dodge69874

I don't even know anymore. Frankly, this car is turning into a big PITA. It's embarrassing to drive, starts smoking at every light. I was going to have the head rebuilt, but now I'm scared that I'll have that done and they'll tell me I gotta rebuild the engine. 'cause frankly I don't have enough money for that, and most likely won't until maybe September. I can't see myself driving this thing around for another 7 months. Ever since I've had this car, it's never been good. It started with an a/c compressor problem that was never fixed right. Then the burnt up spark plug wires causing a misfire. Now this. I think if someone were to offer me maybe $2k for the car, I wouldn't even think twice about it. As much as I would love to get her into good condition, I really don't think it's worth the trouble. Maybe I should have just saved up for the LS1, even if it would have been maybe $5k more.

I honestly think she's worth more in parts than as a whole, but I have no place to store her to strip her down. So, even there I'm f---ed.

Injuneer

What does the smoke smell like - burnt like oil dripping on the exhaust manifold, or sweet like coolant boiling on the exhaust manifold?

chevy_dude97

if there is oil on the headers it would smoke, same for coolant or ps fluid ect ect.... if your valve covers are leaking onto your headers they will most likely smoke. Is it really dirty under your hood? I would always clean under the hood really really well with like a few rags and some wd40 or some aluminum safe cleaners, avoiding electrical components and there connectors. After its all clean it makes it allot easier to find oil leaks.

and if it was coolant leaking it would smoke if it got on there also. the easiest way to find a coolant leak would be to pressurize the system with one of those radiator pressure kits you can loan from chucks or where ever. They also loan compression testers as well. These are very good tools to have in your garage.
My grandpa always said if you don't have the tool to fix it, you have to pay someone who has the tool to fix it.

as for the oil pressure when I went thru an engine repair class my teacher told us a general rule for oil pressure he said all you really need is 10psi for every 1k RPM. Not sure how this works for these motors but he was a pretty knowledgeable dude.

dodge69874

Wow, want a pansy I was at 4:51PM. It's not even that bad. I'll clean it up and see if I can find the leak. All I know is the smoke is coming straight from the back passengers side of the engine, near the headers. Maybe it's a leak, and it's just gotten worst with time. 'cause it has gotten worse and now it smokes up soon after I start up the car. And from the bottom a good portion of stuff is covered in what seems to be oil. I shall check oil levels again tomorrow and if I have time I will clean everything under the hood up a bit.

But yeah, I shouldn't be complaining. It still drives fine. And I mean, what did I expect buying a 16 year old car. Especially a performance car which was probably abused for most of it's life. Whatever it is, even if the engine does need a rebuild, I'll just try to make it last long enough for me to get the money for a rebuild. Once I do get enough money, I shall take it to a dealer or reputable shop to see if they can find out what the problem is. If it seems to be the valve cover leaking or something, then I shall have the heads rebuilt and cam put in. If they tell me it's toast, then I shall save up enough and have it rebuilt.

Thanks for the help guys. Great website with great people on here.

dodge69874

I think I finally found the culprit to the smoke screen problem I've been having. There's nasty *** about 1/8 inch size hole in my dipstick holder which is right next to the headers. I believe once the oil pressure rises, it starts leaking out of there onto the headers and causing the nonstop smoke. And since oil pressure rises and drops with rpms, so does the amount of smoke coming out.

bw_hunter

The oil in the dipstick area, and the crankcase, isn't under pressure. Well it is, from the pumping action of the pistons, especially when the pcv valve is bad but not pressure of much significance. If the crankcase were pressurized oil would come out of the dipstick tube under normal operation. The logic doesn't fit...

Oil may be finding it's way up and out the tube but it sure shouldn't be shooting out onto the headers...

dodge69874

Yeah, I just did some reading on the subject.

http://www.ls1lt1.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36061

Should I maybe replace the oil dipstick and PCV valve, or should I run it with the oil filler cap off and see if it puffs smoke and if so, then save up for a rebuild?

bw_hunter

Since te dipstick tube has a hole in it, I certainly would throw a new one in there. Then I'd pull the PCV valve out and inspect it. Shake it, it should rattle. Either way, replace it..it's cheap enough. Then run the engine with the oil cap off and look for blow by...

chevy_dude97

i second changing tube.... if it has a hole and it shouldn't it usually means its broken....
changing the pcv is also a good thing, you don't want that type of pressure down there as you probably would have leaking vlv covers as well from the pressure. Clean her up and look for the leaks and if it runs fine save the money for gas rather then rebuild anything not requiring it. Just my .02