engine smoking!
 

gf called me and said she was stopped at kids school and car started smoking and smelled really bad. she turned car off to wait for school to open. when stopped engine it stopped smelling. she started the car and went to another lot to check it out and took the pics below.

is this just the valve gasket? i watched video online and doesnt look too hard

she uses at least 1 qt every few weeks and she has a high idle issue where it pegs at 4000 and i never did resolve that issue. unsure if all this is related

any tips for valve cover gasket on this car? never did one before.

99 sl1

That leaky valve cover could be the cause of the burning oil smell but more importantly, where does the smell come from? Under the hood or at the tail pipe? Is there visible smoke and if so again, where is it coming from?
This makes a huge difference in the fix so we need to know.
If it is just the leaking valve cover the parts are not expensive and for most people it's a relatively easy afternoon job.

I agree with Jamnar. And if you have ANY mechanical skills, this is an easy job. Just make sure that your valve cover is CLEAN where the gasket fits. And clean the surface on the cylinder head too. The cleaner both surfaces are, the better off you are. And don't go crazy with the rtv sealant if you use it. Apply it to the valve cover ONLY, let it sit for 15-20 minutes and get tacky, then put the gasket on, set the valve cover on the head and torque it to spec.

They actually make solid cam cover gaskets so you no longer need to use RTV if you don't want to. If you do use RTV, make sure to hit the spots that the video or the Haynes manual specifies with a bit extra -- but only where it says. Like Rube said, do not go crazy w the RTV--remember it will flatten out when the two surfaces mate.

And no matter you go RTV vs solid gasket, clean mating surfaces are essential to a leak free seal. Be sure not to gouge either surface or you will create a place for the seal to leak. I believe the Fel-Pro gaskets are supposed to be good for this but poke around the interent and read the reviews. I need to do this on my 97 SC2....procrastinating....

But as Jamnar pointed out -- is there smoke coming from the tailpipe or just under the hood? If it is coming from the tailpipe there may be other issues much more serious that may make you not want to put the $$ into the cam cover gasket.

Mileage?

That type of oil consumption is excessive even for a Saturn. It sounds like a small cam cover gasket leak turned into a massive one. Maybe from heat cycling hot to cold to hot if these are short trips to the school, and from sitting there idling for long periods of time.

Remember that any oil leak "technically" lowers the overall oil pressure in the system. In this case probably not yet dangerously low although there is a possibility that the valves, lifters, etc may not be getting all the oil they are supposed to.

smoke came from under the hood and she smelled it inside the car. i put 1 qt in just now and sprayed the heck out of it so its relatively clean. will drive it around tomorrow and see if we can make it do it.

also she said when it started smoking, after 1 minute she turned the car off and the smoke stopped however there's no way to really tell if turning the car off made it or it just burned off whatever it was

even when i'm spilled oil changing it on my own car, ive never seen smoke.

also she said was on the left side of hood but by the time opened it it wasnt smoking. this happened 2x on friday

i know i need to clean off the EGR again, someone suggested thats what may cause the occasional high idle at 4K against the limiter. i cleaned it last summer to pass emissions and it worked.

Left side of hood from outside car, facing it
OR
Left side of hood from inside car?

Please use driver and passenger side, it's easier.

Are you low on coolant?

The engine block must get extremely hot on the outside for oil on it to start smoking. The fact that the car was not moving greatly increases the temperature of the external surface of the engine vs when driving because the air cooling from being in motion is not there anymore.

Next time it happens, leave the car running, pop the hood, and get a positive ID as to whether it's oil smoking off the block, overheating at the coolant expansion tank, or elsewhere.

drivers side smoked

we just drove it 30 min around the city and up a mountain and came home and nothing. it didnt even do the 4000 at idle thing

there's nothing new that leaked at least up front and on the sides.

my guess is when she idles at 4000 that whatever leaked burned up and that was it. there are no drivability issues.

i told her drive it all week and see what happens.

She lets it idle at 4000 rpm?

wtf

Turn the damn thing off. Of course the oil on the engine is going to heat way up with the engine turning 4k and no air blowing by

It it is likely a vacuum leak, maybe something like a crack in a hose that gets shifted when you hit bumps...check the hose from the PCV to the air intake ducting

ok ill check the hose then. didnt do it sunday when we drove around. but when she pulled up the driveway today i heard it. other than visual inspection is there a way to trace a leak. like spray something on and it sucks it in or something.

you can spray throttle body cleaner around the intake manifold meets the block, the area where the throttle body meets the intake manifold, and along the lengths of VACUUM hoses under the hood. There are quite a few, for example the vac line from the pcv to the intake, the vac line from the brake booster to the intake mani, and around the MAP sensor (should be rectangular and mounted on the throttle body).