Ok here is the scoop… I have a 91 protégé with the 1.8L engine 4 valve/cyl. And this is a bit long of a post but it reads through fast as it is straight to the point….

Its running over 203,000 miles and it runs strong. What I have had a problem with is when I start the car up after about 3 or 4 seconds it begins to smoke a pale white color out the tailpipe. I think its burning oil since it isn’t a sweet smell like burning coolant smells. This doesn’t effect the idling of the engine or the anything. But it only does this when the car has sat for at least 8 hours or so. In other words when I wake up and go to work… and then when I leave work 9 hours later it will smoke on start-up. But once the car has been driven for about 7-8 minutes the smoking pretty much stops. Now I am pretty mechanically inclined when it comes to cars. I built the engine in my other race car. So my thoughts are this is a valve seal problem… I don’t think it’s the rings since compression seems good and it runs great and it also stops after a few minutes. That’s usual symptoms of bad valve seals… especially with a engine rolling over 200,000 miles. My question is does anyone have some kind of tech article for replacing valve seals? I have heard that there is a special valve spring tool that is supposed to be used. Where can I get it? I basically need info on a valve seal replacement on these cars. And well the ultimate question is if my diagnosis on bad valve seals is correct… thanks for any help in advance.

 

well this definitly sounds like a valve seal. One way to be shure is after it stops smoking rev it up if it smokes when reved high then It's the seals.

 

Thanks slayer...

Yeah it will smoke just a little bit if you pump the gas real quick. But after its been good and warmed up than it really doesn't smoke. So does anyone have some advice on replacing the valve seals? I know a special tool is needed to remove the springs. Where can you get these... and what else should I know before I replace them? I work on mostly race engines so I am still learning on these mazda engines. Thanks again...