at random times my car seems to have excessive ammounts of smoke coming out of the exhaust. when this happens the car is already warmed up, and i live in san diego so the weather is not cold. does anyone know why this is happening and what i can do to fix it?

 

What color is the smoke?

 

More than likely it's just moisture burning off the inside of the pipes as they heat up

 

the smoke is white/gray, but it always shows up at the most random times. and it leaves a black soot all over the back of my car so i dont think its moisture.

 

notice a decrease in engien power/smoothness? have a compression test done, it may be piston ring time. (which means you have to remove the heads, so you might as well do the head gaskets, and the rod bearings and the valve seals...and the, and the, and the....)

hate to be the bearer of bad news.

but do a compression test first, just to be sure.

 

Does it use any oil?

 

theres no loss in smoothness or power, and it doesn't seem to burn any oil, but i'll see what i can do about getting a compression test

 

If it's not burning oil then more than likely your fine and it's what I said it is. My car does the same thing and it's fine. A compression test will tell ya.

 

thanks