why is it smoking?

[krakakru21]

my motor (f22a4) has been smoking white/gray smoke upon start up for about 6-8 months but recently it has been doing it while i drive. so my question is it is the valve stem seals or the head gasket? i just replaced the seals for the spark plug grommets. i am going through a quart of oil every two weeks. please let me know

[NutBucket]

If it was the head gasket you'd see oil in the water and vice versa.

[alb_accord]

it does this everytime u start the car in the morning and after 1 min it stops. lol.
might be the vavle seals($300)
might be the piston rings($1500)
before doing anywork u have to do a presure check on the pistons. if u don't know how just search here. i am sure someone posted a thread on how to do a cilinder preasure check. uh read the maual too. if u can't find any findings or don't have a manual which u should(great help) then ask and i will tell u how to do it.

[mrhonda]

Sounds like valve stem seals to me. Best way to check is to do a leak down test. Set #1 at TDC and remove the spark plug. screw in the leakage tester into the spark plug hole and fill with air. The leakage tester will give you a percentage of leakage. A good motor is usually between 10-20%. To find out where it is leaking at; (bubbles in coolant - blown head gasket, air heard from intake manifold or exhaust - bent valves) remove the oil cap and listen for escaping air, this indicates worn piston rings. If no air is heard, the likely culprit is the valve guides. (repeat step one on 3, 4, and 2)

[krakakru21]

yeah it only does it when i first start it up after like 5 hours or more of sitting. it does it and then stops after i say the cylinder clears it all away. it does it only on start up. if it is a cold morning it takes a little longer to go away. my shop is going to do a leak down and pressure check tomorrow. i have already bought the valve stem seals so i hope that is it. there is no water in my oil and i have checked the antifreeze level and that is fine. i burn a quart of oil every two weeks or so.is there a way before i start it in the morning i can take out the spark plugs and i can see the oil in the cylinders? i am pretty sure that is the problem but i don't want to spend more money and waste more time than i have too.

[alb_accord]

it all depends man. if it's not the seals then one or more piston ring is fryed. then u are seeing major engine work. u are better off on swaping the engine in a junk jard or someplace else. just shop around. then u can take ur time on rebuilding the old engine if u are into those stuff

[mrhonda]

The only problem with just swapping the engine, is who knows if the new one is any better? I'm definately thinking valve guides, especially since it is only smoking at initial start-up. If the rings were bad it would be burning oil all the time. Valve job with new valve guide seals should take care of it.

[alb_accord]

lol that is what i thought on my car too. it smoked a lot in the morning. then the #1 piston broke my exaust valve. ok so i was driving around with 3 cilinders and guess what. with three cilinders the car didn't smoke in the morning.
so u might say that the vavle seals where bad on that #1 piston.
the thing is it smoked with two diffrent head engines which meant that the piston ring on #1 had a crack which mean oil consumption and a lot of smoke in the morning.
so here is what u do if u wanna find out what is wrong with u car man. conpresion test is the only one that can tell u if u got folty vavle seals or if u need new piston rings. so don't wait and get a conpresion test. it will show u what is wrong with u car

[krakakru21]

if i was to do a compression test or a leak down what should the pressure be in the cylinders? compared to it would be if the seals were bad.

[alb_accord]

i don't really know man. the only thing that i am sure is that the numbers that u should from the readings should not be far apart. the numbers should be close to eachother. just do a search in here man.

[krakakru21]

replaced the valve stem seals this past weekend and it still smokes so that could be only one thing and that is the piston rings are fried. i am going to do a compression test today to see if that is it.

[92cord]

I was just wondering if you did the compression check and what was causing the smoke.

[krakakru21]

my piston rings are gone. instead of replacing the rings i am just going to swap in a f22b1 vtec. i have it sitting in my back yard so i am going to put it in.