1993 Lincoln Town Car

Reader Question: I own a 1993 Lincoln Town Car. Recently I got a letter from the Nevada DMV saying my car was seen with excess visible smoke coming out the tail pipe.

There is no excess visible smoking coming out when the car is idling but once I push on the gas peddle a large blur of smoke exits the tail pipe.

Obviously, I have oil leaking into to the cylinders. Is this something that will cost a lot to repair, is their a quick fix solution to help me pass the visible inspection I must take?

Thanks for any help you provide.

Stan

Hey Stan,

That is mighty nice of the DMV to send you a sweet letter like that! Do not they have better things to do? Hahahah…

Yes, it does sound like you have an internal oil leak. If the smoke is BLUE in color, which is due to burning oil. White smoke is from a coolant leak, black smoke is from running to rich consuming too much fuel, and the excess fuel is being pushed out the tailpipe.

So, if you have BLUE smoke out the tailpipe yes, you have some kind of internal oil leak like from a valve stem seal in the cylinder head or a worn out piston ring or something of that sort. Removing the cylinder heads and performing a valve job is probably the minimum it would take to slow or stop this smoke. It MIGHT take replacing the entire engine if there is significant internal engine wear.

I would take a compression test of each cylinder to get an idea of the extent of the engine wear and then decide on what road to take.

You can do a few things and see if the smoke will subside some and not be as noticeable.

– Use thicker engine oil like straight 50 weight Castrol – thicker oil will help fill in the gaps between the leaking seals and orings.

– Make sure the PCV system is working as best it can, replace the PCV valve and filter.

– Use a higher heat range spark plug.

– Use an over the counter oil additive like “Engine Restore” oil additive in the silver can which I have had good luck with in the past.

Blessings,
Austin Davis