grayish, white smoke??

[Jr. Bonner]

after it starts I get some smoke, the longer it runs the less it smokes. any ideas??

[Old Fart]

How many miles on the motor? What do the plugs look like?

[Jr. Bonner]

1,200 on a rebuild. havent checked the plugs but ive lost a quart of oil in about three weeks

[YJwonderboy]

Sounds like you're burning oil. Check the plugs! If it's not the plugs, than if it's a rebuilt motor O.o I dunno. You could check the valve seals?

[Dukes69]

Blue = oil
white = water

if you're buning water, you should be able to smell the coolant. Its a sweet smell.

Oil will be on the plugs, black soot stuff.

Does it happen on start up or while its running?

[Old Fart]

Sounds like oil rings to me.

[Schmo]

That's not your Jeep . . . all of SoCal is smoking!!! Good Luck!

[DEADMEAT]

that kinda sounds like the rings to me too. especially if you just had an engine rebuild. can you take it back to the guys who did the rebuild.

[Jr. Bonner]

Sounds like oil rings to me.

any other indication of bad rings? wouldnt that make it smoke all the time? i was thinking valves guides because it did sit for about a year. also it idles and runs great.

[RAT]

If you suspect rings or valves, do a leak down test/compression test. To test for leaky valves, warm the engine up, shut it off and pull all of the spark plugs. You'll need the following specialty tools:

Remote start/stop button or a buddy to turn the key
Compression gauge
air fitting for compression gauge
spark plug wrench
3/8 inch hose about 1 1/2 feet long
compressor or air tank filled to at least 80 PSI

Set the parking brake

Keep the ignition in the OFF position

Remove the air filter cross over tube from the carb/throttle body

Remove the coil wire and all spark plug wires from the plugs. Remove all the spark plugs and keep them in order they come out

The first test will be the compression test. Most ICE (internal combustion engines) run around 90-110 PSI when new. On an engine with 100,000 miles or more, expect to see pressures in the 85 PSI range. Install the compression gauge into a spark plug hole and tighten. You might squirt a small amount of 30 wt engine oil into the cylinder first. Crank the engine a few full revolutions until you get a reading on the gauge that doesn't change. Take the highest reading and record it. Repeat this on all cylinders. If you get less than 80 psi on any one cylinder, or if one cylinder reads way lower than the others, suspect that cylinder first and do the following leak down test:

Set a cylinder to TDC (top dead Center). Put your finger in the spark plug hole and bump the engine over slowly until your finger blows out of the hole. Stop. Thats TDC.

Screw the compression gauge hose into that spark plug hole (remove the gauge from the hose now).
Hook the air to the gauge hose and introduce air into the cylinder. The engine may turn a bit, don't worry, that's normal.
Use the tubing to listen for air hissing (put one end to your ear and stick the other one down in the carb and up inside the tail pipe) at the intake (throttle body, carb) for intake valves, and at the tailpipe for exhaust valves. If you hear air at either location, the valve for that stroke (intake or exhaust) is leaking. Check all 4,6,8 cylinders just like this.
Listen for hissing at the engine oil dipstick; if you hear air there, it's the rings. There will probably be some leakage at the rings because they don't seal totally when static. A large amount of hissing is not good.
Look at the plug for each cylinder. If a cylinder is hissing at the intake, you might see a dark, black, wet plug, indicating fuel leakage past the valve.
If the cylinder is leaking at the exhaust, it may be dry, black and sooty. This comes from incomplete combustion.
If the rings are bad, the plug will look similar to the one described for a leaking intake valve, but maybe with heavier deposits.
If no air is heard at any location, chances are the engine is fairly tight, and you need to look at the ignition, fuel delivery systems and emission systems.
You can rent all the tools to do this at most any Auto Zone.

Hope this helps you out.

Rat

[Old Fart]

Jr, I'm just up the road in Lakewood - I have a compression gauge you're more tham welcome to borrow

[Jr. Bonner]

WOW! thats alot of info,thanks. thank you also Old Fart.maybe I'll just bite the bullett and take it and have it looked at. my mechanical skills are pretty bad. Its not like I havent already spent a fortune on it.this smoke issue is hopefully the last thing to do. thanks guys.