Recently got a 91 vert NA, emissions delete with I believe to be a pre cat on the exhaust manifold. first started it up and tons of smoke came out around the exhaust manifold so thought ok needs a new gasket. Did that and was successful with it, not nearly as much smoke leaking out of the manifold now. It's just coming out the pre cat under the car. I wasn't 100% sure on the smell it was mostly white smoke with maybe a darker tint. I had it running for about 20 seconds maybe thinking the smoke would slowly go away but in about that time the idle went from around 2500 to nearly 4k and I shut it down, also smoke poured out the entire time. I am well prepared for someone to say needs a rebuild. But would also like to try any possible fixes you guys could think of.

 

Lots of blueish smoke would probably be oil control rings, rebuild. The parts would most likely be salvageable. Lot's of white smoke means water in the combustion chamber. That usually means rebuild as well, varying levels of salvageable parts. Let it run for a bit longer, oil control rings will eventually clear up but your oil consumption will be through the roof. Coolant/water in your engine will try to exit the engine, take the coolant cap off and start it to see if it bubbles out.

 

Okay so with the rebuild I've seen different opinions on rebuild kits. Ever used one personally or have a recommendation?

 

when you pulled the exhaust manifold to do the gasket, did you find oil or water/antifreeze in it?

also, it might be helpful to get a sense of what it smells like: acrid, sweet, or like a rich condition.

 

When I pulled it definitely was some oil leaking out of the holes, didn't really seem like water was present was also some oil in the manifold itself. I'd say the smell was one you don't wanna smell for one unless you don't mind knocking a few years off your life lol. I was just assuming it's because I've only got a pre cat attached to the manifold so alot of fumes weren't being properly filtered.

 

sounds like your oil seals are shot.

 

Take the oil cap off when it's running and see if the smoke stops. If it does you eliminated/blocked off your crank case venting.

 

That's something interesting to think about. Would that possibly be like a vacuum leak? A couple of the vacuum caps looked a bit rough and maybe some inlets might have been left uncapped?