Seen some smoke!!!

Shane06fl · 10-10-2006, 08:15 PM

Started up my truck this morning for the first time in two days and it had a rough idle. I walked around back and the air was filled with grayish blue smoke. Smelled like gas but was oil smoke. The idle smoothed out after about 10 seconds. I have about 7000 miles on Mobile Extended protection 5w-30and I changed the oil filter at 5000 miles. The truck has 17,500 miles on it. Anyone else seeing smoke with synthetic oil or do ya think the dealer needs a visit. This isn't the first time I have had the rough idle at start but it never concerned me until today.

Yellomantis · 10-10-2006, 08:23 PM

dude, I cant believe you went 7000 miles on oil... Is it really worth chancing your engine to save a few bucks? I never go past 5000 miles on oil, synthetic or not. Your problem could be any number of things. It could be anything from oil leaking by valve seals or possible blow by the oil control rings for some reason.

**konigfritz** · 10-10-2006, 08:27 PM

Mine runs REAL rich when it is cold out. White smoke for a few seconds.

CHANGE THE OIL! Iwouldn't run past 5K on any oil. Esp, in a aluminum block engine. Run standard Mobil one Full syn. I change mine every 4-5K. Engine runs smooth.

**redneckpapa1996** · 10-10-2006, 08:33 PM

I use 10-30 mobil 1 extended (15000) and i change the filter every 5000 and have had great luck with this process...Must be something other than the oil/change choice..Take it to the dealer and get an expert to tell you the problem...

Yellomantis · 10-10-2006, 08:49 PM

Make certian what color the smoke is. If it's blue, it is definately oil. White, its water.

Shane06fl · 10-11-2006, 05:54 AM

The longets oil change interval is 7500 miles for highway miles. This trucks sits all week and gets maybe 100 miles per weekend. Oil is getting changed Thursday before I do a 700 miles trip. No way would I go 15000 miles on oil. I know some fleet companies do it with Sysnthetic oils, not me.

No smoke this morning.

BKW · 10-11-2006, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shane06fl

The longets oil change interval is 7500 miles for highway miles. This trucks sits all week and gets maybe 100 miles per weekend. Oil is getting changed Thursday before I do a 700 miles trip. No way would I go 15000 miles on oil. I know some fleet companies do it with Sysnthetic oils, not me.

No smoke this morning.

One day it smokes like a chimney...the next it doesn't?

Weird

Valve seals could be the cause...I had a Pontiac once that would do that.

Rough idle should be looked at...

Steamguy · 10-11-2006, 12:11 PM

One thing really possible, since you say that it sits most of the time:

Varnish in the fuel injectors. One or more fuel injectors appears to be sticking a little bit, and the engine computer is compensating for that one cylinder not firing right by feeding more fuel to the ones that are firing better. I would bet that it smooths out after a minute or two.

What I would bet is happening, especially when you're not running it much at all is that the fuel dries in the injectors. These newer injectors are of a higher precision than the older ones, and so are prone to minor clogs and what we used to call 'varnish buildup'. Essentially the gas evaporates, leaving behind any impurities, and it's those little bits of impurities that make them sticky and unwilling to work at their best - especially on startup.

I'm going from your clues that you don't run it a lot, then when you do, it's not very far... If it was something more major like valve guides, you'd have this on every cold start, not just intermittently. And it would be just a puff of smoke, not some huge cloud like what you're describing.

So when you start it up to move it 50 feet then shut it down, you're not giving the fuel time to flush out that old junk in the injectors. Likely this happens at the end of a tank of gas in the truck, where there is likely to be more chance for impurities having settled out. At the risk of starting an off-topic swerve, some dealers' fuel can be worse for this. There's a company n the area called Awful Brothers - I tried a tank of gas from them, and WOW, I could not get rid of it fast enough. The truck drove like I'd put kerosene in it.

Older leaded fuels used to cause us real headaches with this; we had a schoolteacher whose '67 Chevy periodically ran like a cement mixer. Modern unleaded fuels can still cause this, but not to such a great extent. But it sounds like you've hit almost the right conditions.

How to fix it? The cheap solution is to warm it up well, and then take it for an "Italian tune-up" by finding a couple on-ramps and flooring it three or four times for 0-80. That should hopefully blow out the old junk. Nissan really doesn't recommend the use of fuel additives, but the only safe one I know of is the ten-buck can of Techroline.

Hope this helps.

Shane06fl · 10-11-2006, 08:52 PM

Steamguy your right. the rough idle has only happened after long sits and cold starts, maybe 3-4 times. this was the first time I seen the smoke and I only seen the smoke because I leaned in to start the truck then I walked around back to load the cooler and the smoke was still hanging around. Had a bad gas smell. No oil is being used according the dip stick. Might be time to ditch the lowest gas in town and run a few tanks of good stuff through it. I will keep an eye on it. Thanks

ibbodyboarder · 10-11-2006, 09:40 PM

I get that rough idle for a couple seconds also. My truck usually sits there for a week until I use it. Sometimes, when I crank it, it kind of sputters then runs perfect. Maybe I should start using it more than my car

titanmike · 10-12-2006, 07:12 PM

the eclipse i had did the same thing if it sat for a week or so without using it. guess you just need to drive more.

Shane06fl · 10-12-2006, 07:22 PM

Drive more it is! Gonna hate it but if it has to be done I guess I will suffer. Stopped today and put a tank of 93oct in it at the Shell Station. Amybe it just a little cleaning out with some cleaner fuel.

Yellomantis · 10-13-2006, 12:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by titanmike

the eclipse i had did the same thing if it sat for a week or so without using it. guess you just need to drive more.

If your eclipse was a gs or an rs it would have done it anyways. They used a dodge neon engine in those models. I had one and could never figure out where the oil was going until one of my friends told me it was spitting out a puff of smoke when I started it. It needed new valve seals and only had 60,000 miles on it.

titanmike · 10-14-2006, 12:28 PM

ya it was the gs with the chrysler 2.0 motor. It has 117,000 miles on it know and it still runs strong. At 110,000 i had to change the head gasket because it leaked oil on the block. I heard they all had this problem. When i had the head off i got the valves redone.

Justintoxicated · 10-20-2006, 09:15 PM

7000 isn't to bad just send in an oil analysis like I did to make sure your truck is doing ok with it.