slip, 2.77 Ratio
Re: White smoke at start

Mine does not smoke on cold start but upon warm starting after sitting for a couple of hours it will smoke blue briefly. If I warm restart with less than a couple of hours of sitting no smoke at all. I was told my issue was valve seals as the seals are allowing oil to drain into the combustion area. The car never smokes while running after the initial start up.

Last edited by GASPEDDLER; Oct 19, 2015 at 09:17 AM.
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Old Oct 19, 2015 | 08:56 AM
  #10  
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From: Huntsville AL
Car: 88GTA
Engine: 5.7TPI
Transmission: Auto
Axle/Gears: 3.27
Re: White smoke at start

Gaspeddler...GM replaced my seals at 15k miles for that issue. Also changed out the intake due to center bolts gouging the holes...some kind of recall IIRC. Then years later, I had the hot soak smoke after running the car and letting it sit for an hour or so. Injectors were leaking into the cylinders causing the smoke.
Just some info for ya. Knowing you have a extremely low mile IROC.
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Old Oct 19, 2015 | 09:19 AM
  #11  
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From: South Texas
Car: '89 Iroc Z28-15,100 Original Miles
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: Limited Slip, 2.77 Ratio
Re: White smoke at start

Originally Posted by Bob88GTA
Gaspeddler...GM replaced my seals at 15k miles for that issue. Also changed out the intake due to center bolts gouging the holes...some kind of recall IIRC. Then years later, I had the hot soak smoke after running the car and letting it sit for an hour or so. Injectors were leaking into the cylinders causing the smoke.
Just some info for ya. Knowing you have a extremely low mile IROC.

Thanks Bob, I need to address this issue soon. Nothing worse than starting up my car following a car show and smoking up the place.
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Old Oct 20, 2015 | 02:55 AM
  #12  
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From: Yorkshire, England
Car: '89 Firebird Formula
Engine: 305
Transmission: Auto
Re: White smoke at start

I drove mine today and on cold startup there is white smoke/steam coming out of the back and it doesn't smell of oil.

However when I got to work and turned it off and got out, there was a distinctive smell of oil around. I've had it checked and there was some oil that had been splattered around the engine bay. It also stalled on me whilst I was in traffic, it fired back up straight away but I've never had it do that before.
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