[lgbalfa]

i noticed i was on the highway yesterday and my car was blowing some light smoke out of the exhaust. it was not constant.

is this common?

could this be a reason why i am burning a lot of oil out of normal?

my car is going into winter storage next month - is this something that would not require immediate attention? if that is the case and i can just get looked at in the spring? i dont want to keep dumping money into the car especially if i am not going to use it.

thanks.

 

[ghnl]

Oil can be burned past worn piston rings or valve guides (or both). Any clue as to the color of the smoke? Blue is usually oil, white is usually coolant.

Any evidence of oil in the coolant (peek under the radiator fill cap & check the coolant reservoir) or coolant in the oil (often looks like 'chocolate milk' on the dip stick &/or the underside of the oil fill cap)?

Oil in the coolant could be a leaking head gasket. Coolant in the oil could be a head gasket &/or cylinder liner seals. Coolant in the oil is bad - it can quickly ruin bearings. Don't drive the car if there is evidence of coolant in the oil!

 

[lowmileage]

could this be a reason why i am burning a lot of oil out of normal?

Without a doubt. If you're going to have a shop do it, now might be the best time. Next spring when you would have it done, shops probably will be swamped with work. Get it done now and you'll be set to go next year.

 

[lgbalfa]

i will check again but i think it was clear smoke.

 

[Alfacliff]

My spider used to smoke on the highway, after about 15 minuits of turnpike driving, a little smoke, more on acceleration after a high speed run. also a lot after slowing down on compression getting off the turnpike. turned out to be valve guides. replaced head gasker and did valve job last summer, no more smoke.
cliff

 

[lowmileage]

How much oil are you consuming at what mileage interval? What weight oil? IMO, anything more that a qt./750 miles is excessive unless you run the car very hard. If it were really bad, you'd be fouling plugs. These aren't Honda's so some oil consumption is expected.

 

[lgbalfa]

My spider used to smoke on the highway, after about 15 minuits of turnpike driving, a little smoke, more on acceleration after a high speed run. also a lot after slowing down on compression getting off the turnpike. turned out to be valve guides. replaced head gasker and did valve job last summer, no more smoke.
cliff

was that expensive?

 

[lgbalfa]

How much oil are you consuming at what mileage interval? What weight oil? IMO, anything more that a qt./750 miles is excessive unless you run the car very hard. If it were really bad, you'd be fouling plugs. These aren't Honda's so some oil consumption is expected.

i was going through about a quart and a half every 700 miles with amsoil synthetic 10-40. my mechanic switched me to non-synthetic 20-50 to observe. i have gone about 700 miles already - havent checked yet on the status - will do this week.

 

[ocduff]

lgbalfa...for a low mileage vehicle, your car sure is going through a lot of oil. But yes, do check to see what has happened with the 20w50. I expect your results wil be much improved over the lighter syn oil.

That said, a whitish smoke is coolant. If when accelerating hard, you see a grey/blue smoke, that's your piston rings. If when you accerlate hard and quickly snap the throttle closed, and see blue/grey smoke - that's the valves.

That said, my car has nearly 80K miles and there's no smoke. But all in all, a little smoke and oil consumption isn't such a bad thing. But your car is to "young" to be acting so old!

 

[Stan Murray]

One thing would be to clean the oil seperator canister. This can clog and cause crank case pressure that forces oil to places that it shouldn't. This eventually causes Leaks..
Another thing is to check brake fluid. A master cylinder rear seal can cause brake fluid to leak into the booster and then be drawn through the intake and you will have white smoke. (you will lose brake fluid after a while and your brake warning light will show you.)
Bad Valve guides usually smoke on engine braking when say are doing around 50 mpg and shift to 3rd, match engine speed and let the clutch out and then accellerator off allowing the engine to slow the car.

OR coolant leak due to head gasket.. coolant leaking into a piston chamber, but eventually you will be loosing coolant and running hot. Also pressure will build in coolant tank.

 

[carsdlt]

Another thing to check for would be an oil leak - onto the exhaust manifold or header pipe. Any evidence of oil leakage under the car?

 

[lgbalfa]

Another thing to check for would be an oil leak - onto the exhaust manifold or header pipe. Any evidence of oil leakage under the car?

no oil leak