Just started a few days ago. If the car sits for more than about 12 hrs, a thick white/gray cloud of smoke will occue when I start the car but will go away right after and wont smoke anymore untill i shut the car off and have it sit again for over 12 hrs. The car drives and feels fine, what could this be?

 

White/gray smoke is usually steam, so it could be
1.) water/coolant leaking into the system somewhere
2.) possible condensate - is it cold where you live?

How is the temp? Check your radiator and intercooler and note any changes in fluid level.

 

engine temp fine, coolant level is , the smoke is white

 

There are a few other threads recently related to the 'white cloud of smoke'. Do a quick search and you should have some more leads. good luck.

 

thank you, I did, i cant figure out if people think its head gasket or nikasil, there are about 3 threads and no real definite answer

 

IIRC, PCV valve also...

 

PCV valve? The $2 part?

 

Just a note of advice: reading what is going on with your particular engine is going to tell you alot more than reading posts by others who have solved loosely related problems. For example, pcmcmillan had a ring/ piston problem. Poboyblue's advice about PCV/ oil baffle problems was specific to 4.2 engines. Yours sounds more like a head gasket, and testing for the fault is the only good way to identify what is causing your symptoms.

 

correct, simply trying to direct traffic w/o getting in the way. Geez, surely that didn't sound like a recommendation for a fix.

different years, different sources of concern

 

Not a criticism to you, just trying to deflect this "fix it by consensus" atmosphere that seems to be evident.

 

it turns out to be the valve cover gasket is leaking since the coils are filled with oil which oil is going in the spark plugs causing the puff of smoke

 

Good for you, nice easy fix that should not have cost you anything to diagnose.

 

yes, thanks