I noticed that whenever I let my camaro(91 RS 305) sit for a while and I start it up white smoke comes out of the exhaust. Im preety sure it's not condensation and I've read some post that suggest that it's probably a bad head gasket or antifreeze leaking in my intake manifold. I was curious and wanted to know if it's something that I could take care of myself or If I would have take it in to a shop? Has anyone ever fixed a problem like this ? Is it expensive? I plan on selling the car in a couple months so I just want to fix it to factory standards like it was before. Any tips? Thanks

 

could be a valve seal, those aren't too bad, head gaskets are too bad on v8s, especially when the engine has been striped down (no AC, etc.)

 

Why are you so sure it's not condensation?

Does the exhaust have a "sweet" smell to it?

 

head gasket, put a cooling system pressure tester on it.

 

The reason I dont think it's condensation is because I think if it was condensation the smoke that would appear at start-up would dissipate after a second or two and the smoke that comes from my car floats away but always stays white untill the wind starts to spread it around. I haven't really smelled the smoke,is the sweet smell real obvious? What kind of figures should I be getting if I check my radiator/antifreeze pressure? BTW I really aprecciate everyones help. Thanks

 

man that is a typical 305 gm did not put good valve seals on these motors,not major but will require some down time the parts are like 15.00 max

 

Yep! I've got the same problem with my LO3. 138,000mi.

 

Blue Tint= oil
Black smoke = fuel
white smoke = coolant...

 

If it's smoking for more than a few seconds after startup it's probably not valve seals... My guess would be bad intake gaskets or head gaskets.

 

What BigAl said...

if it's coolant, you'll notice a sweet smell to the exhaust. If it's coolant than what kfoley said...

 

pull the intake and heads and see what you have... a 'clean' piston is an indication of water getting in there 'steam cleaning' it

 

Thanks for the tips 'fellas. Ill check my seals.

 

By the way,m since Im going to be pulling my intake manifold out,I was looking through Jegs parts catalog and was lloking through the intake manifolds and I would like to order a sensible one that will let my baby breathe more but I'm not sure which one is compatible for my 91Rs(305)TBI. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Edelbrock has a TBI manifold, here's a link to it at summit:
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...art=EDL%2D3704

I'm not sure how good it is though, I don't have a whole lot of experience with TBI's except for my truck which I rarely mess with...

 

I have the same problem on my 1988 Iroc Convertible 305 TPI. Let me know what you decided to do.

Thanks

 

look at your oil, if it looks like chocolate milk its the head gasket... but my guess is its just valve seals, and although you can replace them with the heads on the engine it'll probably take less time and be easier to just pull the heads and replace the seals.... also if its coolant it SHOULD do it more than just when you start it.. on another note its not the steam that cleans the piston/valve because water is a direct result of combustion, meaning theres always steam in there.. its because coolant is a good detergent... along with tranny fluid... also just changing the manifold, without doing exhaust and a few other bolt ons with only give it like 5-10 HP not worth the approx $150 for the manifold, id say save your money

 

White smoke is normal when its cold out, for its merely steam. Like said earlier, if it has a bad head gasket, the smoke would smell sweet and there would be oil-antifreeze contamination. However, LO3 have ****ty valve seals and my '89 LO3 emits bluish white smoke in the morning until warm and those are just shot seals.

 

ok people, though it's not the case here(700R4/T5) , trans fluid will also burn white, i have seen several cars with T350 trans's with bad modulators, allowing trans fluid to be sucked into the intake that burn a thick white smoke(and foul one or two plugs, depending on the location of the vac port in the intake)