Engine was just replaced 7k miles ago. and the smoking only happens when slowing down and UNDER 10 mph. idle is fine and accelerating is fine...so if the rings and such were bad...wouldn't i be smoking all the time? especially while accelerating. and as a newer bit of info...when i slow down by just shifting (0 brakes involved) it still does it. but as soon as im stopped..it goes away.

 

Assuming it's oil, still need to check to see if you're loosing oil, you could also be pulling it through the valve seals. I guess there's a slight chance you could have a faulty PCV valve. Guess it wouldn't hurt to test that or replace it since it's cheap. Is the smoke blueish color or whiteish color?

 

well it looks mostly white..but that could be due to the fact that its like 0 degrees here and the normal exhaust is in there too. it kinda has a blueish tint to it

 

They spilled oil on your exhaust manifold. Either that or the tech had oil on his hands, went to check your brakes and got oil on them. But I'm leaning towards my first guess.

 

Bingo

 

But its been like almost two weeks...shouldn't it be burnedoff by now? And why only when slowing down? And from inside the exhaust?

 

could this be a possibility:::

So when the dealer got the car they had to drive it back from Missouri and the guy that drove it said it never smoked. And before i took ownership the dealer serviced it including oil change and on the window sticker they put that they put in Mobil 1 5-30...nothing about synthetic. Could not having a synthetic oil in it be a reason for this smoking?? Cuz it starts to smoke at idle now.

 

Mobile 1 is synthetic oil. You do know cars will have more of a visible exhaust in cold weather, especially when it's not fully warm, right? It's called condensation. If it's oil, then your engine is ragged out. Need to check the oil to see how much is being used.

 

Do they make a non-synthetic version? (edit..just did a quick google and found nothing about a non-synthetic) and about the condensation...thats what the gm tech told me too...and ill tell you the same thing i told him. Im not dumb. I know that cars have normal white exhaust when cold but it dissipates right away. When i come to a stop and have a window down or something..my entire car is engulfed with smoke and it comes inside..i can smell it. on a normal car the inside of your car doesn't fill with condensation.

 

Have you checked the oil level yet to see if you have using any oil?

 

you need to Video this and post it on youtube.com Your making this sound terrible and it could be overe exagerated for what we know. Video it and post it on here so we exactly what your talking about. Especially since its smoking when idling, this could be a serious exhaust leak. The smoke will exit out of the wheel wells from the exhaust manifold/turbo because its all open there .

really dont understand how your could be smoking unless there is a terrible exhaust leak and your turbo is spent.

 

@batboy--no i haven't yet..im at work and cant check it out

@Cuda--I will have to have somebody follow me while i am driving and record it. it gets pretty bad..pretty big cloud of smoke. As for the shotty turbo..i still boost 22 psi no problem. as for the exhaust leak..that could be a possibility. Cuz i bought the car about 2 weeks ago and we have had snow on the ground till 2 days ago and so i never got to do a fully floored run till then. and when i did a loud clicking/ticking sound arises from the firewall area and gets faster as i spool up. under normal driving i dont hear anything...but that could be easily missed by other car noises. where you

 

subd for results

 

the ticking/ clicking would be a combo of the oil pump and fuel pump. The ticking gets pretty loud, most notably at idle with the hood up you will here it. The ticking should get fast with reving.

Im wondering if you bought the car used and the guy that owned it before you had a DP on the car and decided to half assed swap it back out.

Also if you can hear the ticking really well from inside the car, check your oil level! make sure there is oil in that car. Is it ticking or more like a clashing of metal? lol

 

video tape this issue. The symptoms you are describing do not match any known problem. Were going to need to see this happening.

 

Are you sure its not a cam follower going out?

 

i know the ticking sound from the oil/fuel pump and this aint it lol and as far as i can tell it doesn't sound like clashing of metal but i could be wrong. the sound seems to be coming from the back of the engine...maybe the manifold didn't get bolted down correctly?

as for swapping the downpipe..it still has one on there so i dont think he did any swapping before getting rid of it (it was actually repo'd)

 

See if you can capture the smoke and ticking sound on video. Cam phaser going bad? No idea, you need more insight from the rest of the peanut gallery. Lol.

 

update: so im driving around trying to warm up my car so it will start smoking and im having my girlfriend meet me at this dealership so she can drive behind me and record it...and on her way there she totals her cobalt cuz of a Napa worker blowing a stop sign..so attempt number one at a video was a fail lol (fyi the girlfriend is okay, had seat belt on..no airbag?)

 

wow! thank goodness she is okay. Sounds like the cobalt doesnt want you guys as owners. lol.

Did you notice any smoke at all?

 

yea seems like neither of us should be in a cobalt haha. and yes..i notice it every time i drive it. i tried recording the smoke while i was driving using my phone but that didn't go so well haha

 

update question...So i asked my dad about this little problem (he used to be a mechanic back in the day) and i explained what goes on and without thinking he suggested that my valve seals are bad and they are letting oil blow by. he said the way to test for it would be to accelerate then let off the gas (or put on the brakes) and if it blows white smoke then your valve seals are bad.

Does that sound like a legit reason?

 

Yeah and somebody suggested that on page 1 and you shot it down...

 

Well im not sure what thread you are reading but nobody mentioned valve seals...only thing close to that was piston rings..and i haven't shut any idea down yet...so...run along now...you were no help

 

If it was bad valve seal's it'd do it most of the time and your intake would be filled with oil from all of the time's it's in boost. And the chance's of it being valve seals are slim because that'd mean your valve to guide clearances are like a 40 yo tai hooker. Get a new dipstick because they way you made it sound the tip is cut off.