1998 cadillac deville smoke

[hollyboy42]

i have a 1998 cadillac deville it has just started to smoke on take off someone had told me that there is oil seals on the spark plugs could this cause this it only a small buff every now and then nothing at idle if anyone has had this happen and found out what it is please give me a shout this car only has 141,00 miles and was old man driven 

[bill henry]

no such thing as an oil seal on a spark plug maybe he meant valve seals thats what it sounds like to me

[Otto Skorzeny]

The only thing I can think of that he may have meant was the washer that some plugs have at their seat. Is oil leaking from somewhere (valve cover) and finding it's way into the spark plug well?

I'm not familiar with the engine in that car or its design but a girlfriend of mine had an oil leak on her car and the oil was leaking into the spark plug well and then past the spark plug threads causing light smoke and smell.

[jeff1956]

northstar engines are designed to burn a little oil....its possible that could be happening...bout a quart every few thousand if i remember correctly

[Rusty Shepherd CLC 6397]

northstar engines are designed to burn a little oil....its possible that could be happening...bout a quart every few thousand if i remember correctly

My experience with two Northstar cars was a few quarts every few thousand miles (about 1200/qt with one and about 1600/qt on the other one) and from what I've read that range is about average, at least on the pre-2000 engines. Even at that rate of consumption, you shouldn't see smoke on acceleration, so I'd say he has a problem.

[TJ Hopland]

How long and how many miles have you driven it?   It may just need a good road trip and to be put to the floor a few times.   A friend of mine's Mom has a 99 that just goes to church and the video store (about 10 miles per week).  It burns a ton of oil after a few months of that so no my friend goes to visit a few times per year and they take a road trip.  He says after about 100 miles its good as new.  It may not hurt to do a few oil changes at fairly short intervals just to get fresh detergents around to make things as clean as they can be at that age and mileage.

[Dave Shepherd]

There are multiple TSB's pertaining to oil consumption on the N'star engine. Check alldata.com for the summary info.

[David #19063]

Make sure you only run premium in your '98 Northstar. 

I have seen quite of few of the smoke upon intial and heavy acceleration that were running on low grade and mid grade...though it is a gray smoke more than a blue smoke. 

I also had mine puff some gray smoke on accleration when I had gotten some poor quality premium.