random smoke coming from under the hood

Hey guys,

This has been happening for a while now...at random times, I would stop at a light and smoke will come up from under the hood in little sequences...when i open the hood it stops, but i caught it today. It looks like its coming from random places on the valve cover, under the spark plugs but on top of teh manifold and the manifold. The temp gauge is readin pretty close to centre but closer to the cold side. Other than that the car runs like a champ!!! Anyone experience this? I bet its nothing to worry about though.

thats same thing i have.... u most likely have a oil leak from ur valve cover and when it hits the heat sheild or what ever is hot white smoke comes up..so just prolly a oil leak but not 100%

Sounds like the valve cover gasket. Same thing would happen when I stopped quickly.

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Originally Posted by ryan2107

thats same thing i have.... u most likely have a oil leak from ur valve cover and when it hits the heat sheild or what ever is hot white smoke comes up..so just prolly a oil leak but not 100%

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i never really need to fill up my oil so it must be really minor also i only see it in the mornings...i think i should pressure wash my engine to really see whats goin on. Too much grease!! Also ummm last week i did my oil change. I took it for a drive and it was fine, and park it for the night. In the morning i move my car and see a pretty big puddle of oil under my car. I chaeck the dipsitck and its low, and i check the bolt and its tight!! but it looks like it was leaking from the bolt...my dad did a really ghetto fix on it but i want a permanent one. It was never leaking b4 the oilchange...all opinions welcome!

yeah i gewt it in the mornings as weelll

Same thing happens to me usualy after a sudden stop (i.e. under hard breaking). I know my valve cover gasket leaks a little bit and concluded that since the oil is being forced to the front, it just gets forced out of the valve cover gasket. Ive yet to confirm this since I havent actualy seen the oil leak onto the mainifold, but i cannot deny my powers of deduction.:naughty:

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Originally Posted by twofast4u

i never really need to fill up my oil so it must be really minor also i only see it in the mornings...i think i should pressure wash my engine to really see whats goin on. Too much grease!! Also ummm last week i did my oil change. I took it for a drive and it was fine, and park it for the night. In the morning i move my car and see a pretty big puddle of oil under my car. I chaeck the dipsitck and its low, and i check the bolt and its tight!! but it looks like it was leaking from the bolt...my dad did a really ghetto fix on it but i want a permanent one. It was never leaking b4 the oilchange...all opinions welcome!

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Yeah same thing happened to me my first oil change. Just but an aluminum drain plug gasket and for a little extra security add a small amount of black silicone around it. Stopped my leak.

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Originally Posted by twofast4u

i never really need to fill up my oil so it must be really minor also i only see it in the mornings...i think i should pressure wash my engine to really see whats goin on. Too much grease!! Also ummm last week i did my oil change. I took it for a drive and it was fine, and park it for the night. In the morning i move my car and see a pretty big puddle of oil under my car. I chaeck the dipsitck and its low, and i check the bolt and its tight!! but it looks like it was leaking from the bolt...my dad did a really ghetto fix on it but i want a permanent one. It was never leaking b4 the oilchange...all opinions welcome!

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Mine was minor as well, but it got annoying getting a facefull of smoke from the vents everytime I stopped. Just buy a new washer for the bolt, they sell them everywhere, and they are cheap.

Definitely the valve cover gasket. Those things always leak.

C|

haha we should form a valve-cover-gasket-leak club, i also have that same problem

ok...well actually since im a complete noob at actually anything motor related other oil changes and tune ups...how do we take off the valve cover?

its just 3 10mm bolts on top and i think 2 holding the timing belt cover in place, just remove those and pull it off

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Originally Posted by A18A

its just 3 10mm bolts on top and i think 2 holding the timing belt cover in place, just remove those and pull it off

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Yeah thats pretty much it, very straight forwrd and simple. If you can change your oil than this shouldnt be much of a hassle. If anything it may take a little while to line up the gasket since it does move alot. But a simple solution to that is to apply a very small amount of grease to hold it in place on the valve cover.

yup mine looks likes it started to leak again and i got a fel pro gasket....this time i will use a Honda one.

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Originally Posted by A18A

its just 3 10mm bolts on top and i think 2 holding the timing belt cover in place, just remove those and pull it off

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Just the 3 on the top, you don't need to remove the belt cover bolts. The gasket should be installed dry with a little dab of silicone at the corners, where it starts to go over the cam. I would also recommend applying a thin coat of silicone over the two center exhaust ports. This area gets very hot and is usually one of the first to leak. Tighten bolts from the center out to 8 ft/lbs. Be careful, it is very easy to strip these nuts. Might want to check valve adjustment while in there. :)

no leaks so far with my felpro + jy valve cover.. make sure you don't torque it down too hard.. plus clean the contact surface well before sealing :)

and theres no need to drain the oil right...(i know dumb question) I'll grab another valve cover from the junk yard...sand it down and repaint...heres what it looks like now

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...u/DSC00761.jpg

my dad just painted it black....never leaving my keys lying around again...i hate my valve cover noww!

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Originally Posted by A18A

haha we should form a valve-cover-gasket-leak club, i also have that same problem

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sign me up! i fixed mine, but now something else is leaking. cracks me up at stoplights when the car next to me starts rolling up their windows!

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Originally Posted by twofast4u

and theres no need to drain the oil right...(i know dumb question) I'll grab another valve cover from the junk yard...sand it down and repaint...heres what it looks like now

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...u/DSC00761.jpg

my dad just painted it black....never leaving my keys lying around again...i hate my valve cover noww!

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Yeah theres no need to drain the oil and now would be a good time to paint the cover. Just have the valve cover painted and dried before hand to make the job that much faster.

ive never replaced a valve cover gasket and it doesnt leak... what ya gta do when u put it back on is clean all the surfaces to be sealed, if theres oil in between its gonna leak...

if you changed your oil,then found a puddle of oil under the car,it's your drain bolt gasket,it's leaking oil,then when you are driving oil is blowing backwards and getting on the bottom side of the car,and the exaust. thats why it smokes when you stop,the smoke is normally blowing out from under the car. but when you stop it drifts up. it won't do it when you first start it,because the exaust isn't hot enough yet. jack up the car and look under it,you'll probably see oil streaked backwards from the drain bolt area. fix the leak, and scotchbrite off the exaust pipe when it's cold,to remove burned on oil residue.

i didnt really read the entire thread, bt i have 87 lxi n i get smoke from under the hood as well. one thing i dont know if anyone has posted this yet but check the injectors and see if they are leakin gas and that could possibly be your prob. my car does that too. so thats jus food for thought.