blinking check engine light heavy smoke from exhaust
10-26-2020, 12:50 AM
#1
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blinking check engine light heavy smoke from exhaust
98 Honda accord
6 cylinder
111,000 miles
hi yes I'm trying to figure out what could be wrong with my car. yesterday the check engine light came on and i noticed that when my car accelerates a heavy cloud of white smoke comes from the exhaust. It doesn't do it every single time but some times it does. also it has been idling at a very low rpm. not like normal almost like it wants to shut off. and lastly especially going up any hills but it also does it when pulling out of park it doesn't want to go. almost like it stuck or isn't getting any gas. Then it will all of a sudden kick into gear and go. any help would be nice. I'm a single mom of three young kids and this car is my only means of transportation.
6 cylinder
111,000 miles
hi yes I'm trying to figure out what could be wrong with my car. yesterday the check engine light came on and i noticed that when my car accelerates a heavy cloud of white smoke comes from the exhaust. It doesn't do it every single time but some times it does. also it has been idling at a very low rpm. not like normal almost like it wants to shut off. and lastly especially going up any hills but it also does it when pulling out of park it doesn't want to go. almost like it stuck or isn't getting any gas. Then it will all of a sudden kick into gear and go. any help would be nice. I'm a single mom of three young kids and this car is my only means of transportation.
10-26-2020, 07:47 AM
#2
Re: blinking check engine light heavy smoke from exhaust
Hi, thanks for joining the board.
White smoke from the exhaust usually spells out that there is coolant (anti-freeze) getting into the combustion chamber. OK, so what does that translate to? Common scenarios are a gasket has let go and now the the coolant is leaking past it and into where the engine is firing. Most common gasket to cause this issue is a headgasket. I don't kow your skill level with vehicles, but it's a decent job to replace, One has to get the head off the car, a few hours of work there, clean the old gasket off, do one's best to check that the head has not gotten warped, replacing the gasket and putting it all back together. It's not the most difficult thing to do but it is time consuming and there are a few things to be careful of.
The pulling and jerking could be part of this (if there is really that much fluid spilling into the combustion chamber), or you could also have a developing transmission issue cropping up.
So, what can you do to start to look at it?
1 - Lift th hood and check the radiator (when cold). Take off the radiator cap and see how full or empty it is. If it's not full (fluid should be right there at the cap) then you will want to add fluid (water is fine for now) and see how much is missing. If it's a lot, I would first say that it is a head gasket. To further verify, I would start taking out each spark plug and see if it's wet with coolant (it should not be wet at all normally). If it is, then you probably are in that boat of a headgasket issue.
2 - For the jerkiness, lets hope that maybe you are low on trans fluid, and ther's a leak there as well. Pull the transmission dipstick and see what the level is at. Should be right in between the marks on the stick.
If in doubt, just take a picture of each item so we can see. So, for example, take a picture of the plugs, the white smoke, how much water you had to put in, maybe under the car so we can see if there are any leaks.
White smoke from the exhaust usually spells out that there is coolant (anti-freeze) getting into the combustion chamber. OK, so what does that translate to? Common scenarios are a gasket has let go and now the the coolant is leaking past it and into where the engine is firing. Most common gasket to cause this issue is a headgasket. I don't kow your skill level with vehicles, but it's a decent job to replace, One has to get the head off the car, a few hours of work there, clean the old gasket off, do one's best to check that the head has not gotten warped, replacing the gasket and putting it all back together. It's not the most difficult thing to do but it is time consuming and there are a few things to be careful of.
The pulling and jerking could be part of this (if there is really that much fluid spilling into the combustion chamber), or you could also have a developing transmission issue cropping up.
So, what can you do to start to look at it?
1 - Lift th hood and check the radiator (when cold). Take off the radiator cap and see how full or empty it is. If it's not full (fluid should be right there at the cap) then you will want to add fluid (water is fine for now) and see how much is missing. If it's a lot, I would first say that it is a head gasket. To further verify, I would start taking out each spark plug and see if it's wet with coolant (it should not be wet at all normally). If it is, then you probably are in that boat of a headgasket issue.
2 - For the jerkiness, lets hope that maybe you are low on trans fluid, and ther's a leak there as well. Pull the transmission dipstick and see what the level is at. Should be right in between the marks on the stick.
If in doubt, just take a picture of each item so we can see. So, for example, take a picture of the plugs, the white smoke, how much water you had to put in, maybe under the car so we can see if there are any leaks.
10-26-2020, 08:22 AM
#3
Honda-Tech Member
Re: blinking check engine light heavy smoke from exhaust
A momma of 3 has to be pretty crafty..Would you be able to pressure test the coolant system? A device /pump screws on where the cap goes. You pump up the pressure in the system with hand pump. Then watch the indicator gauge for the psi . Seeing if it holds pressure. Should be easy as cake.