TbirdKaw

hey guys, my dad and i just got back from taking a serious look at a 98 Cobra, and are considering a purchase. The only thing that seems to be iffy about the car is that when it was fired up for us a small cloud of oil smoke came out the tailpipe. My dad(who was mechanic for twenty years) said that it might be the piston rings or the PCV valve. Does anyone know what it could be or if its just a common problem with these cars. thanks

PS it has 51k miles, and stock everything with a 5 speed.

cobraetti

is it a true 51K?, If so I would bet that its not a big deal. As you may get to find out 4V's rule

99gt302

How long did it sit? Could valve seals do it if it sits forawhile before starting?

TbirdKaw

yes it is a true 51k, the sales guy gave us a free carfax with it, and ya 99gt03 my dad also mentioned the vavle seals as well. The good part is that a warranty is available for the car 3yrs/36k miles for 900 bucks(my dad knows that he gets that warranty for 380, so hes gonna tell him to give it free or no deal).

Thanks for the replys, if we go back and check it out again, what else should we look for in terms of common problems with these cars?

Blackvenom01

with that mileage prolly not much is wrong... you guys prolly know what all to look for since your dad being a mechanic...

Choppa

mine did that too when i started it up for the first time since winter about a week ago. it puffed out smoke right away and after about 5 seconds it cleared up and is fine now
was the car sitting? if it doesnt do it everytime you start the car or continue to do it while its running then i dont see a problem

BraMas

Mine does it every once and a while also. But most of mine is coming from the PCV hose. I have an oil separator installed and oil still finds it way into the intake

P.S.I.cho

theres a few things this could be, as some one said before valve seals, if it was the pcv you would see smoke as its running down the road, and usually its not the pcv's fault as BraMas's problem could be coming from and underlying issue such as piston ring failure causing high pressures in the crank case, which in that case would always result in oil in the intake after running it hard, even with an oil seperator.

id go after valve seals, unless like said the problem goes away from the car sitting too long

Americanputz

The way I was tought is that it's the valve seals. When the engine is stopped oil will run down the valve stems, if the seals are hard, dry, leaking, then the oil will reach the cylinder and be burned off when started. While running the amount of oil seapage is so slight that you won't notice smoke. Engines get warm and the seals get soft and and start to do there job. When the rings fail the thing will smoke all the time (when the oil ring fails) and there will be a loss of cylinder pressure when the compression ring or oil scraper fail. Smoke is bad and additives will not help it. Buy a different car. Good luck

ATFPat

Mine did it when I changed the oil, someone on svt forums said its normal? Never had it happen with the GT but the cobra runs fine and the smoke stopped after a start up or two. Scared me though.