Car Smokes a little?

[camarostripes96]

i have a 96 firebird trans am lt1 5.7L and the cats went out in it so i replaced them, and i know atleast 1 spark plug maybe 2 is out because it missing a little, and whenever my car hasnt been cranked all day and i go out to crank it , a little white smoke comes out the tail pipe when ever i rev it up a little and then it doesnt smoke no more! Could that be from my spark plugs or wire bad, or do u have any ideas what it could be???

[93lt1vette]

possiply leading valve seals alowing a small amount of engine oil into the cylnder when the engine is off.

[Chad97z]

White smoke is probably water or antifreeze getting into the cylinder after it sits a while. Then it's burned off and no more smoke. I had a little problem like that. Head gasket slowly got worse and worse. It became hard to start as more water entered the cylinder over night. Then when I tried to start it, since water doesnt compress like air, then it tried to lock up. The very first sign I had was I kept adding a little bit of water to the radiator and it never leaked out. So I was perplexed as to where it was going. =)

http://www.trustmymechanic.com/troubleshoot_smoke.htm

[camarostripes96]

ok well every morning i get up i cranks right up no problem, well last night it rained and i got up this morning to go to the store and when i tried to crank it , it just kept turning over and over and would sputter a little, Well after about 5 or 6 trying to crank it up , it finally cranked up and sputtered and alot of smoke came out the exhaust but when i started giving it gas it like warmed up and started working fine now, could that be my spark plug wires or optispark getting wet causing that from the rain?

[camarostripes96]

let me know need some help

[Chad97z]

well, that was how my car ran in the beginning of the problem. It didn’t lock up at first, because it was able to burn off the small amount water in the cylinder when it started. It ran rough for about a minute or 2 then smoothed out as the water burned off. Then as the internal leaking got worse, more water entered the cylinder over night when the engine cooled. And then the locking up occurred and I stopped and had to fix it.

I find it hard to believe that an electrical problem could cause a white smoky exhaust.

Are you getting an SES light?

Have you checked your radiator fluid level?

I also once had a bad injector and when it was sticking, one cylinder was misfiring and the engine would lope. I got an SES light and it said I had a bad injector. So while the engine was loping and the misfire was happening, I put on my stethoscope and listened to each injector. All were clicking but the #7. So I replaced it and its all fine now. But my car never smoked even with a bad injector. So even if your car is misfiring due to a spark problem, I don't see how that would cause smoke. Because when all cylinders are exploding, it doesn't smoke right? Then why would it smoke if it was not exploding? There must be something else burning with your fuel mixture.

[mysticZ]

Am I the only one having a hard time reading the last post?

[Chad97z]

I fixed it

[93lt1vette]

ok well every morning i get up i cranks right up no problem, well last night it rained and i got up this morning to go to the store and when i tried to crank it , it just kept turning over and over and would sputter a little, Well after about 5 or 6 trying to crank it up , it finally cranked up and sputtered and alot of smoke came out the exhaust but when i started giving it gas it like warmed up and started working fine now, could that be my spark plug wires or optispark getting wet causing that from the rain?


it is unlikly that rain water could get into your OPTI unless it was a flood or the hood was off the car. OTPI is fairly well sealed and on 96 has the air purge system using the intake mnfld vac

[camarostripes96]

well it was all doing fine until about 3 weeks ago whenever i went into a laser car wash , and as soon as u pull in the laser wash it shoots water under your motor for an underbody flush! Well as soon as the water started spraying on the motor the engine died and wouldnt crank for a second so i am thinking its got to be something electrical, like bad wires or opti spark!! and about a week after that i changed my thermostat out and anti freeze got on my optispark, so thats the only thing i can think that it could be man!!! u get where i am coming from? i heard once u get them wet like that , they aint worth a damn

[93lt1vette]

if you got anti freeze in the OPTI its destroyed. anti freeze is about the worst thing to get into an electircal component. I have had friends whose water pump seals failed and got the OPTI wet with coolant and it is not good

[camarostripes96]

so u think thats why it doesnt want to start for a second after it rains? and could bad wires be getting moisture in them whenever it rains ?

[93lt1vette]

in relation to your poor after rain starting characteristics no i dont think the coolant had much to do with it just be advised if any got in the opti once the corrosion gets bad enough the opti will be fryed. now opti is sealed but that car is ten years old

bad wires letting in moisture posible the only problem I see with the wires being the porblem is this the water shouldnt leave the wire just because you started the car they don't get hot enough to boil the water and evaporation should take longer than a few seconds

if there was moisture in the opti that could be the problem since opti has and air purge system that would remove the moisture once the engine was started.