Mitsubishi Repair: a little white smoke coming from exhaust, valve seals, combustion chamber

Question
I just bought a 95 eclipse rs non turbo from a friend of mine, it has 130,000 miles but it runs well...my question is that there is a little bit white smoke coming out of my exhaust but after I run the car a little it goes away, so its basically on and off...I was wondering whats wrong, my friend would hardly use the car, sometimes it would remain parked for months, do you think thats the problem? thanks in advance

Answer
Alfredo,
It all depends on if you see thick white smoke, blue smoke, or more of a light mist of white smoke.

Consistent white smoke would indicate a water leak into your combustion chamber. It's possible your head gasket is slightly warped and letting some water pass by. If that white smoke seems to have a sweet smell to it, then you are burning coolant. But if the white smoke disappears for the most part after the engine has warmed up, you should be fine.

Blue smoke usually means oil is being burned off in your combustion chamber. That usually happens with worn piston rings, worn valve seals and/or worn valve guides. As cars get older, there seals will wear and oil can seep past and burn away. If you wanted to take care of that, that would require a head rebuild with new valve guides and seals. A head rebuild would be something to consider if you consistently go through more than a quart of oil every 1,000 miles.

But a light amount of white smoke that you only see in the mornings after you start your car is normal.  That's condensed water that formed in your exhaust system the last time the car was running.  So when you start the car, the hot exhaust burns off the water in the exhaust and you see smoke (steam).  If the smoke goes away after the engine warms up, its normal and you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
Good luck!