Smoking when starting

Its hard to say.
I would start with a compression test.
It sounds to me like whoever worked your head didnt put new valve seals in, and theyre leaking. I would think that if it was the rings it would smoke more than a few minutes after you crank your car up, but I dont know.

Are you positive it doesnt smoke all the time, especially when you take off or speed up(give it throttle in any way)?
I had a problem like that in my truck that I didnt notice for a while because the smoke was so light. It smoked when I first cranked it up, but thought it went away, until one day it got worse and I finally noticed it was smoking all the time.
By the way that problem ended up being a cracked head.

One, when I start the car when it has sat for a long time the amount of smoke is excessive. It does not smoke when after it has been running that I have noticed. I have not done a compression test yet, I will be soon though because I want to change my plugs. Will the compression test definatively tell me if the trouble lays with the top or bottom halve of the motor?

A compression test wont DEFINATELY give you the answer, but it will give you a real good indication of what it PROBABLY is.
It sounds to me like bad valve seals. If it were your valves it would smoke more than a few minutes, and I doubt it would run all that great.
There are different ways to do the test to see if its your rings or valves, so make sure you figure out how to do it right, from there you should be able to figure out what your problem is.

I think your problem lyes in the hands of the people who did the headjob. If they did the head job.

captain246 said:

Alright when I start my car(1990 accord ex) up after sitting over night it will smoke(white smoke) from the exhaust for about a minute or so. I had the head redone after the timing belt broke about a year ago and this problem started right after that. I use a quart of oil about every 500 miles or so. Is this because my valves are not seatting properly or is it because the lower half of my engine is older then the top half. ie the top has more pressure then the bottom and oil is blowing by the rings. This is what the dealer is saying and won't take any ownership to the problem. My car has 152,000 now but 125,000 when the this all started. Any help would be great.

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dude i would just drop a h22a engine in there and forget about your current engine. I hate to say this but your engine is about to die. My accord with the orginal engine has 223k+ miles with original engine and uses only 1 qt per 2,000 miles. i would not invest more money into that engine its not worth it. if you do get it rebuilt, which will run you about $1500 but it will run like new for the life of the car. Sounds like your problem is the head gasket. white smoke means the gasket is worn. blue smoke = bad piston rings. your oil consumption is pretty bad as well. just keep adding oil until you can get the swap done. good luck

use thick oil to slow down your dieing engine and let it warm up before you drive. should help a little