Strange White Smoke(Searched, no result)

[drifts14x]

I have a strange dilemma with my 1992 240sx. My car upon takeoff puffs a cloud of white smoke, and then runs fine. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a going headgasket, as there is no coolant in the oil, and the smoke, though white, only smells like burning oil. I am concerned because over the course of an oil change, I do end up putting an entire extra quart of oil into the car. More importantly (because oil is only $2 for a quart) it is embarrassing, and no oil treatments I can find have been able to fix it. The car now has 180K miles on it as of today if that helps. Thanks for your time.

[TrunkMonkey]

do a compression test.

-demetrius

[elwesso]

Well I was going to say that if its cold (below 50) that its normal, but thats not the case..

Having experience with the cadillac northstar engine, i can tell you that you cna still get white smoke from a bad head gasket even though there is no cross conamination of the fluids...

What happens is it will partially blow and only coolant will get into the chamber.. The cooling passages are closer to the chamber than are the oil passages.....

[Asleep Altima]

are you sure its white and not a faint blue color? cuz blue on startup is a sign of valve seals going out.

[robertwb70]

are you sure its white and not a faint blue color? cuz blue on startup is a sign of valve seals going out.

I agree-this is the most likely case-mine does the same thing-has since about 190,000 miles and I'm quite sure it's the valve guide seals

[drifts14x]

so how hard are valve seals to replace? can i do them by myself?

[Asleep Altima]

i havent had to do them yet but, without looking at them, id say the cams would have to come out along with the shims and lifters... if you organize everything you can put it all back together. youll also need compressed air to keep the valves shut while you have the springs and retainers off... remember, this is all without looking at it, i could be completely wrong and we have brass guides... in that case, disregard every thing i said.