My car smokes ALOT at idle and at startup....

Redlineshftr · 10-31-2005, 04:14 PM

Well, she smokes alot when warming up. Only after I drive hard does the smoke go away. It takes about 1 minute for it to start smoking again at idle. I dont know if it could be worn valve guides? or maybe rings? Im not sure this is my first 911. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Mike

DW SD · 10-31-2005, 04:19 PM

Is there a chance your oil is overfilled? That alone can cause smoke. Check oil when hot and engine running on flat level ground. Use the dipstick rather than gauge. If the oil level is correct, then valve guides and rings are both a possibility.

Redlineshftr · 10-31-2005, 04:28 PM

im actually low on oil! Prob fro mburning it off so much. My Carbs are out of synch too but I dont think that they are much of the problem.

DW SD · 10-31-2005, 04:58 PM

Are there oil leaks which are dropping oil onto the exhaust? That would account for some smoke, too. Are you sure it is oil? Oil burns blue (when it is sucked through the valve guides or rings), rich mixture burns more black.

Also, if the valve guides are bad, the smoking is worst under engine braking decelerating from high speed. Maybe a decel from 90mph to 55 in fourth gear. That should throw off plenty of blue smoke if it is the guides.

Doug

Redlineshftr · 10-31-2005, 05:44 PM

yeah im sure its oil smoke, thanks for the tip on the 90 to 55. Ill try that tom I dont want to hit a kid tonight!

Redlineshftr · 10-31-2005, 07:22 PM

stupid me I should have mentioned that the engine was rebuilt two owners ago and probably driven less than 200 miles. I've heard that a newly rebuilt engine will smoke but I didn't think it was this bad!

Early_S_Man · 10-31-2005, 08:11 PM

Mike,

Chances are about 95% that the oil is in the muffler and heat exchangers, not burning in the engine ... hence your spark plugs will be clean and not oil-fouled! Pull the plugs to see ...

If you pull the muffler, and find oil will drip out the inlets when tilted upwards to 45° - 60° ... rinse out with Varsol or similar solvent. Let air dry for a couple of days, and reinstall. A good highway run to dry it out and burn off the last of the oil residue should only take a couple of hours!

Hugh R · 10-31-2005, 08:26 PM

I'm no pcar expert, but a simple test is to do a compression test and check the readings, if all with in spec. Inject some light oil and retest. If compression goes up, its the rings that are bad. If not, it might be the valve guides. A manifold vacuum gauge will tell alot, check the instructions on how to read, and interpret a vacuum gauge, I'm kind of rusty.

Redlineshftr · 11-01-2005, 08:31 AM

Early S- thanks for the tip Im gonna pull the plugs today and check out whats goin on in the exhaust.

Hugh- I had a local shop check the compression when i first purchased the car and my mechanic said the numbers were fine. Would the vaccuum guage show worn valve guides?