Smoking 4.4i - what worked for you?
 

I bought my 2006 4.4i back in February with 73k miles as my daily driver. My commute is about 20 miles each way with open freeway. It passed PPI with no mechanical issues.

About 2k miles in, I did my first oil change (75k miles makes it easy to keep track of 5k increments). Afterward, I noticed that after sitting at stoplights and in drive-throughs, I'd leave a cloud of blue smoke behind me when accelerating away. So I'm thinking that someone before me (either previous owner or dealership) used something to hide the smoking.

On my next oil change, I had the shop do some diagnosis. They pressure tested the engine and found the CCVs to be clogged up so replaced them. They said to give it a few weeks to see if the smoking stops and it hasn't.

So while I save up for a few months for what I expect to be a pretty expensive service, I'd like to try temporarily hiding the smoke again.

The shop suggested using a heavier oil so I plan to use some synthetic 0w40 or 10w40 Valvoline or Castrol (probably the 0w40) in my next oil change.

Did a heavier oil help your smoking N62? Have you tried one of the million oil additives and had success without causing other problems?

0w40 is s standard oil for these vehicles, sounds like you have the dreaded valve steam seals leaking. Search this forum for N62 valve steam seals.

Seems to me they might not have changed the right vacuum valve or did it wrong or changed part of it. It's more than likely that PCV valve especially as it just all of a sudden started. The valve steam seals don't just start to do that one day...its a slow process.

You have to take the intake manifold off to do that repair so see if they did that. The valve is located on the very backside of the intake manifold.

It's a 06 that has the N62 so the CCV is on both valve covers, unless it has the modified winter CCV which has a new style right side valve cover and the relocation of the right CCV next to the manifold in the front. Unlike the M62 which has the System in the rear of the manifold.

I've been doing my internet homework about the valve stem seals and think that they might be the cause. But the last shop I took it to (I'm still searching for my indy "home"), which replaced the CCVs, mentioned that there are other things they could check before diving in for the seals.

From what I've read, the symptoms I'm seeing are definitely a lot like the valve stem seals. But I've also read that there are some other seals, like ones in the throttle body, that can cause similar issues too.

I think the suddeness with which this appeared points to either the previous owner or a dealership covering up the smoke with an additive of some kind or some other seal spontaneously failed.

On one hand, I don't want to spend the money on a valve stem seal fix if I don't have to. On the other hand, I don't want to spend a bunch of money chasing it down only to redo some of the things that get replaced during a valve stem seal fix. I feel like I'm damned if I do, damed if I don't...

But, either way, the underlying issue needs to get fixed and I'll get there eventually. I like driving the car enough where I want to keep driving it until the wheels fall off. And in the meantime, I want to minimize the smoke screen I leave behind me when I hit the gas leaving a stoplight.

would an oil leak somewhere in the engine, say the right timing case cover cause the loss of vacuum and based on some other readings, it may be the loss of the vacuum which in turn will pull the oil into the intake manifold?

i have no smoke on startup and for some reason, in colder weather there is no smoke at all, unless a really long time idling.

My smoking issue started just like yours. First I found a torn CCV membrane. Replaced both CCV's, then the red light smokehouse disaster started. Took me a few days to change a bunch of stuff, including the valve stem seals. Smokehouse is a distant memory now.

So Doru... you didn't do valve stem seals, only gaskets?

I did everything - valve stem seals, gaskets & while in there the cooling pipe as well

Did you do any temporary fixes before doing the gaskets and seals? I plan to do that but want to reduce the smokescreen until I have the funds for the big service.

yeah...added oil at a tune of 1qt/250-300 miles..........

Youch! That's a lot of oil! I think mine is burning roughly 1qt/700 miles. I haven't kept close watch over the last few months but since I added a quart last week I've started to watch more closely.