Smoke at start, SOLVED!

A forum for the legendary Nissan Pathfinder and Infiniti QX4.
Mike W.
Posts: 387
Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2017 6:59 pm
Car: 2003 Infiniti QX4 with a drinking problem. Gas and oil.
2002 BMW 525it
1998 BMW 328is
Location: California Whine Country

Post

I've had multiple threads on this without a lot of direction or even suggestions. Not a complaint, I just seem to run into nice, uh, shall we say, challenges. But I got it! Well, pretty sure, going on 2 weeks now, ~350 miles and looking good. It was the valve covers. They were all sludged up. I did ream out the drains from the head to the crankcase, one rear one might have been plugged, but I think I just hit an edge or something. I took #12 insulated wire, doubled over and ran it down the drain holes with the drill going on slow, a Roto Rooter job of sorts. But I was in this far, I'd gotten some suggesting somewhere it might, maybe, just might be the valve covers. I'd already had the guy 2 doors down who is the mechanic in a local shop do the PCV when my back was not up for it and it said it looked good. Maybe not a star, but he seems competent. Anyway, I was in this far, I started to try to clean them out with kerosene, but they're 2 part with a hollow portion, so for a hundred bucks from Amazon I just bought a pair. Came with new gaskets and a new oil filler cap. Put 'em on and no more smoke!

Being the curious sort I am after a few days I tore into the VC and there was a bunch of sludge in there. Not packed, but a bunch. That was after I'd run a treatment of Liqui Moly engine cleaner in there idling for an hour, not the 10-15 minutes they suggest. The head looks pretty clean, but lots of gunk in the hidden compartment of the VC, only accessible after breaking it apart. Ugly picture follows, along with the deceptively clean one of the head.
Attachments
QX4valvecover.jpg
QX4head.jpg


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