ok, i noticed ever since i changed my cat to a hi flow cat it has a little white smoke. now i get alot, but not all the time, only sometimes. i checked my oil for coolant, none there, and plus my coolant hasnt gone down any. i did a comp test and got 175-185 i know they arent great, but arent bad enough to indicate a worn hg are they? oh, and where the PCV or PVC, whichever connect to my valve cover, i noticed its a lil loose and dripping oil, but that shouldent produce smoke should it?? like i said, its not all the time, just ever once in a while. please help!

Well it could be a number of things. HG could be the culprit, what were the numbers for each cylender? If your HG is gone enough to produce those #'s across the board you should see oil in coolant or vice versa. Sometimes white smoke is just steam. Is it white though or blueish? If it has a blue tint then it's prolly oil. Get us some more info and we will help you diagnose it.

its white, and i know that white smoke means water. i did wash my car today, and its possible water got down the exhaust pipe but it seemed to last too long for just being water in the exhaust. usually its not very much. i seem to remember my #'s being like 175-180-185-175 at the last compression check. like i said it not always doing this, just every once in a while. the smoke got worse as i applied more throttle, so i think that rules out just wash water in the exhaust. anyone know where i can get a cheap HG?? i dont wanna get it from satan, im a poor college student! it couldent hurt to change it.

p.s. yea, its pretty cold here, and seems to only happen when its bad, so i dunno.

well if its cold out, then you will get whitish smoke coming out the tail pipe. Thats perfectly normal. I dont even have a cat, and I still get that when its cold out. Its just water vapor. If you dont see any signs of a blown HG, then you are fine. If your overflow tank water level never goes down when fully warmed up, then its just steam..

also check the o2 sensor

It's normal.. all cars do that when it's cold out and the exhaust piping hasn't warmed up yet. DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT. when combustion happens it produces H2O, but because of the heat it's in vapor form, but if the exhaust piping is cold enough, the water vapor cools down as it travels through the piping and gets cold enough to start condensing.. and there you have it, 'white smoke' comming out the tail pipe.. basically your car is spitting out mini 'clouds'. That's why it only happens when the car is first started and the following ten minutes or so after that (time it takes the exhaust piping to heat up) but like i said, it's just water vapor (in visible form) from the combustion process and perfectly normal when it's cold out side.

yeah and also 175-185 for compression ain't half bad.How may miles?

and also you can be running rich

>and also you can be running rich

perhaps. but generally un-spent hydrocarbons (running rich.. unburnt fuel, etc.. ) causes 'black' smoke.. not white smoke.