I took my vibe to the car wash about 40 feet out of the parking lot in started running on 3 cyl. and a light smoke coming from the exhaust i pulled off the road gave it a few good revs and she started running smooth then i had a 50 mile drive home ran great all the way home next day i went and got a set of plugs for it and changed them started her up then running bad agin except this time it didnt smooth back out so i took it to advanced auto for a computer scan and #4 miss fire so ok i bought a 112$ coil pack still same problem now im stuck

after driving the car to normal temp...go drive around and when you do see smoke like that, pull over into parking lot (leave the car running) and look underneath the car and hood...see where the smoke coming from. Then you would know the answer.

You probably have oil that spilled over onto the engine block and manifolds which is burning off while you drive. You could get some degreaser and clean the engine. You could also just keep driving it untill it stops smoking as long as it seems to be running OK.

Hi Joseph, I'm glad to help!

When engine get a lot of miles on them the seals get hard and bridle and allows oil you slip by and it goes out the exhaust in at cloud of smoke. Here's a way to see if it is you "Valve Seals". When your driving it usually clears up and you have no smoke. Here's what you need to do after driving the car and it has cleared up, pull into a parking lot and let it sit and idle for 3 minutes. If a cloud of smoke comes out of the tailpipe when you take off, then you have bad "Valve Seals" and they will need to be replaced. Hope this helps and have an awesome day Joseph.

You need the system scanned with a special tool to see what faults are present in memory

Hi,
is it a diesel or gas engine?
Usually excessive blue smoke on start up indicates oil is getting into the combustion chamber. It could be piston rings or valve seals.
Quick check, drive it within operating range and speed. Either use the rear view mirror or get someone to drive it and you follow in another vehicle. Accelerate, then take your foot of the accelerator. Blue smoke under acceleration indicates piston rings / pistons. Blue smoke on deceleration or the "over-run" indicates worn valve guides / seals.

White smoke can indicate coolant in the combustion chambers / leaking cyl head gskt, or incorrect fueling. If brake fluid gets into the combustion chamber it will generate a lot of white smoke from the exhaust. However, that would entail a leaking brake master cyl and a leaking brake booster.

Good luck.

all are very possible but you can go to any chain auto parts to get your codes read especially if your light was flashing this indicates serious trouble once you have the codes its easier to help you but it sounds like a misfire to me meaning bad spark plug,wire or coil.

pull the spark plugs, they should all be the samo color, if any are light tan you have coolant in the cyl, you can also pressurize the rad and check for leakage into the cyls, you will require a probe, or the rad professionally checked for exhaust in the system, other symptoms are rough starting and smoke out of the exhaust

white smoke out off exhaust is coolant getting into cyl like a bad head gasket to much fuel would be black smoke