CUTLASS White smoke

[69hurstolds]

See the above. Your best course of action is clean the engine real good. Then, if it were me, I'd throw on the $7 or $8 worth of valve cover gaskets.

it's a 30+ year old engine that gm purposely painted black to reduce warranty claims for seepage.

Start with the valve gaskets and cleaning the outside of the engine. Whatever is leaking from wherever will make a new trail you can trace.

Additionally, to the great advice people have given above....I'd add a bottle of fluorescent dye (I use ACDelco but there's other brands) and a cheap UV flashlight (blacklight). Add the one made for oils, like ACDelco p/n 88861206, pour it in, run the car for a while and then check with the flashlight. If there's any oil leaks, they'll show up and you can see them, even if it's a tiny trace amount. The Delco p/n is a 4 in 1 dye, suitable for gas and diesel engine oil, power steering fluid, ATF, and gasoline or diesel fuel. They have coolant dyes as well. It's relatively cheap, for about the price of valve cover gaskets.

EDIT: The ACDelco stuff is made by Tracer Products per the SDS so if you get the Tracer brand, I'm betting it's the same exact thing, just relabeled. Might can get it cheaper that way.

 

[69hurstolds]

Instructions below for Tracer Products' dye-lite. Same as the Delco stuff. If you're a serious leak checker, you can get 8 oz. bottle for 35 bucks on Amazon right now. That might last you the rest of your life.
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Adding Dye and Inspecting for Leaks


• Turn OFF the engine. Add the dye through the fill port. Use 1 ounce (30 ml) of dye for every 4 to 5
quarts (3.8 to 4.7 l) of oil. If the oil is very dirty, you may need to add more dye to obtain a good
fluorescent response (additional dye will not harm the engine) or change the oil before adding the dye.

• Run the engine for 5 to 10 minutes so the oil and dye mix well and circulate. Smaller leaks may require
longer run times. A short road test is recommended to allow the dye to penetrate all leak areas prior to
inspection.

• Turn OFF the engine. Scan the system with a Tracerline lamp to inspect the dipstick or fill port for a
bright fluorescent response. Add a small amount of dye if needed to increase the glow.

• Inspect possible leak areas with the lamp. In hard to reach areas, use a mirror to reflect the light. As
an alternative, wipe suspect areas with a clean cloth and check the cloth with the lamp for traces of
the fluorescent dye. All leaks will show with a bright fluorescent glow.

• After the leaks are repaired, clean the dye residue from the leak sites with Tracer Products’
GLO-AWAY™ dye cleaner/remover or a general-purpose shop cleaner. Reinspect with the lamp to
be sure that no dye remains. Run the engine for another 5 to 10 minutes and inspect again.

• It is not necessary to change the oil after adding the tracer dye. When used properly, Dye-Lite
can remain safely in the vehicle until the oil is changed
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A video may help as well.

 

[1badgbody]

If it was a head gasket, you probably wouldn't be on the forum asking about it, you'd know it. Get some good valve cover gaskets, spend the money on the silicone gaskets with the steel cores, that should solve the smoke near the exhaust issue. As far as white smoke from the carb when you shut down, just vapor from the intake from fuel that went down but didn't get burnt when you shut off the ignition.