HELP ME SAVE A GOOD FESTY WHITE Smoke In The Am!!

[elmobile]

I love this little car but its driving me CRAZY. I got a 93 Gl black and red, I call it elmobile Its got 145k on it I got it for 800.It runs great is fun to drive and gets great gas mileage... the car is my buddy for real.I knew it had an oil leak when i bought it no biggy.Changed oil and ran it for 6 weeks with n/p,sure it leaks,not alot. One day after driving about 15 mile on 1-70 to work its clacking and lifter ticking and just being sluggish,got it to work had on hand One bottle of lucas oil treatment added half she was fine a few days then the same thing, changed valve cover gasket as it was obviously leaking badly there,now in the am when i first start her up a little clcking and white smoke from exhaust and front of motor,just a few minutes and then its fine!! Ran hot yesterday at least the temp gauge was about a third the way up ( I was waiting on a long train) got it home parked it worried about it LOL This am checked water full clean green,still smoking only for a little while,then shes fine.Hoping I do not have a cracked head.. Thinging mabey a bad ring.. I live In Dayton Ohio and want very much to save this car.I drive it daily any thoughts??

[doylerl]

First, most cars' temp gauges go more than 1/3 of the way up. This is normal. If it is 2/3-3/4 of the way up it is starting to get hot. If your temp gauge doesn't usually even show 1/3, I would say you have a bad temp sender switch. Located on the drivers side under the spark plug. One wire blade connector. It is easily replaced and very cheap (like $7 from advance auto). I would start with that and make sure it is not getting hot before going and spending more money on something that may not be a problem. If you replace this and see that it is getting hot, you know if it is a temp problem, or if not, maybe bad rings.

[FestYboy]

the valve seals are wearing out, allowing some oil to leak down through the guide and is being burned durring start-up. add some highmilage oil and some seal conditioner for the next few changes.

and DON'T let the oil get so low that you hear valve tick, you're damaging and overheating the head (oil is used to help cool the head as well as coolent).

CHECK YOUR OIL LEVEL DAILY!!!

[JohnGunn]

the valve seals are wearing out, allowing some oil to leak down through the guide and is being burned durring start-up. add some highmilage oil and some seal conditioner for the next few changes.

and DON'T let the oil get so low that you hear valve tick, you're damaging and overheating the head (oil is used to help cool the head as well as coolent).

CHECK YOUR OIL LEVEL DAILY!!!

I subscribe to all the good advice FestYboy has given you.

Sounds like you really like your Festiva. Most of us on this site feel the same way. It's an especially well designed automobile and will serve you well for a long time to come, but only if you also serve it well. So here I offer you a bit of advice on keeping your "buddy" going well, well into the future.

No matter how much you like your car as it is, you would like it a lot more if it were clean. Maybe you haven't done much of your own work, but if you had you would surely know there is a world of difference working on an engine that is coated with oil and grime as opposed to an engine that isn't. So here is a practical experiment I'd like to propose you make.

Whenever you have the time, simply go out to your Festiva, release the hood and stand in front of it for a few seconds. Think how much you like it, how much you appreciate the good service it has given you, and how difficult your life would be without it. Then, open the hood and study the engine. Look carefully at every part you can see from where you're standing. Then pick out the dirtiest spot and clean it, really clean it. You don't need to spend more than 30 minutes cleaning, but use those 30 minutes to really clean something well. Then close the hood and go about your business.

If your keep this up for a week or two, your feelings about your car will change in ways you presently can not even imagine. At first when you look at your filthy engine you may feel oppressed by the amount of work it needs. That might even make you unhappy. Frankly, you might even feel you would be better off not knowing what is going on under the hood. But if you keep at it, cleaning the worst spot every day, there will come a day when you open the hood and feel something new, pride. Instead of a dirty mess, you will see what is waiting underneath that dirt. An automobile designed by engineers whose sole concern was to provide the essence of personal transportation for the civilized world.

A clean engine invites your attention, not because there are so many things you have to, but because there are so many things you want to do. Realizing the importance of cleanliness you will want to search out every leak so you can stop them, all of them. Then, one day you will decide to remove the battery so you can take it inside, clean it with toothbrush and Simple Green, spray it with silicone protectant to make it shine, polish the terminals with fine emery paper, and clean them with brake kleen before carefully putting this "new" battery back into the car. And all this, not because it needs to be done, but because there is nothing you would rather do than this.

Having been there I can say it is a good place to be. To be sure, just a part of life, and maybe not even a very important one, but one that can form the solid foundation on which to stand while reaching higher.

John Gunn
Coronado, CA

[Safety Guy]

Good advice guys!

Also, Bry, as soon as you can, get a Haynes Festiva/Aspire manual and/or a Ford Shop Manual for your car. Look on ebay for awhile to see what the going prices are, then strike when you see a good deal.

The more info you have, the better off you'll be. Those of us who are really into our cars have multiple manuals, including of those cars we "borrow" parts from!

Karl