White Smoke At Start-Up

[TeflonViper]

Hey Everyone,

I have read the postings on the forum for a few years now and have always found the information quite helpful. I have 2002 I35 with 88k miles on it and it would spew white smoke at start-up sporadically. No real rhyme or reason as to when it would do it and when it wouldn't. Sometimes it was when the car has sat for awhile and sometimes it would happen if I started the car up a few minutes after driving it. It will typically last from 5 seconds to 30 seconds. I have had a compression check done and everything checks out fine. No coolant loss. Minimal oil loss. The car runs like a dream, idles great and has exceptional power. There was never any CEL either. I will be the first to say that the smoke looks white to me, but I could be mistaken. It does not smell of burnt oil, fuel or coolant. I had the valve seals replaced along with the pcv valve and the spark plugs and my mechanic cleaned out some some carbon deposits and stuff from parts of my engine.

When I picked up the car after the work was done, no white smoke on start-up. When my mechanic test drove it, there was no white smoke. About an hour after I picked up the car, I got white smoke on start-up again. It was once again sporadic that day, but now seems to happen all the time at start-up. About a day later, my CEL came on. So, I am going to take it in to get the codes read tomorrow. I'm hoping that someone may have some ideas as to what could possibly be wrong with my car. I've toyed with the thought that the new pcv valve is faulty or installed improperly. I have also done some research and found that in rare circumstances sometimes transmission fluid finds its way into the combustion chamber through leaky vaccuum lines--so I am curious as to whether or not that is possible on the I35. Any help would be greatly appreciated or any ideas that you may be able to toss out there based on your experiences.

Thanks,

Yurii

[loystock]

For as long as it is white and not blue (oil leak) or black (too rich/misfire), should not be a major concern. Especially at this time of the year, the hot exhaust gases tend to condense the surrounding cold air. If you haven't taken the car for long drives, it's possible that you have accumulated water in the exhaust, particularly in the muffler that vaporizes (steam) when heated by the hot exhaust air. When you get a chance, take your baby for a long drive - Vegas? He-he-he.

Since the CEL turned on, it would be better to have the car scanned for codes. Make sure you get a printout of fault code, if any.

[TeflonViper]

I wanted to give a brief update on my situation. It turns out that the valve seals were only part of the problem.....the other part was my valve cover--which needed to be replaced. After replacing the valve cover everything seems to be running great and even though the car ran very well before, I seemed to have picked up more power. The CEL was some random valve that seemed to be malfunctioning (VS valve?), but I had my mechanic check it out and it hasn't thrown the code since. So I will hold tight and see if it happens again. Anyway, all is well in I35-land and hopefully it'll stay that way. Thanks for the suggestion, loystock!

[loystock]

I'm glad things worked out for you.

[NutriaforBreakfast]

Next time you change your plugs, check to see if there isany oil on the coil packs

That way you can double check they did a good job changingthe seals in the valve cover. If there is oil on them, the sealsshould be changed. They are made of a real hard plastic andmust be installed properly in the holes