Craddock

Ok, I just bought my Camaro a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm trying to fix it so that I can drive it to school. It's a 94 with auto transmission.

Ok, so I'll describe what's happening, and maybe you guys can tell me if it's all from one problem, or what all I'll need to get fixed.

1. When you first start it up, it smokes a little bit of white smoke sometimes, sometimes when you start it up it puts out a cloud of white smoke.

2. All the time, especially when you start it up, it smells like it's burning gasoline. If you rev it up, it does it more.

3. When you first start it up after leaving it alone for a while, it will idle at about 2000 rpm, and the oil pressure goes up. If you shut it down and restart again, it will idle at about 1200, and it all is fine.

4. When you first start it up, it will shut down sometimes, immediately, but then after you start it up again, it is fine.

Ok, that's pretty much all that's wrong with it that isn't visual. If you guys could help me out here that would be great because I don't really have money to take it to a mechanic unless I have to.

ImportKILLER

If your exhaust smells like gasoline, it is likely a bad oxygen sensor causing a rich condition.

And it sounds like you're burning oil...

Craddock

Ok, so how much will an oxygen sensor cost me, and can I put it in myself?

shortdog273

Check with autozone. They're usually around 70-80 bucks and no, it's not difficult to install. The only problem you might encounter is getting the old one out do to the rust.

97SS0594

mines doin the samething, but it has 2 brand spankin new O2's

Knight5

they are more like $20 bucks each

HBHRacing

an 02 will not do that on cold startup. if your exhaust smells like gas and your getting white smoke at startup I would be checking fuel pressure for rapid bleed down from a stuck open injector. other things to think about.. MAP sensor, coolant sensor etc etc... are you getting any codes from it? pull out the oil dipstic and see if that smells like gas. make sure that your not gettting any coolant in the oil either. only gas and coolant will burn to be white smoke so check that out.

Craddock

Ok, first thanks for you help.

Now, I started it up this morning, and it smoked from start to finish, like a cloud of smoke. So I left it alone for a while, tried it again a few times, and now it's still doing the same thing. Could this be coming from the same problem, or is it something new?

Note: It's done this before, and it only happened before when I first started it up. If I shut it down and restarted again, it would be fine, but it's doing this all the time today.

Craddock

Also, I don't know anything about codes yet, I just got it about 2 weeks ago, and I haven't really gotten that far into fixing it yet.

94ConvertibleZ

First thing's first....
Before you going throwing money at sensors etc... Is the service engine soon light coming on? If it is not, you can pretty much rule out O2 sensors. Have you noticed if the antifreeze looks low at all? Is the car running hot? I just got done replacing both head gaskets and a cracked cylinder head on my mom's '93 V6. You would start it up and it would blow out a cloud of white steam/smoke for a few minutes but then it would clear out when you drove it. It was fine until the next time you started it up again. A sure way to tell is by checking the coolant level. It will definitely be low if this is your problem. Sometimes you will get a steady stream of bubbles running up to the radiator cap opening while the engine runs if you have a bad head gasket or cylinder head. If you take the cap off before you start it next time, you can check that too. Just make sure the engine is cold before you do this ! (no brainer).
I would agree that leaky injectors are also a possibility. They leak fuel down into the combustion chamber even after you shut the car off until the pressure behind them bleeds down. This could explain your rough starts, smoke and fuel smell. Unfortunately, I have seen this happen and it never threw a code(SES light). If you have access to a scan tool, plug it in, start the car and check the millivolts at the O2 sensors. If they are at "0" chances are good that is your problem. The computer will read the rich condition and try to shut off the flow to the injectors as much as possible, hence the "0" reading at the injectors.
At any rate, if you are not very mechanically inclined I would bite the bullet, take it to a reputable garage and at least have the car scanned before you start throwing money into it. At least that way you will have an accurate diagnosis and be able to tackle your problem head on. You may be able to fix it yourself after you find out what is wrong. Good Luck, -Ryan

Craddock

Ok, I went out this morning to check it with the advice 94ConvertibleZ gave me. So, the engine service light doesn't come on. I put some antifreeze in it about a week ago, filled it to the top, and when I check it this morning, after just running it a few minutes a day to keep the battery charged, etc, it run out about three medicine cups full out in about a week. Then I filled it up again, and I let it run for about 15 minutes, came back and checked it, and it was putting out a bubble about every 1-2 seconds, not too fast, you wouldn't notice it if you weren't watching it.

So, what do you guys think it could be now?

ImportKILLER

A bad oxygen sensor won't always trip the SES light and usually doesn't. With his car being a '94, I'll bet he still has stock sensors that are probably run down. Even when my sensors went bad, I never tripped a code.

My suggestion of a bad oxygen sensor was for his #2 problem: rich smelling exhaust. Not on anything else.

Craddock

Ok, so what do you all think about the bubbles in the antifreeze? Should I not run it any until I can get it check out, or should I go ahead doing like I usually would?

94ConvertibleZ

If your antifreeze level dropped significantly after just a few brief start ups in the driveway, I would suspect that it is burning coolant. If that is the case, you could possibly have a blown head gasket, intake manifold gasket or possibly a crack somewhere.

Coolant has a very unique smell to it as it burns. Next time you start it up, stand behind it and try to get a slight whiff of the steam coming out of your tail pipe. Coolant has a strange sort of "sweet" smell to it. An engine burning overly rich or burning oil has a real nasty smell.

In response to Importkiller's comments regarding O2 sensors: As I said before, with no SES light it is doubtful(not impossible) that the O2 sensors are bad. I have a 94 Z that has had 2 O2 sensors fail on me and both times it did trip the SES light. I am not arguing this point just looking at the most likely situation given what I am reading. If your engine is burning coolant, the computer will see the air fuel mixture being changed significantly due to the coolant being introduced into the combustion process. It may be richening the mixture to compensate for the change, thus the gas smell you have.

Keep in mind if you are smelling this gas odor near the rear quarter on the driver's side, there is also a charcoal purge canister located back there. This is a pollution control item on the car that recycles gas fumes into the intake manifold for burning. Sometimes the canisters rupture and leak that fuel vapor/odor into the air. This is just something to keep in mind.

You could try adding an additive to the coolant. There are many products out there that are designed to seal internal coolant leaks. I am not guaranteeing that is your problem, but these additives are cheap and would be worth a try. They shouldn't hurt anything as long as you don't go putting too much in the radiator(just follow the directions on the package). Once again...spending 50-100 bucks for a competent diagnosis from a good mechanic will be money well spent.

Craddock

Ok, I just went out there and run it again to see what else I could describe, and I stood behind the tail pipe a few times, but I don't know how to describe the smell. It's not horribly nasty, but it doesn't smell like sugar per say either. This time I was running it with the hood up, and there was a very fine steam that was coming up from the right side of the engine. It's so fine that I've never noticed it before with the hood down, and when I've had it up I'm usually not running it. Also, the ground behind the tail pipe was wet from whatever the car is putting out.