f this does not give you a good guide line then feel free to emal me at yahoo.com first part is my member name so here it is...


OK a lot of people have been posting stuff on this...heres the deal..
1. Start your car and let it idle or you can give it short bursts of revs to warm it up. Look at the amount of water coming out of the tail pipe..it will land under the tail pipes making a puddle)
2. If you rev it then check the size of the puddle after every couple times. a small patch(5-6 inches) is perfectly normal. Moisture will collect in the pipes after the car has been shut off after running for a while. (its called condensation, on the hot metal)
3. check you oil dipstick..if it is frothy(full of bubbles) then you have either a cracked head or a head gasket. The same goes for the coolant, If it is full of foam then it is low...If it has been filled lately then you have a leak(head gasket), If it has oily dots then you can count on either a head or head gasket is leaking.
4. the smoke thing is a general idea to start a search. Hers a general outline...
White smoke is water/coolant AND valve seals(depending on how bad they are.)
Grey smoke is oil, look at the valve seals...
Blue smoke is extremely rich mixture and really bad oil seals...
Black smoke is difficult one to pin point, It is normal to appear after a hard throttle gunning, again a extreme rich mixture may produce this but you have to be bunring so much fuel for that you can watch your tank level go down as the car idles.
It is caused by carbon deposits however...thats why a good hard run every once in a while is a good thing. It helps clear it out. Personally I run my car about every 2 weeks...I get it from 45 too govenor at 115 on a good country back road, I do not ease the power on I simply floor it, thats the best way.