That's rings, if gray or white. [&o]Too rich if it's black.

 

Only one other thought I have here, water/antifreeze in the combustion chambers will also cause white smoke, you could tell the difference between oil and water by the odor of the smoke. Also if you have coolant leaking into the chambers you would also be having some cooling system issues depending on the severity of the leak.

 

Good point Buckshot, anti freeze will def give off it's own type of smell when leakin' into the combustion chamber. Check your oil for whiteish residue. Also look at the radiator cap for signs of residue.

 

Maybe a dark gray. I know I am not blowing oil my engine is like new and checked out fine.
When my power valve went out I did see black smoke and it smelled like gas.
Sometimes at start-up when I get the gray smoke it smells like gas not oil.

 

Mine is definitly oil, I will inquire my corvette mechanic and get his opinion on as well. I'm sure a lot of corvette owners are in the same situation or similar. Only a couple more months to drive it so I'll deal with it then.

 

Worn valve stem seals don't make for that puff of smoke on a re-start. UNLESS, there's no seal at all left on the stem. Even then, a better worn-seal indicator is the puff of smoke on a COLD motor, after sitting overnight, and hardly ANY smoke on warm motor re-starts.

 

Talked to a corvette machanic the other day , to pick his brain he said that it was just seals and would not hurt anything at this pointand could replce for $350 but if the seats are worn than it could still smoke. changing the seats require pulling the heads, guess I'll waiton that for now,might want to do something else to the engine while it's open. Batesy

 

Hi Scott, I think you might be confusing valve seats with valve guides. Burned or worn seats or valve heads (these two seal together when the valve is closed) wont cause a smoke problem. Worn valve guides and/or stems will let excess oil into the combustion chamber and you will see the smoke your describing. If oil consumption is severe, 1500 miles or less per quart, then you would consider a "valve job". This would include correcting the stem to guide clearance, refacing the seats and valve face, new seals and possibly other work on the valve train depending on wear. The heads would have to be removed to perform this work. If it's just a little smoke on start-up then I would hold off until your ready to do other engine work.

 

If you have an air compressor, replacing the valve seals is not that tuf. Need a valve spring compressor and an adapter to hook your air to the spark plug hole. The seals are about $.50 ea.

If you replace the seals, I'd recommend replacing the valve springs if the engine has over 50K. Chevy makes a HD spring but they don't put them in Corvettes. Found that out after breaking a couple.