White smoke. Pls help.

[Fred]

Noticed white smoke from crankcase vent. hose + oil dipstick yesterday. Anyone familiar with the problem? I'm new to these machines. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Ps. No overheating probs or strange rpm, recently drove 800 km.

[nas80]

Valve stem seals probably

[Jeroen]

White smoke from the crankcase vent wouldn't alarm me right away. Could be condensation, aged motor oil. White smoke from the exhaust after warm up could be an indication for a blown head gasket but if you don't have white smoke, no sludge under your oil fill cap, on the oil dipstick or in your radiator and or coolant tank and no cold idle or warm temperature problems there probably isn't much to worry.

[Fred]

Thanks. The motor oil is recently changed. No white smoke from exhaust except small amounts on start up. No sludge on oilstick/cap but it's leaking small amounts of oil from the cap plus it's a bit hard to start up when cold (car got manual choke). Could this be related somehow?

Also, got no heat in the car.

[Jeroen]

Did you have your coolant changed recently? Could be an air pocket in the cooling system. This may be related (then the average garage should be able to diagnose exhaust fumes in the cooling system), or not at all (caused by refreshing collant, heather valve stuck or cable broken).

So all 'n all it could be serious or not-so-serious. I'd habe the cooling system en exhaust gasses analyzed and with a possible air pocket you may not have any flow in your cooling system so I'd have this sorted before going for a long drive, especially on a hot day. Overheating the engine may ruin the head.

[Fred]

When switching to a manual choke, one hose came loose and most coolant leaked out so I had to fill it up. It's very possible I got an air pocket. Do you know how to easily get rid of it?

The oil leak is an "old" problem, though. Can't understand why it likes to push out the oil through the filler cap.

I really appreciate your help! Rookie as I am on these old cars.

[Jeroen]

I just added the following on bleeding in the FAQ section:

Bleeding the coolant system (getting the air out)
The 4 cil versions are all filled directly at the radiator. Level should be just below rad top, any excess will be expelled through the cap (overpressure). There is no bleed screw on the 4 cil models. Perform all coolant system work including bleeding with the interior heating fully opened.

Getting rid of the air in the system: run the engine warm, squeeze the two large rad hoses tight several times, at the same time. Better use gloves and watch out for the fan blade. Keep watching the temp gauge for extreme overheating if there's no flow at all.

As for the oil fill cap, perhaps the seal needs replacing? Sadly it is not available from the dealer separately.

[Fred]

No, the seal on oil cap seems to be intact. I will try the bleeding procedure later on, thanks. Currently, the car is in the garage and needs other attention also. Always pleanty of things to do with a 36 year old car in timeworn condition.

[Reck]

Jack the front of the car up when bleeding helps too I found.