1997 Ford Explorer smokes out the tailpipe in the morning

[tleeburks]

I have a 1997 Ford Explorer that has around 150,000 miles on it. It smokes out that back tailpipe first thing in the morning. After I drive it for about 20 minutes its fine. There is no brown milking substance in the dip stick or oil fill and the tail pipe has no evidence of antifreeze being blown out of it. What do you think the problem is? thanks for looking.

[rhandwor]

I think the valve stem seals are going bad. Go to an auto machine shop and buy a set of umbrella seals. You can use air or put a piece of rope in the cylinder move by hand until it is holding the valves closed. You can do one cylinder at a time. You just need seals a valve spring compressor and valve cover gaskets. I would allow a days time if you haven't done it before. Have a magnet handy if you drop a keeper. I've dropped a 1/4 inch socket into a triton engine and fished it out with a small magnet. Just be very careful and make sure all parts are installed. Do over concrete in case you drop something.

[shorod]

What does the "smoke" look and smell like? Is the smoke white, or does it have a blue tint to it?

There's a chance all you're seeing is condensation that's puddled in the exhaust system from the humid weather that's boiling off when you start up your Explorer. If the "smoke" doesn't have a sweet or oil smell to it, it's probably just condensate. If it smells like oil and has a bluish/gray appearance to it, valve stem seals are probably the culprit like rhandwor suggests.

-Rod

[Pontisteve]

Thought I would elaborate on the symptoms of bad valve seals a bit. The seals generally start leaking after 100 - 150k, but just slightly. When driving, it's so faint you probably don't even know it. You may notice slight oil consumption, but nothing big. But when you park overnite, the leaking seals slowly drip oil down onto the valve, or the piston (if the valve is open on that cylinder). In the morning, when you fire up the car for the first time, that puddled oil is rapidly burned off, creating a smoke problem. As soon as the engine has been run a minute or two, the oil is completely consumed/burned off, and the smoking goes away.

For a novice, this is not an easy or a recommended job.