Will or Could Leaking Valve Covers Cause Exhaust Smoke?
It's not happening all the time, but every so often after driving the car for about 20 minutes I will get a small cloud of bluish/grey after idling, sitting at a traffic light etc. Odd thing is, I am running Royal Purple on a 81k engine and have NOT had to add a single drop of oil since changing the oil 2-3 months ago.
This is also didnt appear to start happening until I changed from castrol dyno oil to Full Syn Royal Purple, and getting offroad pipes.
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98 GT Fully Loaded, Black on Black with leather. 01 Bullitt Rims, BBK Cold Air Induction, Steeda Pulleys, MAC Offroad H Pipe, Flowmaster 40s, Crystal Clear Chrome Headlights, Reflective Bumper Inserts
+1....have the same problem once in a while when its hot usually
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01 GT Vert...Black and Tan
CURRENT MODS: JLT Ram Air Intake, UPR o/r X pipe with JBA mufflers and 2.5 in. pipe w/ stock tips, UPR black anodized shift knob w/ OD button relocation kit, B&M tranny cooler, 35% tints all around, Mach 1 chin Spoiler, Red Calipers, Stainless bumper letters, custom badges, Pioneer AVIC-F700BT Touch screen Navigation Unit...more to come
What you may not realize is that synthetic oil is actually thinner than conventional oil. Your valve seals are probably leaking a little oil into the cylinder while at idle. There is debate on when or what mileage it's safe to switch from conv. to synth.. I always was told about 60k miles or more on conv. oil, you shouldn't switch to synth.. You could try switching back to conv. oil, and see if it goes away. But valve cover gasket leak can cause smoke in the engine compartment, from getting on the headers/manifolds. But it won't cause smoke in the exhaust.
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C&L 80mm mass air and True Flow pipe, Mac CAI, BBK 65mm tb, Steeda non-piggy back ud pulleys, MGW shifter, RAM HD clutch and aluminum flywheel, 3:73 gears, 2.5" Dynomax o/r x pipe, 3" MAC cat back system w/ 3 1/2" tips, Kenny Brown(front and rear strut tower brace, caster plates, subframe connectors,extreme matrix brace,jacking rails, torque brace, lowering springs), Bilstein shocks, 03-04 Cobra(side scoops, rear bumper cover, top), 6pt roll cage, white FR500's, FMS 2000 Cobra R air dam.
what you may not realize is that synthetic oil is actually thinner than conventional oil. Your valve seals are probably leaking a little oil into the cylinder while at idle. There is debate on when or what mileage it's safe to switch from conv. To synth.. I always was told about 60k miles or more on conv. Oil, you shouldn't switch to synth.. You could try switching back to conv. Oil, and see if it goes away. But valve cover gasket leak can cause smoke in the engine compartment, from getting on the headers/manifolds. But it won't cause smoke in the exhaust.
the passenger side valve cover was leaking oil onto one of my headers due to a torn valve cover gasket. I had a good plume of smoke coming out of the engine after driving through the city for 10 minutes. i opened the hood to inspect where the smoke was coming from and while i watched the oil on the header ignited and started a small fire. luckily the fire went out after about 3 seconds and didnt cause any damage. (at least none i could see. this happened today at lunch and i had the car towed home.)
the passenger side valve cover was leaking oil onto one of my headers due to a torn valve cover gasket. I had a good plume of smoke coming out of the engine after driving through the city for 10 minutes. i opened the hood to inspect where the smoke was coming from and while i watched the oil on the header ignited and started a small fire. luckily the fire went out after about 3 seconds and didnt cause any damage. (at least none i could see. this happened today at lunch and i had the car towed home.)
so watch out for fires with that leaking oil!
Holy sh*t! That sucks! What was your reaction when you saw flames on your header?!!!!
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'99 GT - My increasingly expensive DIY project car... Vortech V1, Moser 31-spline axles, FRPP diff. w/ 4.10 gears, Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter, Shany Custom pipes, JBA shorty headers, Powerslot rotors, Tokico D-specs, H&R Sport Springs, Steeda Strut Brace, MM X-duty Lower Control Arms, Autometer Phantom Boost and Wideband AFR guage, Custom Rear seat delete, Royal Purple, NGK, BFG
Will or Could Leaking Valve Covers Cause Exhaust Smoke? 
