Smoke at startup?

[Lomancobra]

A couple of times I have noticed some smoke coming out of my exhaust breifly at startup. Not always necessarily a cold start either. The smoke is a blueish white, kinda like burning oil. Everytime I see it, it gets me all worried so I did some reading. I found some threads by "Jerry" describing the problem as the pooling of oil vapors in the cylinders via the PCV valve. This seems like a logical explination, but I was just curious to see how many of you guys/girls are experiencing this phenomena. Thanks

More info available at these links about the PCV valve and a possible solution:

 

[PrinceSlik]

I have that problem on my 01 Cobra. Thought it was bad valve seals.....but i havne't had it checked out yet, my mechanic said that it might not be anything, some cars do it.

 

[MightyMo]

Top down, nice South Carolina afternoon, sun shinning, people admiring my car in the shade.. ahhh what a relaxing lunch hour today..

then I start my baby up, a gentle purr and what? what the? oh damn, smoke!!

how embarassing! 18,000 miles and my smokes like a pack of Pall Mall's
SVT should have a recall
it comes down to quality and maybe after a while even a performance issue?

Hope this thread really takes off and catches somebody's attentions at Ford..

Am I over-reacting?

 

[stangin]

Anoying isnt it?? I have seen it once and I was totally worried and did the research as you have and I found no oil in the pcv or S/C inlet so that is not it, dry as a bone. I think just a little bit gets by the valve seals/guides from time to time and a little puff of blueish smoke is the result. Not much you can do if your S/C inlet is totally dry. I have not seen it other than the one time, but then I am not behind the car to watch for it either.

 

[03DOHC]

Done it twice for me.

 

[nuxx]

My 01 does it about once a week. One out of 40 starts i'd say.
-Peter

 

[MattNCSU]

My Mach1 does it. I'll see it 3 or 4 times a week, but it seems to happen when I run my engine on idle for a few minutes. (I sometimes have to wait in my car for the bus to pick me from the park n' ride to school)
Not too concerned though about it, checked my oil this weekend and it was right on the money.
BTW: I have about 2700 miles on her.

 

[caveman6666]

Could be related to the oil viscosity. That 5W20 is awful thin.

 

[UltimateSVT]

Could be water vapor. Blue smoke is oil and white smoke can be raw fuel or water vapor. Black smoke would be partially burnt fuel. Supercharged motors do eat alittle oil by nature and is nothing to worry about. When you have to put a quart of oil in your motor every 500 miles or less, then I'd worry about it.

 

[03 COBRA SB]

mine has always puffed a little white smoke at start up. Doesn't matter cold, hot, few miles many miles. Oil mark always the same on the dip stick. I would say it is part of having a SC engine.

 

[jordanvraptor]

I just talked to my dealer's mechanic. He says that oil level is the culprit. Oil level should only be halfway between "add" and "full" mark. He said the oil gets into the PCV valve then into the intake where its burned. Try removing 1/2 quart or so of oil and see if it goes away. I haven't had it done yet because I'm getting some other work done soon and will have it done then.

FWIW,
Jordanvraptor

 

[MightyMo]

I actually sold my 01 Cobra conv't because of that issue !!
The only smoke should be from the rear wheels.
03's don't smoke

 

[tommygun]

my car smoked really bad after i shut if off and them immediatly started it back up. I could smell the oil in the smoke. It has also done it a few times after sitting over night. Does anyone think maybe its due to synthetic oil vs standard oil. It has done it a bit more since I put Mobil 1 in the car. 6200miles now

 

[BLKCobra01]

Mine is getting progressivly worse as the odometer rises. It use to be only on ocasisional cold starts but now it appears more on WOT runs after I let off the gas. It runs clean as long as I stay in the throttle but as soon as I lift it's burning some oil out the exhaust and possibly through the breathers (as I see it come out from underneath the front sometimes). The motor still pulls strong as ever so I have to assume it's valve guides or seals, I think blowby on the rings would yeild a noticable loss in power. I don't run a PCV so it's not that. Even with that said it's still not enough to lower the oil level between changes.

So I would say if you have it some now it's only going to get worse as time goes on.

 

[MightyMo]

I read on Stangnet, this smoke issue has been brought up to the SVT folks and they refused to put out a maintenance bulletin on this issue. Some guys installed a filter/ oil separater in the PCV line between the valvecover and intake manifold. Seems to work very well. Yes, the Lightning F150 trucks have the problem. Guy in our SVT club installed the filter and there was quite a bit of oil.
This issue has nothing to do with synthetic oil or the level of oil. Oil pressure in the Cobra engines is very good. Oil will creep up the PCV line and into the manifold it goes. Harder you drive, the more oil creeps up the line. I have a pic of the filter the F150 guy used.. will post it later today..

good luck..
Please don't test drive a new 03 Cobra, you might just trade in your 01..

 

[MightyMo]

note in upper left corner, camera caught a glimpse of the PCV filter
sorry I didn't get the entire filter assembly in there

 

[BLKCobra01]

In my case I removed the PCV and used breathers and still have the problem. The cause oil to burn the way we are seeing it I would say it has to leak past the guides or seals. Getting some oil in your intake from a PCV is normal and you'll see it in any modern motor.

 

[2stangBK]

I had the same thing on start up. I have since removed the small tube that connects the right side Cam cover to the Intake Pipe just before the TB. AutoZone has a nice , small breather filter (K&N look-a-like) that fits tight down into the Cam cover. Then I plugged the hole in the Intake Pipe with a vaccum plug. Since then no smoke on start up at all. Cost only about $15 bucks total and worked for me. When I removed the small tube that connected the Cam Cover to the Intake Pipe I noticed that there was a considerable amount of oil in the tube. Not sure whether that has anythig to do with oil quantity or not, IMO. Hope this helps.
BK

 

[davidmax]

Very typical in forced air vars,even happens on my TT 427 Vette.I stopped paying attention to turbo cool down idle and just turned her off.Now I raely smoke but lets seeI remember more smoke on hottter days,and the 112 degee'ers are days away.Dave S.

 

[SVT4ME]

I havent really seen any smoke yet