E 430 Smoking Upon Start-Up!!
 

It's done this three times now. It only happens when the car has sat for at least a couple hours and the engine's cooled down. Upon start up there is a quick, but substantial, cloud of white smoke. After running for about 30 seconds the smoke is non-existent. There is nothing else out of the ordinary to accompany the smoke. It's at 150,000 miles and has never smoked in the past. Any ideas?

1999 e430

white smoke, briefly appearing is usually, but not always, transmission fluid, perhaps radiator fluid ( less likely)
Fluid levels steady?

The smoke is coming out the exhaust. How could that be transmission fluid related? I've checked oil and coolant and their both fine. I can't check the Transmission fluid right now because I haven't bought the dipstick. It's got that stupid, lifetime fill tranny and doesn't come with a dipstick.

well on our old rides it is sucked in via the vacuum on the tranny
Does yours have that kind of set up?

Maybe a leaking injector, or oil is leaking into the cylinder through the valve stem seals. Try a few bottles of Chevron Techron.

After 1996 MB trannys are no longer vac controlled but are electronic, so there is no connection between the trans fluid and engine etc...

Smoke on start-up is usually a sign of leaking valve stem seals. If there are no other symptoms-loosing coolant or brake fluid, I'd say the stem seals are leaking. I think they can be changed without removing the cylinder head.

that would not be white smoke , would it? oil = dark smoke

Sounds like ....
 

coolant leaking into the cylinders but then I don't know what smoke from ingested synthetic motor oil looks like. I think this car calls for synthetic, doesn't it?

I might be living in the stone age but, I've never run synthetic. I've just never trusted it. I run Castrol semi-synthetic in everything I own.

I realize this is pure wishful thinking....... but could this just be a case of bad gas??? I was thinking about it and the last time I filled up was in the middle of nowhere at a West Texas station with one pump and no premium. I topped it off today with premium and was unable to get it to smoke again. I guess I'll know in the morning...... I'm trying to be optimistic, but I've got a sinking suspicion.

At about 190,000 miles, I started experiencing the typical puff of smoke on the first start of the day. I ignored it for about 10,000 miles, but then I started to experience severe preignition (a/k/a valve ping), under even normal acceleration--usually after the engine was up to operating temperature and heat soaked.

I was running 91 octane, which I purchased from a number of different gas stations, to make sure it wasn't just a bad supplier of gas. I tried adding two bottles of octane boost to my tank with no improvement. Then I thought maybe it was a clogged injector, so I started running two quarts of Chevron Techron per tank and using only Chevron 91 gas.

I had to be very careful to back off the throttle and not load the engine up to where the preignition could be heard during this period. After about the third or fourth tank, the preignition completely stopped. Not only that, there is no white smoke anymore on the first start of the day.

Since then, I noticed that if I skip using one quart of Techron with every fillup for more than a few tanks, the symptoms return. This has been this way now for 45,000 miles.

I presume that the initial problem came from oil leaking through the intake valve seals down the intake valves and collecting on the tops of the cylinders when the car was parked at night. The oil eventually accumulated and "coked" up, creating a separate, glowing source of (pre) ignition when it became hot. That's my theory, anyway.

I can understand how the Techron could clean the injectors and the tops of the cylinders of carbon to stop the preignition, but how it conditioned the intake valve seals to stop the smoke in the morning has always been a mystery to me.

Chevron claims that it cleans the valves, but I can't see how the intake seals could be reached by the Techron.

BTW, I never go more than 2,000 miles without changing oil and filter, because of the possibility that the amount of Techron used might adversely affect the properties of the oil.

oil = white/blue smoke
gas (overly rich) = black smoke
coolant = steam, not smoke.

I love to learn, thanks:rolleyes::D

No smoke this morning. Should I just cross my fingers and hope the problem is gone? I've never experienced "bad gas" problems before. Has anyone had these sort of symptoms with bad gas?