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Im still pretty new to cars so excuse the new guy question.

Anyway, I bought a 90 hatch as a project. The guy said this car smokes because it needs new valve seals. However, wouldnt that smoke be blue/grey? This is a thick white smoke which will get more/less dense as time goes on. It also kinda surges sometimes when idling ( which I hear could be a bad O2 sensor?)

Also on an unrelated note. It only starts sometimes. Theres always power to the car but sometimes Ill try to start it and it wont even click. Its like the battery is completely dead but its not. After a few tries it will start up. What could this be?

Ask anymore questions if you need to! All help is welcome!

 
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White smoke = coolant.

Not starting, check the ground wires.

 
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Yeah, white smoke means it's burning coolant. If it's burning coolant then it's probably a fairly big headgasket leak. Do a compression test to see if it shows anything.

 
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Umm my 89 is doing this but just a little white smoke is changing a head gasket hard or something that could be done in a few hours. And while Iam in there what else should I look for or clean or replace.

 
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If I were you, I would do a compression test. If you need to learn- a 20 dollar haynes book at autozone will guide you well!

generally speaking white smoke is created through a coolant leak inside the engine usually the gasket between head and block(head gasket). It can be fooling with some that have condensation(water) built inside the muffler from prior day/time cooling tempatures---will go away after the exhaust has heated up and evaporated all the moisture...

 
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Wouldent you see either coolant in your oil or oil in your coolant if its a head gasket though?or am i mistaken?

 
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yea im working on a 91 civic with the 1.5L and i replaced the water pump and the head gasket and now it wont start any ideas