2G Smoke on cold start

[Justin DuBois]

Here is a basic problem I’ve not had the pleasure to deal with before.

What started as a small puff when cold has increased to a hazy cloud for a long time during startup.

Last time I had the exhaust manifold off, #1 had dark burnt oil coating the exhaust runner so I replaced the valve seals. This had little to no effect on the issue.

It is getting progressively worse.

I have prepared a new head, and I think it is getting close to time.

If this is a new issue from the turbo, I have a rebuilt cartridge ready to go for that too, but in this case I think the oil is more likely from the valve train.

I suppose if it was the turbo seals, the intake would have to be saturated quite a bit to get smoke on start.

I am guessing whatever this is, its will be found when the head comes off.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

What color? Do you run a cat / resonators. This will happen even on normal cars. My daily does this even now with only 1 cat. Its possibly fuel related so just make sure you are not over fueling.

 

[Justin DuBois]

What color? Do you run a cat / resonators. This will happen even on normal cars. My daily does this even now with only 1 cat. Its possibly fuel related so just make sure you are not over fueling.

Hazy lingering (dare I say bluish) smoke. Separate from the steam/water vapor.
Idle is normal, and WB starts in the 10’s and then within 10 sec it migrates back to 14.7, typical for me with SD setup.

No cat, 3” APEXi WS exhaust with a couple resonators.

 

[FIBA M - EC17PSE]

So this pic is a good base start. While simple its what helps people sometimes.

Blue tends to be oil. If your exhaust tips are sooty then its overfueling so thats another place to keep an eye on. Smelling the fumes can help but be careful of course. Eyes watering means rich.

Take the o2 housing off or DP and check that for oil. If its got contaminated then check your turbo pressure and also seals on the turbine for work seals to narrow down the main problem

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[Justin DuBois]

Looks like oil to me:

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[curt-s]

I'd say oil leaking past exhaust valve seals when things are cold perhaps, but that's a lot of smoke for a bit of oil on the backside of the valve
Is that a frequent miss too?

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

I’d bet the valve seals aren’t doing valve seal things when they’re cold. The only turbo I’ve ever had smoke was a Chinese 16g I had before I switched to a real MHI Johnson and it only smoked after being in boost on decel then I’d come to a stop and blip the throttle a time or 2 and it’d clear, doesn’t mean it’s not your turbo but just sharing the experience there. I say valve seals as I’ve seen it before with those behaviors, 4g63’s aside I’ve had a few D series and B series with bad valve seals that’d smoke on cold start up until they were changed, and being we’re a bunch of hillbillies and have bad habits of leaving our Ford’s sit around for 10+ years at a time that’s common when we wake them up and takes running them a bit for the valve seals to come back around. No guarantee in your case but that’s the first place I’d look.

 

[chrysler kid]

the answer to your problem will be pulling off the exhaust manifold.

if the head is "wet" inside then its the valve stem seals. though when mine went bad the car smoked like a train when it warmed up and was under high vacuum. like sitting at a stoplight with the ac on you could see the smoke from blocks away.

you can see the middle chamber is wet and the one to the left of its is just dark and not wet.

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[Justin DuBois]

I'm betting the Cyl1 issue has gotten worse - and I'm not ruling out the Head Gasket.

 

[evil_eagletalon]

Def valve seal issue.

 

[99dsmer4g63]

If it is indeed a valve seal issue I notice most of the time the smoke from the exhaust is present on a decel from maybe 60 to a stop, slowly downshifting the entire way letting the engine have peak vacuum. Just something to maybe see if you notice or not.

-Daniel

 

[victorgalant]

I think is a valve train issue. Since you already said that the valve seals have been changed i think it might be the valve guides. Just a thought.

 

[We're on Boost]

I think is a valve train issue. Since you already said that the valve seals have been changed i think it might be the valve guides. Just a thought.

Yeah if the valve guide IDs are just a little too big it lets the valve stems wiggle around sideways too much and your new stem seals can go downhill pretty fast, or something like that. That's what it was the only time I've ever had this. That was on a 1970 Mercedes 250 sedan gasoline motor and this happened in the late 70's.
Happy Thursday Justin - maybe some Soda Punch will cheer you up!