Once you've cleaned out the top end, I suggest doing a round of Seafoam.

My Humble Opinion is to return that vehicle back to the dealership now, and get your money back.

If everyone did all that cleanout and there's still sludge in there, it's a sure sign that the vehicle was not properly maintained, and more trouble is headed your way..

The dealer is stalling you, as they surely don't want a "sold" vehicle back; especially one with problems.

The longer you keep it, the less chance you'll have of a refund.

perpetual wrote:Today, I'm gonna stop in at Nissan and order a set of valve covers, PCV valves and gaskets. This is my only hope, because I don't really trust the dealers and frankly I don't think they know whet the hell they are talking about!

Only if I can get her to quit smoking...

i'd be hesitant to mess with it...........
it may give them reason to turn their back on you for interfering with whatever it is they intend to do for you (whatever that might be)
in other words, any attempt on your part to repair this issue might, in their thinking, constitute tampering
i hope that you have all of these dealings with them & the Nissan dealership properly documented
that aside, i still think (as i said before) you should do everything reasonable to make them take the truck back
did they give you any kind of warranty (in writing i hope) when you bought it?

eieio wrote:

perpetual wrote:Today, I'm gonna stop in at Nissan and order a set of valve covers, PCV valves and gaskets. This is my only hope, because I don't really trust the dealers and frankly I don't think they know whet the hell they are talking about!

Only if I can get her to quit smoking...

i'd be hesitant to mess with it...........
it may give them reason to turn their back on you for interfering with whatever it is they intend to do for you (whatever that might be)
in other words, any attempt on your part to repair this issue might, in their thinking, constitute tampering
i hope that you have all of these dealings with them & the Nissan dealership properly documented
that aside, i still think (as i said before) you should do everything reasonable to make them take the truck back
did they give you any kind of warranty (in writing i hope) when you bought it?

eieio is right. If you touch the engine they will distance themselves from you in a heartbeat. As a matter of fact, they are hopping that you do something that will allow them to walk away from any reprieve you may have in mind.
Get everything in writing from them. If they tell you to drive it another 1000 miles have the manager sign a statement and do it. See what happens.

Of course your best solution to this problem is to return it now and find another truck.

I have a feeling that you are the kind of person that takes in three legged cats and homeless people aren't you?

BTW The thread title is your warning "Smoking during Start-up" is never a good idea since it might blow up in your face.

IT'S FIXED!!!

Picked up the valve covers, gaskets and pcv valves from my nearby Nissan dealer on Thursday, and I brought the parts and my Pathfinder to a repair shop near my work. I asked the shop owner what I wanted to have done; first he sounded puzzled as to why I want just the valve covers replaced with new ones, but I explained to him about the slugged up valve cover baffles and how it will cause the pcv system to literally suck up the oil inside the valve covers to be burned in the combustion chamber (well, it wasn't my diagnosis, but thanks to many who have posted on this and many other forums!). He remembered another case with a customer who owned a Nissan Titan with slugged-up valve covers that was causing the vehicle to burn oil and smoke out the tailpipe.

They charged me $200 for the labor and oil change which I though was very reasonable. I asked them to save the old covers for my inspection and while the insides of the covers were relatively smooth and clean, the passageways in the baffles were COMPLETELY plugged up.

Upon starting it up at the shop, no smoke. I ran several errands last night and kept running back to see the tailpipe each time I started her up... still no smoke. It used to smoke EVERY TIME, and sometimes it was a smoke screen huge enough to cover an entire parking lot. Compression is good, there is no noise and she seems even more powerful and quiet. I'll keep checking for smoke, but the results were immediate and I truly believe this was the fix. I think the nightmare is finally over!

There are many posts on the web regarding similar situations with the 5.6 Liter Nissan engines... some with as low as 20-30K miles! Don't let the dealers tell you you need a new engine people... try this remedy first! The 5.6 Liter is a very durable engine, but CHANGE YOUR OIL every 3K and use synthetics to further reduce the chances of sludge forming in your engines! It still pisses me off to no end how some people will spend 40K+ on a nice truck only to neglect it (as in the previous owner of my Pathfinder).

Thanks again to all of you for your comments and suggestions! I'm looking forward to many, many good years with my Pathfinder!

Now... what to tell the Hyundai dealer where I bought the truck???

I wish you the best of luck with it.

Not sure why you didn't make the dealer correct the problem; You must really want that car!

With you having done the work, you have now assumed total responsibility. I know I would have had it back to the dealer for them to repair, or demanding a full refund.

Happy motoring

the low oil level would have been enough for me
hope all works out well for you and your truck

Thanks guys. It did come across to me a few times to get the dealer to take back the truck. Had the compression not been restored to specs or if there were scorches on the cylinder walls, I would have parked it back at the dealership and contacted my attorney. Luckily this was not the case.
It was a great deal (especially now that the issue has been fixed) and this truck had exactly what I was looking for; LE, V8, right color combo (mocha with the reddish chestnut leather seats), every possible option and being in mint shape cosmetically.

