Smoke from exhaust pipe

Asked by Nycol Mar 04, 2017 at 09:44 AM about the 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix Base

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Just bought a 2008 pontiac grand prix v6 247k
miles it drives really great due to the miles havent
had any major problems ... Just concerned about
the smoke that comes out my tail pipe .. When in
park for a while u can smell the exhaust and see
"blue smoke" .. It stops when i drive tho .. Was
running hot yesterday so i put coolant in it .. Drove
it this morning about a mile or so .. Didnt get hot
but the exhaust smell is there and smoke out the
pipe ... Check engine light goes on for a while then
off .. Hope its something i can fix myself short on
cash ...

1 Answer

101,345

That is not the best car to have at those miles... the engines have an issue with head gaskets. That said, blue smoke tends to indicate burning oil, either piston rings or valve guide seals. (You don't have a turbo I presume, another source for blue smoke.) Running hot and dumping white smoke tends to indicate a head gasket issue. A few tests can give you some idea: A leakdown test (can check if rings and seals are good), a compression test (can check if head gasket is good), Block Tester (can check for presence of hydrocarbons, from combustion gases, are in the coolant, another sign of a bad head gasket). At your mileage you most likely have a little bit of everything going on, so keep your eye on the engine oil and don't let it get low, give it a tune up and clean or replace filters, a plugged PVC filter can cause too much pressure to build in the crankcase and might be one of the reasons for oil blowby reaching the exhaust.

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