GSRSRT

OK ill start from the beginning so i was driving to upstate NY like a 2 hour drive from Queens NY i was going to my house and when i got there i noticed i had no more oil in my engine so i refilled it wit some oil i had around there that i use on my Honda cant remember what type it was so i can get back to the city so i got back and i change the oil to Castrol GTX 20W 50 so after changing the oil i notice my car smoking a lot so a week passes and oil dropped again so i put another quart now after 10 days no oil has been lost but a lot of smoke is still coming out when i turn it on a friend of mine told me the valve cover gasket might need to be changed and i noticed oil stains all on the right side of the engine also theirs oil stains around the timing belt cover and the bottom cover as well. idk what to do can it be that my engine aint good anymore or is there a leak somewhere i i have checked the oil pan but nothing drips Can someone pleas help

AshburnM3

why you put 20W 50 in your car???

a#'z

I know why did you put 20w 50? That is for heavy duty. You should be using 5-30 or 10-30 i recommend

GSRSRT

so do you think the heavy smoke is coming because of the oil i put and also what about the leak?

AshburnM3

oil is the life line of your engine, i used 10w60 on my M3 and I thought that was crazy! 20w 50 is too thick for your engine unless you have a race car running at high temp all the time! winter is almost here and your thick oil in the engine is not going to be able to circulate FAST enough at morning/cold start up. heavy smoke from the exhaust could mean you have a blown head gasket or worn valve seals or worn piston rings. have a shop check it out asap. good luck

GSRSRT

thanks so much you are a big help AshburnM3 i will do this asap

GSRSRT

does the 99 GS300 have only 1 valve cover gasket or 2

McKrevice

iTrader: (1)

that's an inline 6 so there should be only one.

GSRSRT

Thanks now i need to go to Lexus Dealership and find out how much it will cost me

Red Bully

iTrader: (3)

no theres two left and right

mtparker18

What color smoke? if it's white smoke it's a blown headgasket.

GSRSRT

Its white smoke and how much to change the head gasket in labor do you know?

McKrevice

iTrader: (1)

It's different state to state at Lexus dealerships. Not sure why you popped a headgasket, but if you did it's a pain in the *** to do...at least on my Mustang it was. I changed the heads....never a blown gasket, but getting to the gasket was a *****.

For an inline 6, I bet it's not as hard as a Mustang, but I bet it costs 3x as much.

GSRSRT

I'm just hoping its not a head gasket if its a valve gasket i can change that myself but im hoping once i put synthetic oil back it wont smoke no more also the car runs fine no weird noise or anything so idk whats the prob

StealthGS

iTrader: (2)

Yeah if its pushing alot of white smoke through the exhaust you defintely have coolant mixing with oil. If it was smoking from the engine you could just have a bad oil leak thats burning off on the engine of exhaust manifold.

You gotta take it to the shop asap!! It could get worse, And if its been pushed hard and overheated than you gotta also worry about the possibility of having warped heads which is a whole another level on expense!!

Quick rule of thumb though: White smoke from exhaust = Head Gasket ( coolant mixing with oil ). Bad piston rings or valve seals = Blue Grey smoke from exhaust!!

Good Luck with it man!!