white/greyish smoke from exhaust

[silkk]

everytime i start the car, white/greyish smoke comes out from the exhaust. it goes away after it idles for a bit. the car just passed smog so i have no idea whats wrong with it. maybe its the cat. i'm not sure. anyone has any ideas to what the problem is? its a 89 with a sohc engine and everything stock

[navysnail]

sounds like head gasket, check your compression and see if the coolant appears to "boil"when the radiator cap is off. make sure the engine is cool when you remove the cap too.

edit: does it have a smell?it may just be because it goes rich after startup

[ziggy682]

White smoke is coolant, and it will smell kind of like antifreeze.

Gray smoke is oil. I would guess, since yours only smokes at startup that it is oil. Smoking at startup is usually bad valve seals. When the engine sits for a while, oil leaks down through the seals into the combustion chamber. When you start it up, it burns the oil off.

That sound about right?

[navysnail]

correction- most and i say most because some synthetics dont, but most oil burns blue.

i would say its your headgasket

[gumby]

will that happen if it sits unused for awhile

[MikeYeeS13]

Check all your plugs to make sure there is no oil on them (piston ring blow by) This just happen to my DSM.

[Neejay]

Check all your plugs to make sure there is no oil on them (piston ring blow by) This just happen to my DSM.

Awww hell. I get white smoke at startup (and a lot of liquid/moisture) and after running seafoam, I cleaned my spark plugs to find a hint of oil on them.

So I might have almost blown head gasket as well as a blown piston ring?...just great...

[mouse]

dont put a new gasket in, u should just swap it lol. J/K. But are gaskets hard to replace on the 240? I've never done one.

[navysnail]

neejay, get your engine compression or leak down checked

[jamie]

could be just condensation inside the system being turned back into steam. My wifes 2002 rav4 does this on start up occasionally and the thing is still mechanically perfect However a comp check wouldn't hurt. Knowledge is always good and it gives you a base line for later if need be. If you have reformulated gas where your from that could be a contributing factor as some of that stuff produces h2o as a byproduct of combustion

[Neejay]

could be just condensation inside the system being turned back into steam. My wifes 2002 rav4 does this on start up occasionally and the thing is still mechanically perfect However a comp check wouldn't hurt. Knowledge is always good and it gives you a base line for later if need be. If you have reformulated gas where your from that could be a contributing factor as some of that stuff produces h2o as a byproduct of combustion

Damn thats good to hear, at least some hope. lol

[navysnail]

all right, mine does this too on startup and i know its head gasket is fine

dont worry about it man, its fine