I have a 92 ranger 2.3l 5 speed occasionally on start up it will smoke a lot (up to 3 min) the smoke is white and it does not do it all the time. it seems more frequent now that it is cooling off at night my coolant level is good any ideas on what to check?

thanks

 

Are you sure the smoke is white? Blue oil burning smoke looks white to some folks.
White smoke would be coolant resulting in some amount of consumption.
Blue smoke would be oil. How much oil does the engine go through?
AL.

 

the truck isnt going through much oil, the smoke does have a blue tinge to it but i think it is definately white (mostly) what is weird is that if it stays warm at night it wont smoke. but when it does its solid smoke coming out the exhaust. Would it smoke this much (2-3 min) if it were the valve seals?

 

How cold are we talking here? Every vehicle will produce white exhaust smoke until it warms up some. You've seen this during the winter.
How's the thermostat? Does the engine reach normal operating temp. in a timely manor, or does it seem to take forever?
Is your truck a high miler,200k + ?
AL.

 

temp last night was about 3 degrees it smoked lots this morning but when i left work this afternoon no smoke at all,I am sure it isnt the normal white smoke you see in the winter. thermostat in new , the truck heats up ok and runs great it has 245000 km on it .I dont think its the valve seals due to the amount of smoke but i think I might change the valve seals I have the time and it is best to do before it is too cold out.

 

I had a '94 ranger 4cyl with 278,000 mi on it when I totaled it....it smoked on starts. The amount of smoke depended on how long it sat without running(ie more in morning than after work). We tore down the engine to pull a piston after the wreck to discover bad rings- my friend's '91 4cyl is doing the same now....
Scott