mtupower

I just bought a CLS55 that has white smoke coming out of the passenger exhaust on cold start up; sometime a big cloud. Car sat for many months and smoke is less with a warm startup. Very little smoke but still noticeable at idle. Car does not overheat. Runs great. I don't know what the engine is supposed to sound like but under acceleration it sounds good. No smoke when acceleration. At idle is does have a little noise that sounds suspicious. New supercharger bearings. 163K. Oil level may have been high but checked today via the cluster reads ok. No "blowby" when the oil cap is removed while at idle. Oil is dark but otherwise looks ok- not milky nor foamy at all. Shortly the oil + filter will be changed, new engine air filters, cabin filter, "E" service is overdue and will be done, aux battery was disconnected and will be ordering a new one.

Any thoughts on the white smoke? Valve seals? Head gasket? Cracked head? Can valve seals be changed with the heads on the engine? thanks!

LexBrett2

My first thought is that oil has leaked and is dripping onto metal exhaust producing the white smoke. Do you have a check engine light? Does it only happen when car sits a long time? Have you visually inspected for leaks both on topside and under engine? It sounds like a very small leak if oil is level and if it only happens when car sits a while and there are no codes I would not worry about it. But I can see how it would be annoying. Does this puff of cloud always happen on start up? Is the puff of smoke increasing, staying the same, or decreasing?

mtupower

The white smoke comes out of the exhaust. There is a small valve cover gasket oil leak which drips on the exhaust but it's very small and smokes very little right at the drip point. The smoke has is less as we drive the car more- but we also have a ticking from the engine the same as rpms.

LexBrett2

Fix that valve cover :-)