When I 1st start the car there's no smoke except where it should be... at the exhaust (crappy gas and some SeaFoam). After about 2 minutes I start to see smoke out the exhaust manifold (coming from the gasket area) near the distributor. I know I have a leaky gasket but why would the smoke only start coming out after a few minutes and not right away? Weird...

the manifold isn't hot enough to burn the oil until it runs for a short time

So Cal Mark wrote:the manifold isn't hot enough to burn the oil until it runs for a short time

Yep. I'll have to clean the area and see where that's coming from. I know there's a leak in the exhaust manifold gasket because I saw it bubbling when I spilled some anti-freeze on that area before.

I did notice that one of the bolts was missing from the exhaust manifold. I got a new bolt and hope that fixes the issue instead of needing to replace the exhaust manifold gasket.

What's the best type of bolt to use for high heat application? I just bought a regular steel bolt but I noticed in a few manuals/guides that a different type of bolt should be used.

Give these guys a call, they have always been good to me.

http://www.ottawafastenersupply.com/

So Cal Mark wrote:the manifold isn't hot enough to burn the oil until it runs for a short time

I took a few pictures of the area where the smoke was coming from. I think that maybe my exhaust manifold gasket is ok and I have a leaky camshaft cover gasket.









From the pics do you think that's the issue?

I'm going to loosen the bolts and retighten to spec 1st. If it still leaks then I'll remove camshaft cover and replace the gasket. Is it best to order new gasket set from Autoricambi or can I somehow make one?

Also does anyone know what those unused bolts in the bottom right of this picture are for?

On our Fiat the Alternator is mounted at that spot. And the previous engine we had, the smog pump was mounted there.

Did you adjust the timing recently? I had an oil leak that looked very similar and at first I thought it was from the cam tower, but I had just forgotten to tighten down the distributor enough.

blakef wrote:Did you adjust the timing recently? I had an oil leak that looked very similar and at first I thought it was from the cam tower, but I had just forgotten to tighten down the distributor enough.

Nope. I'd redoing the timing belt now anyways. So hopefully when I put everything back together (including the camshaft cover and timing belt) it will be fine.