micfly83

Alright so I just bought my new 95 camaro and am loving it.

There is a slight issue though.

When I begin to drive from a dead stop I sometimes get this whitish smoke that comes out the back.

Most of the time it happens when I dont give it enough gas and its sorta bogging down.

My gas mileage isn't great right now. I drove about 120 miles on the highway and about 120 miles in the city, and its at about 17 mpg. That seems about average but I thought the highway would bump it up some into the 20s since I have the manual.

Any ideas of a solution. I was thinking it was the catalytic converter....or maybe it just needs a tune, because maybe its running rich.

The day I bought it a lot of white smoke would come out the back just from revin it, now its kinda gone down some, but its still there

Any input?

usredzcamaro

dude its a headgasket most likely........take the palm of ur hand and put it right behind the exhaust pipe and have someone rev it up for awhile then see if it smells like coolant. But white smoke out of the exhaust is not a good sign and is def an indicator of a bad headgasket. Ive done one before on my 93 z28 and I can tell u its a pain in the ***. A shop is gonna charge you $2000 to do both. For 2 good headgaskets itll only cost you like $80-$100 but the labor is a good few days if u kno what your doing and have the right tools. If you need any help or anything else I used to work at a chevy dealership and I own 2 Z28's and a corvette and know how to do pretty much everything on them. Good luck

micfly83

The engine was rebuilt 13,000 miles ago and my father doesn't think thats the issue.

Doesn't smell like coolant.

And it doesn't happen all the time.

StephenDeli22

White smoke is either coolant or oil. Coolant is really white and oil is kinda whitish-blue hard to describe. Could be a head gasket, burnt rings, bad pcv maybe. Does the car lose oil or coolant? You might want to do a leakdown/compression test to see what the problem might be.

micfly83

So no votes on the cat or bad 02 sensor

StephenDeli22

Im not sure why it could be a cat. A bad o2 sensor could cause the car to run rich, but that would blow dark smoke.

micfly83

Well when I first bought it was a lot worse.

Its progressivley gotten better, but its still there. Which makes it hard to believe its a head gasket.

Also when I turn on the car I can sometimes hear sort of a clanky noise coming from under the car. (possible cat problem)

micfly83

I'm in florida.

sick-1

could be the gasket in the throttle body leaking coolent and sucking it right down the runners, i had that problem first time i changed throttle bodies. O2 or cat doesnt cause a engine to smoke white. could smoke black if it is running to rich which it sounds like it is since your gas mileage is poor, my z with a fully built 383 heads/cam gets about 23 on the highway, and got about 27 when it was
stock.

BassProCamaro97

When I first bought my 97 Z I had the head gasket go out within a year. It blew white smoke but only a little when you were on the throttle. If you didn't know what it was a symptom of, you could easily mistake it for nothing. The dead give aways are, the car always smells like coolant, losing coolant from the radiator, rock hard upper radiator hose, and gas in the oil. Check your dipstick and see if it smells like there is gas in the pan.

How does the car feel? seem low on power? not what expected?

If there is white smoke it is a coolant problem not a fuel problem, check all gaskets. Head, intake, and throttlebody. One of these will lead you to your problem. If not then Elvis is dumping coolant in your gas tank.
I hope this gives you a little better idea of what you can do to solve your problem.

~Jim~

WS Sick

Does it puff when you first start it up?

I'll bet you have multiple true issues, but I think the white smoke could be valveguide seals, or worn valveguides.

To eliminate the head gasket or any water for that matter simply keep a constant eye on your water resevoir. If it constantly goes down and is needing topped off then there is an internal leak somewhere most likely a head gasket. If that is water coming down the exhaust pipe, your cat is dead as well.

kainZ

Dude, the cat can't turn your exhaust white.

White smoke = water / coolant.
Blue smoke = oil.
Black smoke = carbon (too much gas).

News flash, your dad might not know what he's talking about. Head gasket leaks don't have to be severe, and they can vary with load, temperature, etc.

You should look into it though, before it becomes worse and you end up with hydrolock one day...