Intermittent door lock/unlock issues, temperature display not reading right (dashes), occasionally the car alarm would go off. Everywhere I searched pointed to frayed wires in the drivers door wiring loom. So I got the door off, but apart from a couple insulation splits on one wire, all the wires fr...

yeah, I appreciate it. Gotta know your limitations!

I guess I'll live with the smoke til I get a new car. Had it with this one.

Is the compression test the proper test to see if I need this?

Is there a procedure somewhere for the valve job? Do I have to get the head out?

I thought of that. Would that show on the plugs? All the plugs were pretty clean.

180k miles. blows out the exhaust, it does it randomly. Typically notice when accelerating after idling awhile after it's warm. Don't remember if it does it at startup. Camshaft sprocket sounds like an impossible task for me looking at youtube.

darn. What does the exhaust cam do?

sounds like it's beyond my patience and skill level. It does sound like what it's doing though, would make sense that it would blow smoke.