my car always smokes at startup..in the warm weather, it smokes for like 15 seconds.. now with the weather being cold as hell, it smokes for a good 2 minutes..

 

What color is the smoke? Does it have a distinctive smell? Do you have to add oil periodically?

 

i would rig up a temporary catch can, but more so if there is a lot of oil spewing from the turbos or through them (which is fairly common as seals wear down) you end up coating the piping and the intercooler and other plumbing. I had a real bad problem with my WRX doing that and I took off the intercooler and piping and cleaned/gasolined the whole thing down and washed it out. I was f-ing amazed at how much dirty oil was just literally pouring back out The problem was gone for a good while but eventually came back, so I attest it to oil blow by and rigged in a catch can and cleaned everything out again. Problem permenantly gone now. If it stil persisted after that I would start to suspect the seals in the turbo. Possibly a rebuild, or a more serious problem elsewhere. but if the problem persists despite replacement motors, then I wouldnt suspect the actual engine.

 

It doesn't smoke, it steams. The steam still smells a bit like exhaust, well, cause there's exhuast in there too.



Do you get it when the engine/exhaust are still reasonably warm? I only run my car a couple days a week and for about half of the year I get steam for a solid 5 min unless the car has been sitting less than a couple hours.



Dave

 

It's just cause the engine is cold, it's designed to burn oil until the engine warms, kinda like a choke. Mine does it to smokes like a mother until the temp gauge starts moving and and the smoke goes away. dont worry about it it's normal