Went out this morn to book an appoint to get my hair cut. The drive was usual. When i pulled into my driveway and put the car in park i noticed smoke creeping out of gap between the bonnet and the drivers side guard. i shut off my engine immediatley. I popped the bonnet to take a look.....nothing.(couldnt see dues to crappy lighting)
I restarted the engine and from the right angle i could see that the smoke was coming from under the heat sheild for the extractors(as far as i could see). My car is running fine but whats with the smoke?
oil leak? gasket? perhaps i dripped a bit of oil onto the extractors while topping up 3 days ago?
The smoke is just enough to be noticeable on a very calm day.

Its either a rocker cover gasket or product from your hair. Take your pick. :D

is there a way i could check if that is the problem because i dont want to buy a new gasket to find the old is in PWO. or is this a known problem?

Head gasket for sure.

Head gasket or rocker cover gasket?
Edit: done a bit of reading and found that i need 2 gaskets for the rocker cover or a head gasket. im just going to replace all gaskets and spark plugs all at the same time.
best place to get them is from Mitstu?

i have had the exact same thing, it was just oil that i had spilt, just make sure it is, before you start changing gaskets, open the bonnet and rev it, by holding the throttle cable, keep it at like 2000-3000RPM and the manifold should heat up and you should get a fair bit, of smoke, this should burn off the remaining oil, (if that was the case)

100% sure it wasn't steam?

brb, i'll just check

brb, i'll just check
Check for steam? i assume your engine is hot... usually you can only really tell after you just stop driving... and even then the smell is a bit of a dead give away... does it have a smell?

Thats what you get for thrashing it in P in the other night! :bowrofl:

I'd be making sure its not just excess oil first, especially if you know you spilled some down there the other day.

im certain it's not steam. i can only see it after a fair drive. i noticed a slight discoloration of the heat sheild, some ooil may have found it's way down there. i'll give it a week until i decide to buy new gaskets. just incase it's just a few drops of oil.

im certain it's not steam. i can only see it after a fair drive. i noticed a slight discoloration of the heat sheild, some ooil may have found it's way down there. i'll give it a week until i decide to buy new gaskets. just incase it's just a few drops of oil.


dont just go out and buy gaskets. wash down the engine and wait and see if it happens again.

if it does, find out where the oil is coming from before buying anything.

Lol....

Rocker cover gasket(s), cam seals, the cap on the back of the heads (opposite side of head from cam gears). Could be a few things.

Just stick your head under and look where the wetness is trailing from.

Update, smoke is gone. must have been spilt oil. phew

I'd still keep an eye on it for a while.