Smoking from 1 side only..What is it?

[Andy]

Morning CAC...A friend and fellow club member (BarryK)was following me home from the Ocean City, NJ show yesterday and noticed that my drivers side only exhaust seemed to be smoking a bit. Passenger side exhaust was fine. Any ideas why that would be happening? (sigh)....

Thanks..

Andy

 

[Ripp 73]

I need a quick reminder. Do you have true dual exhaust or is it still stock where the exhaust manifold goes into a single Cat and then out to two mufflers? If you do have duals do they connect at any point to each other or are they true duals where each muffler is only carrying four cylinders?

 

[Andy]

Thanks...


It is a true dual exhaust...I would suspect a possible valve going, but she is due for an oil change..Going to use a thicker oil and possibly a Lucas type addative...

Thanks..

Andy

I need a quick reminder. Do you have true dual exhaust or is it still stock where the exhaust manifold goes into a single Cat and then out to two mufflers? If you do have duals do they connect at any point to each other or are they true duals where each muffler is only carrying four cylinders?

 

[BarryK]

Andy

I emailed back with this question but now i see you answred it. with a true dual exhaust and a dual plane manifold I suspect the issue is only on one bank of the motor.
might be a valve seal - hopefully that's all because I don't think a seal is all that major of a job and can be repalced with the head still on. Otherwise it could be a bad ring.

 

[jdp6000]

What color is the smoke?

Jim

 

[BarryK]

the best I could determine seeing it was that it was a darker grayish color maybe.

 

[jdp6000]

Well...oil is blue. Could it simple be condensation in that pipe? Could be a spark plug is fouled. Are you lossing oil or coolant? Is it always smoking? On acceleration? At deceleration? At idle???

Jim

 

[BarryK]

yep, oil is blue smoke so I don't know what it was - only that I saw smoke from that one side coming from his pipe. I just remembered and will correct my previous post. While it SEEMED to be a dark grayish color, I was wearing dark sunglasses at the time while driving behind him so the tinting on the sunglasses may have prevented me from judging the color of the smoke accurately. I suppose it's possible the smoke was blue but with the sunglasses I was wearing I can't swear by the color either way - only that i definately saw smoke coming from that one pipe and not the other.
Couldn't be condensation as i noticed it driving behind him for almost 2 hours and it was there the whole trip. Condensation would be gone after it came up to operating temp.
i noticed it coming from his car both at idle and during driving. Not very sure one way or the other if it increased significantly on acceleration or not.

 

[jdp6000]

I guess someone will have to take another look. If it was continuous I don't think its oil unless its blue in color. It could be a bad plug or wire. My car has done this on occation...then stops....but I don't have true duals.

Jim

 

[Jack]

No "blue-blocker" or other tinted lenses when trying to read smoke.
Could be something as simple as a leaking intake manifold gasket ... sucking oil from lifter valley into an intake port (blue) ... or ... sucking water/coolant from head-end water ports into an intake port (white/gray). Need to read the smoke color closely, check s plug color/condition, look at oil for water contamination, check coolant for oil contamination.
JACK:gap

 

[vette-dude]

Is the car an Auto.? If so you might check and see if the vacuum line that goes to the modulator has trans fluid in it. Sometimes the diaphram goes south in the modulator valve (the one on the rear of the trans case) and it will suck trans fluid into the intake and it will blow blue/gray smoke. I realize you have true duals and it should come out both exhaust pipes but that is not always the case. Just a suggestion and if you have a manual forget I said anything!!


Randy

 

[Andy]

Another comment from another person following me DOWN to the show was that the car was NOT smoking, but the fuel mixture smelled rich....Putting that out their as well.

Thanks everyone..Really helps!!!!

Andy

Is the car an Auto.? If so you might check and see if the vacuum line that goes to the modulator has trans fluid in it. Sometimes the diaphram goes south in the modulator valve (the one on the rear of the trans case) and it will suck trans fluid into the intake and it will blow blue/gray smoke. I realize you have true duals and it should come out both exhaust pipes but that is not always the case. Just a suggestion and if you have a manual forget I said anything!!


Randy

 

[jdp6000]

I was going to suggest the rich mixture thing as well. If your not burning clean you will get smoke.

I think it will be easy for you to figure it out. first is the smoke blue or not? Second are you lossing oil or coolant. If the answer to these previous questions is no then I would say check your plugs,wires and distributor components. I think that if it was carb related you would be smoking from both pipes.

Maybe try decorbonizing. Buy a cleaner at a local automotive shop. Spray it into the carb and see if there is a change. Or change the plugs, I don't know about yours but mine are a real pain to get to thats why I suggested to decarbonize first.

Jim

 

[Andy]

OK....Went ahead and changed plug#4...It was filthy....That MAY have been the culprit. When she was started after the plug was changed, NO SMOKE< NOTHING!! Went ahead yesterday and changed the oil..6 quart system and substituted 1 quart for a lucas additive. Hopefully that will also help the problem. I had a small "miss" as well that I couldn't figure out...the plug cured that one..(duh...)

As far as the smell of a rich mixture. I simply keep an eye and a (nose) out for that...She is running PURRRFECTLY right now....I don't want to mess with a good thing at the moment....

Hope this is the end of the thread....

Andy

I was going to suggest the rich mixture thing as well. If your not burning clean you will get smoke.

I think it will be easy for you to figure it out. first is the smoke blue or not? Second are you lossing oil or coolant. If the answer to these previous questions is no then I would say check your plugs,wires and distributor components. I think that if it was carb related you would be smoking from both pipes.

Maybe try decorbonizing. Buy a cleaner at a local automotive shop. Spray it into the carb and see if there is a change. Or change the plugs, I don't know about yours but mine are a real pain to get to thats why I suggested to decarbonize first.

Jim

 

[jdp6000]

Fingers crossed....

Jim

 

[allcoupedup]

One plug filthy with the others OK indicates you have a problem. A new plug is a temporary fix. I'd recommend a compression test for starters - will tell you if you have a ring issue. If rings are good, I'd suspect valve guides or hopefully just a valve seal.

Brian