# Heavy smoke when starting a car after driving on a highway for about 15-20 minutes.



## edgrapes (Dec 21, 2004)

Hi, all!

I have a problem with my car (Nissan Maxima GLE, 98). It only occurs when I take it to a highway, drive for about 15-20 minutes, then stop it and start after a couple of hours. I can see a big cloud of light colored smoke coming from a tailpipe for a couple of seconds. Could you help me with understanding of the nature of such problem? Thank you in advance.


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## JimN4BYO (Dec 8, 2004)

*Smoke immediately after startup*



edgrapes said:


> Hi, all!
> 
> I have a problem with my car (Nissan Maxima GLE, 98). It only occurs when I take it to a highway, drive for about 15-20 minutes, then stop it and start after a couple of hours. I can see a big cloud of light colored smoke coming from a tailpipe for a couple of seconds. Could you help me with understanding of the nature of such problem? Thank you in advance.


We have addressed this on a few times before. Usually, startup smoke is due to the valve stem rubber seals leaking - due to wear. After a nice drive, oil is all over the inside of the engine. When turned off, the oil settles to back to the oil pan - or where ever a nook or cranny exists that can hold oil. 

In you case, oil that has been pumped onto the cam(s) has slid down the valve stems and rested on the valve guide seals. If the seals are dry or warn, some of the oil slips by the seals and into the cylinder. When to first start the engine, the oil mixes with the fuel and causes smoke in the exhaust (until burned away).

If your engine has warn piston rings, the smoking would be continous.

Hope this provides some insight into NORMAL engine ware.


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## edgrapes (Dec 21, 2004)

JimN4BYO said:


> We have addressed this on a few times before. Usually, startup smoke is due to the valve stem rubber seals leaking - due to wear. After a nice drive, oil is all over the inside of the engine. When turned off, the oil settles to back to the oil pan - or where ever a nook or cranny exists that can hold oil.
> 
> In you case, oil that has been pumped onto the cam(s) has slid down the valve stems and rested on the valve guide seals. If the seals are dry or warn, some of the oil slips by the seals and into the cylinder. When to first start the engine, the oil mixes with the fuel and causes smoke in the exhaust (until burned away).
> 
> ...


Thank you for the reply. Do you have any idea how much it might cost?


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## Matt93SE (Sep 17, 2003)

The parts are fairly inexpensive- abotu $50, but it takes half a dya to get to them and replace them. If you take it to a shop, you're going to be shelling out several hundred bucks to fix it.

In all honesty, it's not a major problem. most cars do this to some extent- it's just a part of aging basically.. look at most chevy trucks that are more than 3-4 years old.

It's a bit annoying and maybe embarassing that your car smokes like that, but there's nothing wrong with the engine... it's not going to decrease the life of it or anything like that.


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