Blown head gasket? na 1990 300zx

[bucketsofOIL]

About 2 months ago the clutch went out in my Z and I haven't fixed it yet since I didn't have the money. When I drove it the car was running fine and wasn't really doing anything funny except leak something every now and then after I drove it. Recently I've been starting her up just to reminisce of the good times and sit in her. I noticed my right exhaust pipe is starting to put out white smoke. Not a BUNCH but enough to notice. The left isn't doing anything unless I rev it up a little (but I'm assuming it's because it's cold out here). The right side on the other hand is blowing smoke as if if were cold when I'm idling and blowing out a lot(ish) when I rev it. There's no smoke coming from under the hood, nothing is leaking from the engine bay, and there aren't any knocks or anything like that. Am I just being paranoid or is there something serious going on?

[Ace2cool]

What's the smoke smell like?

[marcyprojects]

Could just be a leaky valve cover on that side of the motor. Oil leaking through to the cynlinder on that side and burning out the exhaust. Ive had some issues related to the same thing.

[Ace2cool]

Don't mean to be a stickler, but leaky valve covers won't burn out the exhaust. That'd have to be stem seals.

[bucketsofOIL]

What's the smoke smell like?

It smells like normal exhaust fumes. It doesn't noticeably different than from before this happened.

[Ace2cool]

No cause for alarm then. Exhaust systems don't always heat evenly, so that may be what you're experiencing.

[Rubyz32]

Check the oil for water and the water for oil. Pull the plugs and do a compression check. If the car is sitting, it would be beneficial to flush the coolant, change the oil and do a comp. check anyway.

[NolimitZ32]

What part of the world are you in, if you are in colder climates then a sitting car will accumulate moisture and condensation in the exhaust and will blow steam when heated, being that this is a 20+ year old car you could likely have a leak somewhere in one side of the exhaust that allows most of the condensation to escape while the other side being sealed well vaporizes the water instead. Like Ace said, no need for concern, if you can sit there with the engine idling at temp for 5 min or so and the temp gauge needle doesn't shoot up you should be ok.

[marcyprojects]

Don't mean to be a stickler, but leaky valve covers won't burn out the exhaust. That'd have to be stem seals.

well correct me if im wrong but arent there rings that come with the valve cover gasket set that seal around the holes protecting the spark plugs? If those have perrished, oil can get in and cause a bad miss/burning oil, no?

[NolimitZ32]

No, spark plugs are part of the envelope that is the combustion chamber which makes compression, loss of seal at the piston rings (in microns) causes compression to drop. These microscopic voids ONLY allow oil to pass under the high pressures of the combustion process, so if you have oil getting into the combustion chamber through the spark plug thread under atmospheric conditions or even under the natural vacuum of the piston downstroke than you have much bigger problems than a little bit of smoke. I highly recommend you read this: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/engine1.htm