Sorry to butt in, but "relicduke" is kind of wasting your time... If the head gasket was a problem then the "drive or idling at traffics lights or any part of the day" wouldn't have happened -instead you would have overheated the engine in less than 20 minutes of city driving, even less on the highway. "Steam" from the exhaust is absolutely normal and every engine that consumes fuel to be burnt (fuel+oxygen=energy+carbon dioxide+water ... and some other gases, NO, NO2, CO, etc.), but the visible water vapor from the exhaust pipe isn't visible for long AND it does NOT linger in the air about your vehicle as you described.
"relicduke" does have some good input, but he should have typed it in his first response to you; the only "smoke" coming from your vehicle is a result of burning oil. Yep, engine oil can be a "fuel", but doesn't burn well as a fuel in ~your~ engine. With all the smoke about your running car, I'll bet you can hardly approach it to drive as the smell is noxious, ie yes, the burning oil. Now you can drive off and not see smoke after a period of time, and sometimes it only happens in the morning... and sometimes maybe it doesn't smoke in the morning, but it's still operable.
Comment about worn parts is good, but rather slow and not precise. Worn valve guides are a great way to burn morning oil, as the small amount of oil that trickled pass the valve stem went into the combustion chamber. Why morning(?), when metal gets hot it expands and the small space between parts gets smaller. Conversely, went metal cools, it contracts and the spaces get larger. The spaces are always small, but oil molecules are much smaller. So, in the morning, the valve guides/stems, pistons/rings, ie all engine metal-to-metal parts are rather sloppy fitting. After the engine parts have warmed up they are tighter fitting. When you run a cold engine the “sloppy” fit between metal parts allows oil to leak past them and ultimately burned for your olfactory pleasure (and neighbor’s amusement). All conventional vehicle engines have that cold sloppy fit, but your engine has a greater sloppy fit (due to wear) than it should… look, it’s normal for something to wear out as it’s used, right??
Suffice to say, your engine is only ~showing~ signs of part wear, specifically, those parts associated with air intake and combustion. I recommend using an engine oil viscosity enhancer (makes the oil just a little thicker and stickier) for high mileage engines, or over worked engines, like yours. Lucus, Shell, Valvoline, Caster all make additives or complete oils for higher mileage engines. I would not use a synthetic oil because they are expensive to just burn (but try one if you'd like to experiment, like Mobile 1, or AMSOIL). Bottom line is, either drive it the way you have, drive it the way you have and add an additive or complete oil for the high mileage condition, or spend the money to rebuild/replace the engine or worn parts... spending the money you could have spent on a different car.
Write back if you need to…
Sorry "relicduke", but you should really get in there, engage, explain, do the homework –first… not just fill out as many post as you can with almost no real/reliable/informed/complete information. Good one Richard, but you should have included some PHOTOGRAPHS for this person to use while inspecting the condition of the spark plugs!! Here you go
Spark Plug Diagnosis
I'm not moody... it's just that... come on you guys, if you're gonna help climb in and get it going... not just sip that beer and watch...
What causes my 94' Sidekick to smoke every morning?
Linear Mode
