Light Blue/White Exhaust Smoke

[NickFerrell]

My friend just bought a 1980 fuel injected spider project, and I'm helping him get it going. It was a daily driver, then sat for 4 years before he purchased it last week. When we came to look at it, we put a new battery in and it started up on the first try.
When it started, though, it looked like the 4th of July. Huge billows of light colored exhaust. It also had an engine misfire. After running it a bit, the smoke appeared to get less severe, to where at idle, it's not terribly concerning. The miss went away also. Revving it up sends a decent amount of smoke out though. Not as bad as first start up.

As far as current diagnosis, it was flooded pretty badly. We changed the oil, and gave it time to dry out, then it started up nicely. Still with smoke, but not as much. The gas in the tank looks cruddy, though. Not the worst I've seen, but far from the best. That led to another mystery. With the fuel pump removed, it runs decently on the gas in the system (obviously dying after 2-3 minutes. But with the pump connected, it quits running or runs rough.

Compression is good, spark is good.

My current theory is bad gas that is A) plugging the line from the tank to the pump, and B) sending unburnable crud into the combustion chamber and smoking.

Am I far off, ya think? Anyone had a similar experience? Opinions?
We're only just beginning, and for $450 for a running (sort of) spider with a near-flawless interior and straight body, I think we're in good standing.

[KidDingo]

It might be just carbon burning off from the internals.

Maybe try some Seafoam through the vacuum line that connects to the charcoal canister. Disconnect the canister end, stick it in a small bottle of Seafoam with the engine running, and the engine will suck the cleaner in. It might help clear out some of the accumulated crud in the engine.

Do it somewhere away from your neighbours. They'll see a lot of smoke and might call the fire dept.

Someone else might have some other options to try.

[narfire]

Nick, Thinking of a few things...Yes your fuel is probably crap. Drain it at least. Pull the fuel intake from the top and with a light have a look at the condition of the tank. Likely it has some rust from sitting and even though there should be a screen on the bottom of the pick up, crap can get into the fuel pump (not good) and then into the filter and start to plug that up. Pulling the tank is not a big issue and there are kits about that you can use to coat the inside or best is to have a rad shop clean the thing out.
Now you have a clean tank and with clean fuel and a new fuel filter you have good fuel to the injectors. The injectors have a small screen in them and they can get plugged as well restricting flow. A injector test will swap out the screens and flow test....here about $25/injector.
The injector hoses get brittle and can leak with time giving you a fire hazard and not all the fuel getting to the injectors.
Now the smoking.....reaching here but perhaps the rings were a bit stuck after sitting and not giving a good seal. I have seen that a wee bit of ATF in each cylinder can loosen up the corrosion and sticking issues after letting it sit say overnight.
Good luck. The mechanicals are easier than dealing with rusty bodywork in my opinion.
Chris

[TX82FIAT]

Some good advice given so far. Issues with rings sticking or valves could absolutley produce some blue white smoke. Changing the oil was absolutely a good step. At a minamum drain the tank and refill with good gas and an additive to clean injectors changing fuel filters. The injectors are pretty durable on these cars. Depending on what climate it was storred in a fresh tank of gas and some time running might avoid a new tank or injectors. The seafoam additive, it has been a while but i think you can pour a little.... LITTLE in throught he brake booster line. Careful with this as I know a few people that have blown headgaskets after using seafoam on older cars because they used too much.