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Hello, my name is Randall and I own a 1992 convertible mustang. The problem is that whenever I drive long distance and park my car. I can see smoke coming from under my hood and also underneath my car too. I believe most of the smoke is coming from the exhaust near the motor. I'm thinking that I may have a oil leak and its hitting something hot to cause it to smoke. Maybe, I need to replace the whole exhaust. I already replaced the valve cover gasket because I figure the oil leak is coming from there. Anyways, I'm just running out of ideas and I hate to sell/trade my mustang. Thanks for any help or advice
Friend the best way to solve this is to look close under the car and see where the smoke comes from. It may be just a piece of insulation being to close to the exhaust at some point. If you have fixed the oil leak it will take a while for the oil to burn off.
Check your intake gasket at the front and back sides of the block and at the corners.
Also check the rear main seal, and see if the oil is hitting the exhaust pipes.
Maybe when the engine is cool, give it a steam bath until all the oil is gone, then run it for a little bit, watch and see where there's any fresh oil seeping from the engine.
What color is the smoke, what does it smell like? Antifreeze smells sort of like maple syrup, oil generally has a more bitter smell.
Replacing the exhaust won't do anything for this problem.
Make sure your PCV system is keeping a vacuum on the crankcase, take the oil fill cap loose with the engine running, it should be held on when it's loose by a vacuum, if it pushes away as soon as it's unscrewed, your PCV is plugged and this will aggravate any oil leaks.
What distance can you drive without the smoke, like 3-4 miles or less?
Hello, my name is Randall and I own a 1992 convertible mustang. The problem is that whenever I drive long distance and park my car. I can see smoke coming from under my hood and also underneath my car too. I believe most of the smoke is coming from the exhaust near the motor. I'm thinking that I may have a oil leak and its hitting something hot to cause it to smoke. Maybe, I need to replace the whole exhaust. I already replaced the valve cover gasket because I figure the oil leak is coming from there. Anyways, I'm just running out of ideas and I hate to sell/trade my mustang. Thanks for any help or advice
Valve cover gaskets is your most likely culprit.
That said, there's no real way for any of us to do anything but guess. You've got to pop the hood and look. If you can't see anything or figure it out, take it to a mechanic you trust.
Leaking valve cover gaskets are a common problem, I even had one oil soak my clutch! I went through two sets of gaskets until I bought the solid reusable ones that are rubber coated metal. Haven't had an issue since then. But you do need to figure out where the smoke is coming from. Check all of your fluids, something has to be getting lower to cause the smoke. If it were your exhaust, you would hear it.
Others gave good advice, you basically have to find the leak. A rear main seal would be something to check out given where you think it is coming from and would be a pretty typical thing to have go. Overall, the valve cover gaskets are generally the most likely culprits. Even though you already replaced them, you may have some warping that is allowing even the new set to leak. If you determine that is still coming from the valve covers, then you might just need to invest in a better set of gaskets. I would start off by having the whole engine cleaned and then looking and seeing where the oil is coming from. Just be warned that if it's a bad leak, cleaning the engine may actually exacerbate the problem. All of that built up crust can actually help plug up an otherwise large leak. So, be prepared to park the car or make an immediate repair after you clean the motor.
I would say the smoke is a light color kinda like a fog and I don't think it smells anything like maple syrup. I believe its more of a bitter smell. What does PCV stand for?
So, I need to remove the oil cap and see if stays in place or gets pushed away? Then, if gets pushed away, my PCV is plugged? I usually drive from Woodland, WA to Vancouver and thats when I notice my car smoking. I don't think it will smoke if I drive less than 5 miles. I will have to try take some pictures to show you guys what I'm talking about and show you where I think the smoke is coming from.
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Originally Posted by M3 Mitch
What color is the smoke, what does it smell like? Antifreeze smells sort of like maple syrup, oil generally has a more bitter smell.
Replacing the exhaust won't do anything for this problem.
Make sure your PCV system is keeping a vacuum on the crankcase, take the oil fill cap loose with the engine running, it should be held on when it's loose by a vacuum, if it pushes away as soon as it's unscrewed, your PCV is plugged and this will aggravate any oil leaks.
What distance can you drive without the smoke, like 3-4 miles or less?
PCV = Positive Crankcase Ventilation, system that draws blow-by from the crankcase into the intake, been standard since about 1963 in one form or another. So, yeah, if you loosen the oil fill cap, or the dipstick for that matter, with the engine running, if they tend to suck back in the PCV is working, if they tend to blow away it's probably plugged.
What you describe sounds like oil smoke.
Maybe the leak only leaks significantly once your oil gets hot and relatively thin. If you can only go 5 miles without having the smoke that's what I think.
Do you think I simply need a new PCV valve to fix the problem? I took a look under my hood and I can see that its pretty well old and it looks like its been burned or something. It should be an easy fix if thats the case
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