[richsvo]

Hello, all.
Many thanks to those of you whom posted to my original questions. I wanted to take a moment to update you all on what I found.

So this last weekend, I decided to remove the existing VCG and cover, install a new gasket set into my original cover and reinstall onto vehicle. Much to my surprise, It made NO difference as the car was still smoking. This clearly was NOT POSSIBLE.

After observing the car running and heated to operating temp, I noticed that the smoke was coming from the O2 sensor (after the cat) on the downpipe. So, I decided to let the car cool down and then power washed the downpipe, O2 sensor and anything else in that area. Turns out that I had to use the highest pressure on the power washer. There was old oil in the couple of grooves that exist, both in the O2 sensor itself, and where it screws into the bung on the downpipe. I then ran the car again, until warm, and suddenly - NO SMOKE!

This all leads me to believe that there really wasn't a leak in the VCG before changing it, however, I learned that "not a lot of oil" stuck in the grooves of the O2 sensor can really put out some smoke!

So, I drove it all day yesterday on and off, with it getting quite warm in traffic, etc. and never did it smoke, and the downpipe looks clean and dry.

Hoping this may help someone down the road...