Ok guys, Im worried that my car may have a bad oil seal. It smokes on startup, but it goes away rather quickly, and is different than the smoke it makes later.
On startup, its kinda wet feeling white smoke. Like if you hold your hand in front of the muffler, you can feel moisture on your hand (this is after sitting all night). It goes away maybe 20-30 seconds later. Now, everything is fine, until you rev the engine over 5K RPM's, no matter if the engine is cold or warm (I dont rev this high unless it is warm ). Then, it will blow smoke for maybe 15 seconds after you let off, no matter where you rev it at, as long as you dont go over 5K again. I cant really describe the color, its kinda whiteish-blue like oil/water smoke. It doesnt smell like oil though, and its not wet like moisture. It just kinda burns my eyes and throat . I was thinking mixture (running rich?) because when I first noticed the problem, it would do it if you revved over 4K, then I played with the mixture and it doesnt do it unless you go over 5K now...I dont know, its not really that big of a deal, I just dont understand . I could shoot a movie if anyone is really THAT interested . As always, thanks for any help you may be able to give me .

~T.J.

 

The wetness at start up would just be moisture in the exhaust and nothing to really worry about IMO because i know mine drips occasionally after sitting out during the night.
The smoke after 5k could be bad seals... How many miles are on the engine?
On my -SE I had a similar problem except it would blow smoke pretty much anytime i got on the gas hard, but it turned out to be that my Intake manifold was loose... I tightened it and that never happened again...

Hope this somewhat helps!

 

Yeah, now that I htink about it...It has been REALLY dewwy (is that a word? lol) around his house lately (lake front property), to the point that it looks like it was raining during the night but it wasnt...I bet its just condensation in/on crap. Its so wet in fact that while the engine is running, the oil cooler, radiator, and engine block steam while its warming up cause they are burning the moisture off...

The engine has 110K on it I think..But like I said, I have an 85 GSL that I KNOW has bad seals, and the exhaust coming out of the one with bad seals is definatly blue and smells like oil. The smoke from this car isint really blue and doesnt really smell like oil ...

~T.J.

 

It's condensation or gas, and it's totally normal as far as I can tell. My car does that exact same thing occasionally (and sometimes not), with 130k kilometers, and it is definitely not oil smoke. I would not worry about it. If your oil seals go, you'll know, by the cloud of blue smoke billowing behind you when you shift lol... and people go a long time even like that before rebuilding. Seriously dude, I would not worry about it.

 

blue smoke=burning oil

thick white smoke & burnt cotton candy smell=burning coolant

whispy white wet smoke at startup is just condensation in the exhaust.

 

Yeah, like I said, Im not worried, but i was thinking that if it was a bad mixture (as it seems to kind go away as I mess with it), if anyone had tips for getting rid of it .

~T.J.

 

Sounds like a bad oil seal to me. Don't worry about it until the consumption of oil is too great. Other then that you are good for lubrication of the rotors.
Just have to clean your plugs more often.

 

I know it SOUNDS like a bad oil seal, but it isint acting like one...The smoke isint all that blue...it smells like gas, kinda sorta. I have a car with a bad oil seal, it smokes like the dickens, I know what its like, but this car doesnt seem to be exhibiting the same behavior...

~T.J.

 

You'll know soon enough it's an oil seal. It'll get worse. My '90 GTU went from nothing to evil stench clouds when cold in about 3 weeks.

 

Thanks for the optimisim guys...

~T.J.

 

Lol, what you're describing is perfectly normal, stop worrying unless it starts shooting clouds of *blue* oil smoke. Oil smoke is very noticeably blue, you would know. Seriously, I really don't think you need to worry about this.

I have witnessed firsthand both an FB and an FD that have had bad oil seals. It is *very* noticeable when you're following them, and they shift gears, it's like a freaking James Bond smoke screen lol, seriously.

If all you have is a little white smoke on startup and when you rev and let off in neutral, stop worrying