why is my car smoking?

xci.ed6 said:

Does it give you an extra 'poof' of smoke when you start it cold?

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It is currently raining, but when it is a nice dry day out I will get a cold start video.

xci.ed6 said:

Does it give you an extra 'poof' of smoke when you start it cold?

Click to expand...

i started it today, however i did not video it. after letting it warm up , it threw code 73(cylinder 3 misfire).... i assume that is where the oil burning issue is coming from.

It has new spark plugs in it, and i cleaned them like 2 days ago, so those are ruled out.

only things i could think of is ; clogged injector(unlikely) , valve adjustment , or spark plug wire.

what are you thinking?

i took dizzy cap off, as well as the #3 spark plug wire.

cleaned dizzy cap(corrosion on inside - not terrible, and on # 3, and #4 on the outside were corroded.) , and electric taped the whole #3 spark plug wire to eliminate resistance/voltage drop.

seems to run on all four cylinders now. didn't reset ecu but ran just fine, with smoke of course.

i am resetting ecu currently. will get a cold start video today or tomorrow.

it ran beautifully , but still smoked before i reset the ecu.

now - after resetting the ecu - it is back on 3 cylinders i believe(no code set), and blows smoke still - ofcourse, just my luck.

Like I said. Oil rings.

Try seafoam. In your gas!

It cleans the oil rings, then they work.

I've got a friend with an '81 Civic, he's the original owner! He was burning ~1qt per 1000 miles. He tried my idea, 2 tanks. Finished the last tank of tweaked gas (he ran 2) awhile back & changed the oil. He told me today, NO LEVEL CHANGES since then!

His car with my car

what color is the smoke maybe your burning oil or coolant is getting threw your headgasket

okay, so i have ran 1 can of seafoam thru the gas tank so far. I also put "BARDAHLS no smoke " in the oil .

started running better, still smoking, not as bad, but still smoking.

drove 70 miles, and then CEL for o2 sensor and cylinder 3 misfire.

so i grabbed a few spark plug wires at the junkyard to try on the car.

I put one on last night, cleared the code, and started the car.

I let it run for about 3 minutes, came back to it , and there was oil pooling , so I shut it off.

I immediately looked at the VC, and oil pan. no leaks there or on the oil filter.

It was coming from the driver/timing side of the engine.

From what i have looked up , it is most likely the balance shaft seal popped out due to not having a retainer?

I will pull the VC off and the upper timing cover and inspect. But that's my update....

Yup, a seal failure most likely.

I would not use one of the 'stop-leak' additives, they usually are thicker, or get thicker, damaging other bits (accelerating wear). Like that seal.

Well, I did use ATF stop leak...in a leaky floor jack it hasn't leaked in 3 years! But I would not use it in a car.

xci.ed6 said:

Yup, a seal failure most likely.

I would not use one of the 'stop-leak' additives, they usually are thicker, or get thicker, damaging other bits (accelerating wear). Like that seal.

Well, I did use ATF stop leak...in a leaky floor jack it hasn't leaked in 3 years! But I would not use it in a car.

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I usually don't use stuff like that , but a friend had recommended it. I used to to thicken up the oil because someone had said maybe 5w-20 was too thin. obviously the additive made it way too thick.