Every so often and low rpms a little smoke will come out from under the hood. I havent noticed any oil burning off but that is what it smells like. That or the belt slipping and burning. The problem is that the belt looks great and I cant find any oil leaks anywhere that could be landing on something hot. It also goes away so quickly I cant get the hood up in time and besides with all that plastic covering the engine I doubt I could pinpoint where it was coming from anyway. Im sorry for the bad description but I really cant explain it any other way. It even gets sucked through the climate control system into the cabin.
A whisp of mystery smoke
- Thread starter bhdau1
- Start date
2001LS8Sport
Dedicated LVC Member
I'm guessing that because it's low rpm's, it's slow speeds too. At faster speeds, the smoke is being carried under and away from the hood. I'm also willing to bet it's something like a valve cover oil leak that's getting on the exhaust. You might try looking carefully for signs of leakage in that area...and including along the back of the cylinder heads where it's hard to see and detect. You can also remove all the beauty covers and drive it that way for a while until it happens again and hopefully you can see where the smoke is coming from.
I t could also be a coolant leak.
I t could also be a coolant leak.
The most likely explanation is a leaking valve cover gasket; it was a common annoyance up until '02 or '03, when they revised the gasket. Normally, it doesn't leak much, not enough to register on the dipstick, but enough to show as smoke (it doesn't take much oil to produce a hell of a lot of smoke).
This is definitely something you want to fix (or have fixed). If you don't, it can start leaking into the plug wells and damage the COPs, which will be a much more expensive fix.
This is definitely something you want to fix (or have fixed). If you don't, it can start leaking into the plug wells and damage the COPs, which will be a much more expensive fix.
Thank you for your help guys. I will take the covers off and give it a good looking over. You are right about oil smoke. One or two drops would make the amount i'm seeing now. Thats one thing Ive always hated about domestic cars, the gaskets always suck.
Mac98SHO
Active LVC Member
Yup, that is very good advise.
When I bought my 01 LS, it smelled of oil and I had them fix it before signing paperwork. It was leaking so bad, they had to replace two coils. No more leaks and a new starter too, because it went out the day I took it in to get fix for the oil leak.
When I bought my 01 LS, it smelled of oil and I had them fix it before signing paperwork. It was leaking so bad, they had to replace two coils. No more leaks and a new starter too, because it went out the day I took it in to get fix for the oil leak.
When they (or you) replace the valve cover gaskets, they should replace them with the new, revised design. Any gasket can go bad, but the new design (introduced in '03, IIRC) seems to be much better. There aren't nearly as many reports of leaks on the '03-'06 LSes.