As far as buying the parts and having another shop do the repairs... I considered telling the Hyundai dealer to do the valve cover thing - but what if it didn't fix the issue? I probably then would have been stuck with the over-inflated dealership repair charges and they would probably have told me to go get lost anyway. Besides... the dealership is 75 miles away from my house. Convenience and my time was also another factor. I took a $317 gamble (parts + labor) and luckily it worked out for me.

I will still let the dealer know what happened and ask them to reimburse me for the parts & labor paid out of my own pocket. I doubt they will, but it's worth a shot. It didn't say anywhere on the contract that I couldn't do my "own" work to a truck that is still under the dealer's warranty. Overall, they've been helpful in this matter and $317 might be a small price for them to get me off their back (not to mention spread negative word of mouth about them) so who knows.

I want to share my experience in solving the problem of the Nissan 5.6L smoking on startup.

A few months ago I noticed my 2010 Nissan Armada would smoke when starting it. It was hard to believe an engine, with only 54000 miles on it, would do this. Of course Nissan would not warranty it so I was left to fix the problem myself. I read on a few forums where people, with a similar problem, had some success with changing the valve covers and PCV valves. I was skeptical but thought I would try it anyway, so I bought new valve covers and PCV valves. I removed the passenger side cover first (not difficult) and noticed a little sludge on it but nothing alarming by any means. I could not find any reason why the cover would cause any smoking problems. The PCV valve seemed to be OK also i.e. it was dirty but not stuck. I installed the new cover and PCV valve (which comes with the new covers). I decided, after installing the one cover, to only replace the PCV valve on the drivers side. I made that decision because it seemed useless to replace the cover since the other one did not seem to be an issue. After installing the driver side PCV value I took it for a ride and returned home. I let it sit for 30 minutes or so and when I went to start it again it smoked!

At this point I could only conclude the issue was a leaky valve seat which means big trouble because you can’t just replace the heads on these 5.6, you have to pull the entire engine out to do it. This is not something I was willing to do. So I brought the SUV to a specialist who rebuild engines and paid $6400 to have the entire engine rebuilt. You may ask why rebuild the whole engine vs just replacing the heads. The reason I did that is because they have to pull the engine anyway and it was only $1500 more to rebuild plus I got at 100k mile warranty.

When the mechanics pulled the engine apart, I went to the shop to inspect it for myself. They showed me heavy sludge buildup where some small ports were completely blocked… it was bad. It was clear to me and them the cause was not changing the oil every 3k miles. In an attempt to save money I asked them to not replace any parts that could just be cleaned and reused including the valve covers.

A few weeks later I picked up the SUV and was very happy with the work. The engine ran well and they did a fantastic job of replacing everything to factory state. I drove the car home and parked it. The next day I went to start it and noticed smoke coming from the tail pipe again. What the #@$ I said and could not believe what I was seeing. I could not imagine they would rebuild the engine, using the old heads, but something bad was wrong.
I took the SUV back to them and they replaced both PCV valves and said the smoking stopped. Again I picked it up, drove it home and parked it. Then next day it again smoked! I immediately called the shop and got the lead mechanic on the phone. He began telling me about the crap design of the valve covers on the 5.6 and suggested I replace the valve covers. He said they cleaned the old covers before reinstalling them. The next step was to replace the valve covers and I was not about to pay them to do it I was into this thing for $6400 already. I still had the new, drivers side, valve cover, that I never installed, at home, so I decided to replace it myself.

When I pulled the drivers side cover off I expected it to be pristine and it was. I am on my last leg, at this point, so I took a long hard look at the underbelly of the valve cover. I pulled the PCV valve off it and examined the internal area of the valve cover. You could clearly see a little sludge build up in there and cleaning that out would be very difficult. I also examined the tube that leads from the PCV to the intake and noticed it was a little oily. The PCV valve was a bit dirty also and did not rattle when you shook it but did still work i.e. when you blow into it. I installed the new valve cover and put everything back together and took it for a ride, came home and parked it. 30 minutes later I went to start it and NO SMOKE! Ok, I am thinking, lets do this again, so I took it on a 100 mile drive, returned home and parked it. This time I let it sit for an hour. When I went to start it again NO SMOKE! I did not pull the passenger side cover off since I knew that was new.

Listen, I went to living hell with this smoking issue and I hope anyone with a similar problem may learn something from my experience. The first thing you need to do is pull the tube off the PCV valve (they are on top of valve covers) and examine it. If you are lucky you will see a little oil. Don’t expect to see a lot because that intake sucks most of it into the engine. If you do see oil you MUST replace both valve covers and PCV valves. If you are mechanically inclined this is not difficult and should only take 4 hours or so.
The design of the valve covers is the root issue here and if you don’t change your oil every 3k miles, sludge will build up inside the cover baffles. Once this happens the sludge will always feed the PCV valves causing them to malfunction and allow oil to get sucked into your intake. When you let the car sit for a while the oil will drip into your cylinders and cause a puff of smoke when you start it. However, when the engine is running it is always sucking oil causing oil consumption, so check your oil levels also.