Hi all,
I feel like I’m tempting fate with this post, but here goes. My car runs beautifully – starts right up, idles smooth at about 750-800, all fluids (oil, trans, coolant) spot on -- everything great! Except…when I start it up there is a puff of white smoke from the exhaust. Just at startup, not while I’m driving (that I can see).
Recent activity: the temp gauge started to register lower than my usual 180 running temp until the next time I drove it, when it didn’t register any temp at all. I replaced the thermostat (79⁰) and sent the gauge and probe to PA Speedo for repair/calibration, reinstalled and now temp registers fine, if not a little lower than 180.
I’ve started wondering if I’m running too rich. Might that cause the smoke at startup? I’m wondering if I’m running beautifully at the potential expense of washing the cylinder walls with fuel, and causing premature unnecessary damage. However, after doing too much reading on various subjects from this august group, including diving into the CSV and WRD, I was struck by a comment by Benz Dr from a few years ago: “If you can't accept a small amount of wrongness about your car, you will never really enjoy it.”
Believe me, I’ve taken that to heart and don’t want to push my luck here, but might there be a simple explanation for the smoke – and not to worry about it? Or is it worth checking out some things to identify its source? Given the great luck I’ve had so far, I’m hesitant to start monkeying with the engine and mess everything up. Like I said, I don’t want to tempt fate, and hope this post doesn't jinx me.
Thanks