starting to smoke durring idel

[nicksdsm]

I have 104000 miles on my car and it's starting to smoke. what should I replace. I was thinking i need a new head gasket, pistons and rings(maybe rods), and injectors. can you think of anything else? when I replace the pistons I want just a little better performance.

 

[JDubb]

is it overheating? is the radiator leaking? is the muffler smoking?

 

[nicksdsm]

it's not overheating and the radiator is not leaking but the smoke is coming out of the muffler.

 

[JDubb]

hmmmmm...if it's not overheating then chances are it is not the head gasket...if smoke is only comming from the pipe, theeeen, i would say your gettin some oil...first thing to check would be the rings...i would buy a compression tester and test the cylinders to see if you got any compresion loss...their only like 20 bucks and they are handy and easy to use...if you got bad compression change the rings on every cylinder change the head gasket while your in there change the valve cover gasket and gromets and while your in there go crazy and bore that bad boy right out

if your compression is ok then...i'll have to think some more...

 

[Megags]

Mines been doing that since the day i got it at 86k. I have 125k now. My problem is the valve seals because my compression is perfecto. If I let my car sit at idle for more than 4-5 minutes a nice big cloud of smoke will puff out for a bit. Just make sure you keep the oil in the good range until you fix the problem. Might want to clean the combustion chamber every so often as well.

If you come out positive on the compression test, get a leak down test to confirm it's your valve seals. Sometimes you can tell by doing a vacuum diagnostic as well.

My vacuum readings didn't indicate that I had bad valves and my car runs like a freak since I fixed it. Because it didn't read like bad valves would, I assume it's my seals... and so far nothing has blown up "crossing fingers"

 

[nicksdsm]

I like the way you think. I really want to buy a punched out rebuilt engine but I have little money. where should the compression be at?

 

[JDubb]

yeah it's to early for me...if the compression is ok do a leak down...like _____^he said

 

[JDubb]

umm i wanna say mine was supposed to be at 145...it should tell you in your owners manual...i think...check there first if not search the web or maybe someone on here knows for sure

 

[Megags]

Go here

http://www.dsmgrrrl.com/FAQs/compression.htm


Like I said? Maybe I should save my posts? Is THAT what you're trying to say?

 

[TalonSpeed]

Valve steam seals. Get the Mopar upper gasket kit for 130 at dealer, tbelt kit at www.rockauto.com for 80, and get a tensioner for whatever. Take your head to the machine shop have it cleaned, ported if u like, and milled. Dont for get to include the new valve stem seals (apart of the upper gasket kit) and get new head bolts (12.00) rockauto.

I did this will some other stuff, like cams, and oversized valves. My car runs great