02 Z28, Cold Air and Lid, FLP LT's w/ORY, 8mm SpiroPro Wires and NGK TR55's. AND NO TUNE! Did all this about 1 1/2 years ago.

I've noticed that when i'm at a red light or just stopped that it smokes a lil bit, white smoke......not that much but enough and i see it out of my rear hatch when i'm waitin at lights and its dark out.
*Is it possible that it's just a result of running rich since i don't have a tune yet? which i will probably go get soon either way cuz it seems that could worsen the problem.
*Or is it probably bad compression or valve seals?
*Should i check my spark plugs and see if they seem to oily or dark or whatever it is i'm suppose to check for? and if they are what could that mean?

Also i have the normal LS1 that burns oil......noticed the low oil light came on after about 2,000 miles the last time so i added a quart and then added another quart about 1-2000 miles later. I was using Mobil 1 10w30 full synthetic. I changed my oil about 2-3 weeks ago and decided to use castrol syntec 10w40 this time and it does seem to be running smoother but i also noticed the piston slap seems to have gotten worse.
*Is the louder piston slap normal for using a thicker oil?

Let me know ur thoughts, i think i missed something but i'll figure it out.

 

Excess fuel can wash down the cylinder walls causing excess oil consumtion, but it has to be really rich, so much so you'd see black smoke. White is usually coolant. If your coolant level is dropping, usual suspect is a blown head gasket.

A spark plug check can help diagnose: one really clean plug or 2 clean ones in adjacent cylinders can indicate head gasket, as the water steam cleans things. Mixtures rich enough to cause the problem would leave the plug smelling of gas.

Cruise up to ~ 30 in 1st, let off the gas so engine brakes the car down to ~ 10. This causes high vacuum in engine. Accelerate while checking out the rear view. If you see a puff of bluish/white smoke, oil is getting past seals.

 

First pull some plugs and check their condition. How many miles you got on your motor? Your car is gonna run rich as hell until you get a tune, and this could cause the "vapor" you're seeing out the back. Also, how many miles on the car since you made your exhaust improvements? Because if you have a bunch of miles on it with an ORY and no tune, your plugs may be fouled out. Best thing to do is to pull some plugs and check them. They can often tell you volumes about a problem.

Abe

 

Put on the NGK TR55's at that time, i did everything thats on the car in the span of a month........that was about 15,000 miles ago. I'm gonna pull some of the plugs hopefully tonight or whenever i get the time to check it all out.

As for the coolant/blown head gasket idea......that would cause the car to overheat wouldn't it? It's never overheated since i bought the car. I'll check it out though.

*and the car has about 36-37,000 miles right now

 

Yeah if you had a blown head gasket you would be overheating by now. Unless you've been adding coolant on a regular basis. White smoke is usually coolant, but unless you see WHITE smoke during the day, I wouldn't think it's that.

15,000 miles on an untuned car with no cats could foul out the plugs. Let us know whenever you check those plugs out, as that could tell you a lot about your problem. It's still a low mileage car, so I would hope it's nothing too serious. Especially since I have almost the exact same mileage!! Keep us posted.

Abe

 

You can have a blown head gasket and not overheat. My sister bought a 69 for cheap years ago cause it was smoking. I pulled the plugs, saw a super clean one in #6, told her it was just head gasket. Seller figured engine was done for, so took lowball offer. Off we drove, smoking all the way, but car ran fine.

My brother has the car now:

http://www.geocities.com/angel71rs/B...s69Camaro.html