2002 WRX smoke

side is lower than the passengers side I see no smoke when starting in the morning. However, if I park the opposite way, with the passenger side lower than the drivers side I see a significant amount on white smoke when starting the first time. There is a good amount of smoke, which then dissapates and does not reappear until the following morning. Headgasket, tubo seals, something else? Any help appreciated.

Sounds like some oil in the driver side valve cover is getting past the valve seals as the car sits, and into the combustion chamber. When the engine is first started that oil burns off, producing the white smoke. Depending on how many miles are on the car, and whether it consumes any oil otherwise, it may not be worth doing anything about. Even if the valve seals are leaking a bit, replacing them is a labor-intensive job that makes no sense to do by itself, but rather as part of either a cylinder head or total engine overhaul.

rivers side is lower than the passengers side I see no smoke when starting = in the morning. =A0However, if I park the opposite way, with the passenger = side lower than the drivers side I see a significant amount on white smoke = when starting the first time. =A0There is a good amount of smoke, which the= n dissapates and does not reappear until the following morning. =A0Headgask= et, tubo seals, something else? =A0Any help appreciated.

Could be the turbo oil return thingee.

drivers side is lower than the passengers side I see no smoke when starting in the morning. However, if I park the opposite way, with the passenger side lower than the drivers side I see a significant amount on white smoke when starting the first time. There is a good amount of smoke, which then dissapates and does not reappear until the following morning. Headgasket, tubo seals, something else? Any help appreciated.

Don't think so, even if oil somehow backed up in the oil return it wouldn't get into the intake or cylinders. Plus the turbo is on the passenger side of the engine, so with the driver side being lower the oil would be draining away from the turbo anyway.

An extremely poor choice of newsreader by the OP when posting questions or for any discussion. Plus it makes spam all your posts with its non-signature spam garbage at the end of your posts. Your post *is* spam because you are a spam affiliate for GrabIt in all your posts when using it.

Oil? Since when does engine oil burn white (at temperatures produced in automobiles)? Isn't white smoke the sign of a coolant leak? If antifreeze is getting into the cylinder then you see white smoke from the exhaust.

Black smoke = burning oil Blue smoke = burning transmission fluid White smoke = water vapor burnoff if short-lived and immediate), or a coolant leak from gasket leak, cracked block, or cracked head (if not immediate and starts after engine gets hot)

To the OP:

If the white smoke has no or little smell and only lasts a minute after you start the car when cold then it's accumulated water. Coolant has a sweet smell.

When you burn gasoline you generate water vapor and why those promoting water-fueled cars are idiots because they don't want you to know that your engine already produces water and doesn't need it again. What those "water-burning" kits actually do is further lean out the mixture which is very bad to do in the already highly regulated combustion engines in commuter cars. See:

Since you car is at a steep tilt, you might have trapped water sitting in your muffler (the catalytic converter remains way too hot for awhile after you turn off your car for any water vapor to coalesce into liquid there). Burning gasoline always produces water vapor. You can't see it on a warm/hot day because the steam is hot. Just sit on a stalled freeway during rush hour and notice all the steam coming up from the tailpipes of all the stuck motorists. You've never seen water dripping out of exhaust pipes from a running car? What do you think happens to all the water vapor still sitting in your exhaust system when you turn off your car? No, scrubbing bubbles don't rush through your exhaust pipes to clean out the water that liquifies as the steam cools.

Also, as I recall, your year model is the one where Subaru screwed up the head gaskets which caused coolant leaks into the combustion chamber. There were previous posts about the problem in this newsgroup but might not be on your NNTP server anymore so search Google Groups in this newsgroup about Subaru's screwed up head gaskets. Also, as I recall, Subaru's "fix" was the old leak goop fix. You add the goop through the radiator cap and the goop seals any small crevices where its velocity slows to allow accumulation (which means the goop also deposits elsewhere, like in nearly plugged radiators to then fully plug them). The correct fix to replace the defective gaskets with new ones and is a pricey repair.

If the white smoke is constant past the warm up of the engine, you could ask the shop to do a compression test. As the engine gets hot, a crack in the block or head gets bigger so coolant can seep through. However, you said the white smoke appears immediately when you start the car "cold" and then dissipates (which could mean after the engine got hot). So my guess is you have accumulated water in your exhaust system that gets steamed out when you start your car. Or its just the normal water vapor that is produced by the combustion of gasoline and you didn't mention that you notice the steam because it was cold outside.

Oil smoke is generally blue but can appear bluish-white or grayish-white. Black usually indicates unburned fuel from a rich mixture or fuel system problem. Pure white smoke would likely be coolant but the orientation of the car shouldn't have any effect on whether coolant gets burned or not. The description of when this happens makes sense for oil getting past the valve seals on the driver side, given the layout of the boxer engine. One test to determine if it's coolant or oil is to hold a tissue up to the exhaust when the smoke is being produced. If it's coolant, the tissue will disintegrate from the moisture.

Damn, I hate when you get all technical....

Wrapped for readability

side is lower than the passengers side I see no smoke when starting in the morning. However, if I park the opposite way, with the passenger side lower than the drivers side I see a significant amount on white smoke when starting the first time. There is a good amount of smoke, which then dissapates and does not reappear until the following morning. Headgasket, tubo seals, something else? Any help appreciated.

Another possibility is that you're burning brake fluid that has sucked through the vacuum line from a booster with damaged internal seals.

vers side is lower than the passengers side I see no smoke when starting in= the morning. =A0However, if I park the opposite way, with the passenger si= de lower than the drivers side I see a significant amount on white smoke wh= en starting the first time. =A0There is a good amount of smoke, which then = dissapates and does not reappear until the following morning. =A0Headgasket= , tubo seals, something else? =A0Any help appreciated.

The other posters have made great suggestions about the smoke. If it smells like toasted marshmallows, it's coolant.

I just want to mention that, if you decide the smoke is bluish and from oil, possibly some problem with the PCV valve/system could be at play. Your O2 sensor and catalytic converter (at minimum) are at risk if you do not fix this.