okay.. update!

all wirings were done properly. everything was put back into place correctly each time, was checking my self twice or even three times in case i missed the couple things that were disconnected....

got new valve seals and seals (ALLL OEM) where the rings stand when bolted on (The circle stuff). the valve cover seal was oiled a bit with motor oil. and afterwards i resetted the ecu after checking the cel was for an o2 (i swapped exhausts) possibly changing from 70mm to whatever this exhaust was changed the air flow maybe.

so couple details to note. i did the oil change. drained the oil and refilled it with 5w-30 castrol edge full syn. but this time i didn't swap the oil filter because oil change was done within a 1000 miles. Reason for doing the oil change was because the oil was low due to leakage. as of now the new oil is freaking clean and is hard to tell if it's still leaking or if the old residue of the leak is evaporating. i can use a degreaser to clean the engine bay. but i have yet to do that. took the car out for a run. revved it fairly high (vtec possibly once or twice), car was running fine. it started steaming probably after a goooooooood run. i only drove for like 15 minutes (8 minutes of that jst idling and warming the car up properly).

still steaming... drove it to school today to study :/


i'm guessing either the leak is from the rear side of the valve cover or still near the side of the exhaust manifold (close to rear?) can't really tell as of now... leak is minimal but still white smoke is significant and scary and frightening and hurting me

iono where to attack now... everything's in place.... everything seems to run well. smoke still coming :/ i'll clean her up real good monday evening when my test is done... sigh jst hit 99900 miles today.. almost 100k :3 on a side note haha

let me know what you guys think... the valve cover popped in real well and seal stayed in place and i pounded with my fist to securely lock it in place. torqued all bolts properly except the circle things that now have a rubber seal so i couldn't use a torque wrench, but tightened it with enough hand strength. any tips on the torque on the spark plugs??? like the long piece that goes into the spark plugs... i tightened them around 10lb torque. or jst enough so it doesn't loosen up.

 

the long pieces being the ignition modules, with 1 bolt each? 8.7 is the spec, so ~10 is probably fine.

 

It sounds to me like you just have leftover oil sitting on parts that are heating up and burning it off; some faster than others.

If you are checking your oil levels and they are not low then you're not losing any oil, right?

A few years ago I spilled oil all over the place because the wind blew over my quart of oil. Back then, I had the oem header with the shields. At the time, I was scared to take them off and clean underneath for fear the rusted bolts would not go back on. The oil smoked for days until it completely burned off all the parts it had dripped on (that i couldnt get to).

if the car is running fine, your oil levels are not low, and there isn't a visible seating problem; I would drive it around a little longer and see if the smoking stops.

Good luck and don't forget to report back with your findings.

Matt