Started my cougar up for the first time in 3 months, and she ran like a champ. But. After a while I saw white smoke coming from under the hood, not a ton, but a fair amount. It appears to be coming from the area around the spark plug for the #4 cylinder, though it could be from the exhaust manifold (doesn’t seem like it). I’m not an expert on the smell of burning oil but to me it smelled like burning oil.
What is this? How serious is it? I’m firing her up to drive from the garage in the city out to my house where she’ll stay from now on. It’s about a 45 min drive. Is this something I can do now and deal with the problem once the car’s at my house (preferred, by a lot) or does it need to be remedied before driving?
Maybe oil leaking from the valve cover? I had a valve cover bolt near the back of the head come loose and started pouring oil on my header. make sure theyre all tight?
Just got off the phone with a car-savvy friend and he said the exact same thing. The valve covers are those goofy aftermarket ones where instead of normal bolts they have posts with wing nut type handles on top. I have no idea when they were installed, whether they were torqued in the right order or to the right value. So that’s a definite possibility. Or the valve cover seal could be shot too.
If I keep a constant eye on the oil pressure gauge (always dead steady at 50) and the engine temp gauge (never gets up to half way, stays a bit below there) is it probably safe to drive 40-45 mins to my house? I already wanted to replace those goofy aftermarket valve covers, now I want it even more.
Oh and I forgot to mention, the smoke continued for a little while after shutting the engine down, maybe another 30 seconds or a minute. And the engine ran like a champ, smooth and nice, no weird exhaust, everything seemed perfect except for the smoke
Try tightening the valve cover. Sounds like you don’t even need any tools to do so and it won’t be hurting anything. Enjoy the drive to your new digs and worry about the car later.
yup. i had the same thing man. when i blew a rocker arm. i forgot to tighten the last bolt haha. but it was just dumping oil on my headers. buy a quart of oil for the drive home maybe and keep an eye on it. i always keep an extra quart with me. along with belts rocker arms fuel filter fuel hose duct tape…etc. haha
If the engine is cool, then get a paper towel or cloth rag, or even your finger and wipe around the smokey area and see what comes off: oil, water, or “nothing”.
If you can, fire it up and stand there with the hood up and watch what is causing the smoke. Is it water / steam from maybe a leaky head gasket, or can you find someplace where oil IS leaking onto hot parts?
I agree with bringing an extra quart of oil, and would pick up a gallon of water too, just in case. Speaking of that, check your oil and radiator fluid levels to make sure it hasn’t been dribbling out slowly while it sat in storage.
Just now seeing the responses from sfhess onwards. All of the suggestions here are great. I ended up tightening the bolt right by the #4 cylinder which was a little loose. That helped but it still was leaking- at this point I could barely but clearly see a sort of sheen/bubbly thing going on right at the top of the exhaust manifold, making me pretty confident it was indeed oil leaking out there. I cranked the bolt down pretty good, tighter than I would think it should be but not the tightest I could possibly get it (wing type key at the top of the bolt, so not easy to torque it down super tight). Then the sheen/smoke became barely present, leading me to believe it was sealed well enough and was just burning off that little bit that was there.
Made the trip just fine, never saw even a hint of smoke with the hood down. Never broke 1500 rpms just to old-lady it a bit. Car ran like a dream.
I will replace both valve covers, probably with the fancy ones from WCCC, before I drive her again.
And I did not have a fire extinguisher, which is stupid. I plan to buy one and put it in a milk crate along with some oil, ATF, jumper cables, and whatever else, to make a first aid kit that I can easily move back and forth between the back seat of the Cougar or Bronco, whichever one I’m driving any given day.
Thanks so much for your responses guys. Today was a real rollercoaster of happiness, disappointment, then happiness again. Soooo nice to finally take her out for a spin after 3 or so months.
