How about taking it to a good mechanic? Doesn't blue smoke mean the engine is about to die?

Blue smoke typically means the engine is burning oil

I fear the engine was damaged by the coolant getting in there when you diddled with the intake manifold for no reason.

Virginian:

The advice to ElCaminoman to do the UIM/LIM procedure was good advice. Not only that, it was obviously correct advice. I was not the one who offered the advice, so I have no axe to grind. The advice was offered by club experts who have personal hands-on experiences with Series II intake manifolds numbering in the double digits. I wouldn't lightly discount their opinion. The procedure did solve the problem of coolant loss and white smoke.

If you reread the thread, you will find the following facts:

1. It was determined by the car owner that the smoke was substantially white smoke -- meaning coolant being boiled through (yes, there seemed to be some oily smoke at times -- no doubt this car may have had multiple issues).

2. There was coolant in the oil.

The above facts suggest: a) an intake manifold problem b) a head or head gasket problem, or c) a cracked block.

As I read through the club posts, Series II engines invariably will have the intake manifold problem. I have rarely, if ever, found club members with these symptons described to have head or block problems. It'* almost as if the intake manifold in Series II engines is a de facto (but unfortunate) warning signal for owners to get their coolant system (as well as many other items under the hood) back in shape.

Lastly, I'm a strong believer (and not the only one) that the club'* UIM/LIM procedure is just plain good preventative maintenence, even without symptoms. The cost and effort of doing this is more than justified considering the consequences of not catching an intake manifold problem in this particular engine soon enough.

(elcaminoman: Don't throw in the towel yet. I'm sure the gearguys are thinking about your problem and will have questions to ask. I have some questions and comments myself, and will offer them after I think them out a little bit -- slug)

Ok say the engine is burning oil, what should be my first step on fixing this problem, I have heard that burning oil could be because of valve steem seals or rings going bad and also a few other things, well this car has heads on it that only has about 8000 miles on them.

Sorry to hear smoke has returned (whatever color) :( .

Ok, well let me get this started so the gearguys can have some information to work on:

1. July 10 you seemed to be pretty smoke-free and apparently not burning oil. Can you tell us in detail what'* happened since then? When did it start to smoke again, and do you have any clues at all about why it is? How much oil are you using? Oil pressure ok?

2. Does it tend to smoke more when you step on it hard (usually rings)? or more when you let off the gas suddenly (particularly if you gear down at the same time) after stepping on it (valve guides/seals). Or all the time (?). A professional compression test should tell you for sure if it'* rings.

3. My '98 owner'* book specifies nothing heavier than 10-30 weight oil, even in heat like yours. It particularly discourages heavier oils like 20-50 (I don't know why, but there it is). Are you now running a quality 10-30 oil?

4. Don't put any more oil additives in. If you have a lot of additives in now, it might be wise to flush 'em with another oil change (I know you want to keep this car and avoid large repairs, so this is the cheapest thing you can do).

5. Consider that you might have left one of the oil additives in too long. Some are designed to be in for only a short time before being flushed with an oil change. (Something like "Risalone" can strip to much varnish off the cylinder walls and actually promote oil-burning if left in too long -- I've done it, years and years ago ).

6. You said you had new heads 8000 miles ago (hm........). What was done exactly, if you know? Valve guides? (I don't think we knew that about the new heads. The more previous history you can get, the better).

7. You've just gone through the hottest part of the year in a hot state. Any signs of overheating? Is your thermostat working ok and is it a 180 degree type?

If I were you I'd drain the oil again, replace the filter also, and put Mobil 1 in there for older engines (whatever they call it).

Well it was not smoking to bad but there was little bit of smoke coming from the exaust around that time, then a short while after that is when I had my accident, wille having her towed home I noticed when we pulled her off the flat bed she was smoking more out the tail. I have not had to add any oil. My oil pressure acts funny, some days it will be normal, some days it will be a little weird and drop below normal then straiten up after a while, and other days it will sit high, one notich below max , and thats where it sits most of the time.

It smokes when I acc. the car, or sometimes after running her for a little bit, in park it will put smoke out the tail.

I uses Valve High millage 10w30 due to just hitting 150,000 the other day

I have some smoke additives in it just put in a couple of days ago to see if it would work.

From what I know (from the previous owner), the engine had locked up putting carbon on top of the pistons, he did was ever was needed to unlock the engine and purchased new heads and installed them.

I have not had any problems with overheating, temp has been running fine. well besides opening the hood and breaking a sweat from all the heat being exerted from under the hood. No it is not a 180 stat as far as I know it is a stock type stat.

Ok, that'* a lot of good information!

I'm not going to begin on guessing what'* going and we'll just let the gearheads read this. (Well, one wild thought: I would like to think that your accident sloshed or tilted a bunch of oil into where it wasn't supposed to go, and it ended up in the cat and muffler, and that'* what you're smoking out. But I can't visualize how this might happen -- I just like to think of happy answers )

Well when I did the intake swap that never really cleared up the smoke, just a little, and as I stated, it is blue smoke and there is a extream smell to the exaust