SMOKIN Corolla - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

hapychik2001 · 08-11-2010, 10:55 PM

I have a 88 Corolla FX-G with a 5A-F engine, when I start it and its cold it starts fine but then it starts smoking and gets worse and worse, it smells real fumey but after driving for a few mins most of the smoke is gone. One of the spark plugs keeps going black after cleaning it. It also when I turn it off and take the key out keeps trying to go, dieseling? Have had compression tested and was ok so not sure what to try now???

65Pontiac · 08-11-2010, 11:23 PM

maybe the timing is out, check that

and also

have you changed the plugs, wires, and cap/rotor? the valve cover gaskets and gromets for the spark plug might be bad. if you see oil in the spark plug tubes you should replace the gromets that could be why your plug keeps going bad

rdyzz · 08-12-2010, 07:21 AM

if that plug is turning black it would indicate its getting fouled. sounds to me your burning oil. if the color of the smoke is somewhat blue its fine. you can change the vavle seals and do some oil prevention stuff. however if the crosshatchs are worn then you can't do much.

if the smoke is gray white then its water getting into the combustion chamber. that would indicate a blown gasket.

freakinbox · 08-12-2010, 08:58 AM

The oil can also indicate a blown head gasket. It's not an uncommon issue with cars around this age because of the cast iron block and aluminum head. The thing with a lot of 4 bangers is they produce enough oil pressure to push the oil into the antifreeze rather than the other way around. So also check the anti freeze for a while creamy substance (that would be oil in the coolant and would indicate a blown headgasket).

I think the dieseling problem you mentioned is caused by the build up on the plugs staying hot afterward. I had the same issue when my head gasket was blown which cleared up after I fixed it.

hapychik2001 · 08-12-2010, 08:27 PM

Thanks for the ideas

yep the smokes is kinda blue so will try changing the valve seals, don't think it is blown head gasket... Well hope not lol Oil looks fine and water its not over heating and not using water???
Unplugged the auto choke last night as someone said to try that and it started running better but started it this morning and the smoke started again but not quite as bad.
will try doing the seals ne ways. Thanks

hapychik2001 · 08-12-2010, 08:33 PM

What oil prevention stuff??? lol

freakinbox · 08-13-2010, 03:58 AM

The car won't always overheat at first with a blown head gasket. I drove around with mine for 6 - 8 months both times it happened. It only tended to over heat on LONG trips when it was really hot outside. The second time it was on long trips on long steep hills when it was hot outside trying to hold 120 km/h or so.

The valve seals are bad on my car. It leaks the most oil into the cylinder when it's sitting. It lets out a large cloud when it's first started and progressively gets better as it burns the oil out. Other than that it it only smokes at higher rpm and isn't consuming to much oil. I didn't have to add much when I was driving it.

Try using Castrol GTX and Lucas Oil Stabilizer. I went through a few different oils when I got the car to see what would run in it the best. Avoid synthetic oil unless you have rebuilt the motor because old seals will just let it through and I didn't even manage half the duration of an oil change before it was all gone. Castrol GTX is the only oil that even around 7000 km (supposed to change your oil every 5000) it hasn't gone down enough to worry about.