Bad Sign

[James]

Well, today was just a regular day.. I start my car, and it takes a few turns to get it going and then I look behind and I see a puff of smoke... Not good.. I go back there and smoke is coming out, continues for about 30 secs.. Its not thick, but its there. Now whenever I start the car, smoke comes out for just a second. Just a quick puff, no thick at all, but you can still see a little bit coming. Well, what do you think it could be? Do you think its a pretty big problem? Also, when I open my hood, something is vibratting really violently.. Do you think they are related.. I know this isn't much information, but this is all I have to give. I haven't changed anything lately.. Im just about to get an oil change.. and well thats only info I have.

Well if you have any ideas, I would appreciate it.. Thanks in advance.

[1988starter]

Well where is the smoke coming from my friends car did that a lot and it was a leak in the valve cover gasket leaking on to the header.

[James]

Its coming out of the exhaust

[Microstreak]

that is wht happend to me back in febuary. my car jus started throwing out smoke, dunno why, but it was so much, that ppl were horning at me and giving me strange looks. i then went straight home, kinda scared some cop would pull me over or worse. I took a guess, and thought maybe the piston rings were damaged or fried. The mechanic said it mite be that as well. Being that it would cost a lot of money to open it up and take a proper look and all, we just left the car for a few weeks. And then i started the car, expecting it to smoke up again, but nothing like that has happend since. I think it mite be some odd fluke or something, my friend blvs that something got mixed into the gasoline, ever since then, i stopped buying gas from gulf.....
i doubt this really helps you or anything, but jus wanted to tell you that ure not alone.

[Microstreak]

btw, it was from the exhaust as well, white smoke.

[hondaisthebest]

What is the colour of the smoke????????
If its blue your are starting to burn oil
white maybe coolant
black rich mixture

Its can also be some deposit that are burning in your engine.


give us news!!!

[anchovies]

take a sniff of it, but don't kill yourself
and tell us what it smells like

[rocky2]

Did you recently change oil and go to syntedic? That happened to me. My valve stem seals got hard and oil passed though them.
I changed them on a 1988 Dodge Caravan 3.0 v-6 and smoke went away. Oil gets sucked into combustion camber right though the valve,nothing to stop the suction. I have not done them on a 3-g but I would try doing them myself before I tore engine down.
Its not to bad of a job..you need a valve spring compresser and a air compresser. But I've seen people use rope instead of compressed air. Stick the rope down spark plug hole leaving a little out turn engine over compressing rope against the valve holding it in place then valve spring can then be removed without fear of dropping valve down into cylinder. which then head would have to be removed. then change seals and reverse proceture.
Many mechanics think your engine is cashed when real tough smoke spuse out......not always the case.

[ACCORD EX]

does it idle ok when that happens ! if not try changing your fuwl filters and filling up you gas tank !


MIKE

[shepherd79]

sound like your valve seals are going dead. to make them a little soft. putt about 5-10oz of brake fluid before you change your oil. run it for a few minutes and it should do the trick.

[James]

Well, it just smells like gas, and its thin black smoke.. Only when it first starts.. It vibrates alot and almost stalls, but never seems to.. It jumps from like 200 rpms back to 1000 for the first 5 seconds, then runs fine. Still vibrates a bit, but once I rev it to about 2500 for just a second is runs great. Never once has it stalled after the first minute of the car running. We haven't changed the fuel filters in like 7 years.. So that will help. The car was sitting in our garage unused for 4 of those 7 years. Until I finally got the car.

[James]

How much would it probably cost to have someone change them for me? I don't have any room to do it.. My garage is full of shit, and our driveway is a really step slope, same with the street at the end of my driveway.

[ACCORD EX]

change the fuel filters , air filter, oil , oilfilter , spark plugs , spark plug wires , cap , rotor , spray the carb with carb cleaner ! that will be about 50 > 80 $

MIKE

[James]

Ok, thanks.

[monsonhonda]

check your ecu for a blinking led, it might be your coolant temp sensor, an error #6

[Mantis88LX]

i had this problem, changed my spark plugs and it fixed, dunno? bu i had to stomp the gas when cranking to get it to start, but it all good now

[James]

Ok, Ill do that, thanks for the replies guys.