My parents have a 94 Caddy with the Northstar V-8......Whlie going to the Mall today it started skipping and somking real bad out of the tail pipes ....I just drove it and it seems fine if you hammer on it but it is skipping and smoking at idle and light throttle.......The smoke smells like gas and oil mix.......Anyone have an idea.........No check engine lights ,and as quiet as a mouse.....Just smokes like crazy ....I would say head gasket but it smells like gas.....could this be a intake gasket......

Thanks...Scott.

intake gaskets,fuel injector o-rings or fuel rail..

I had a car do that once. It ran like do-do at low RPMs and would even die out completely if you didn't keep the idle high. Turned out to be a bad oxygen sensor. However emissions related failures, such as a bad oxygen sensor, normall trigger the service engine soon light. YMMV

Thanks guys.....Glad to hear it may not be a head gasket or worse....... graemlins/beers.gif

Check for gas in the vacuum line to the fuel pressure regulator. If the diaphram ruptures it will suck gas directly from the regulator into the intake. Usually hard starting as well.

Regards,
Gary Anderson

Scot,
Don't rule out a bad tank of gas...had that a few years ago and the symptoms were very similar. If the Check Engine light has not come on, its probably not too rich. I would stick a can or gas treatment in the tank and drive it a bit to see if it clears up.
By the way .... if by some chance it does turn out to be head gaskets, make certain that whoever repairs it knows what they are doing. GM has a kit to helicoil all the head bolt holes in the block, the majority of the threads WILL pull out when you remove the head bolts.
Hope its something simple,

Yes it's starting hard also......Guy's when I got to my Moms it started real hard and didnt smoke all that bad UNTIL I pulled out on the road and gave it to her......You could not see at all tons of smoke.....But once I got going 60 mph it seemed ok until I stopped at the next light.....I will start looking at things in the morning....Thanks guys....Scott.