Puff of smoke

29th August 2007, 15:58

When starting the car first thing there is a little puff of smoke from the exhaust.....i mean little and then nothing apart from the cold start condensation.........no other smoke when idling/driving etc......

My theory is stem seals but with only a little bit of smoke is this worth worrying about???

29th August 2007, 16:21

personally if its just a tiny puff i would just leave it and deal with it if it gets worse. jsut do a couple of checks e.g check the rocker cover cap and coolant cap for gunk to make sure the headgasket is ok and check for oil leaks etc... to make sure thats all ok and if fine jsut let it be as it may be fine for ages unless u got cash then u could rip it apart now but its probably unessasary if its just a little puff. is the engine millage high? is the smoke white or blue? white indicates water/coolant burning, blue would indicate oil burning. The oil can be comming in from either the piston rings or the valve stem seals as you suggested, Peronally i to think its more likely the valve stem seals.

EDIT: Spelling doah!!