mwblank

Hello, I am an owner of a 2000 Honda Civic EX 1.6L engine. My car has 217k miles on it. I changed my oil pan about two days ago because of stripped threads in it from quick lube places roughing up my drain plug .

It order to change it, i had to drop Part A of the exhaust and remove the flywheel cover. It was pretty straight forward. Got the old oil pan down, put a new oil pan and gasket on. Bolted everything back in place. I started it up this morning and took it around the block for roughly 1 mile. When I got back, there was some white smoke coming from under the hood (I took it up to about 5k RPMs one time). After idling for about a minute or two, the smoke stopped.

Is this common since the car is old with high miles? It was sitting in the garage cool for a few days without being started while I changed everything. The radiator is not even two years old, my heat gauge was within normal limits. The exhaust is roughly two years old as well.

I did some research and I just want to make sure it is ok to drive. Some things I read about is there it could either be, I put too much oil it or there could be a blown head gasket somewhere?

Any insight on this will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.
Michael

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

It was more than likely just residual oil that had gotten on your exhaust while you were doing the pan swap. It happens. Double check your coolant and oil levels, though, and keep an eye on them both until next oil change, just to be safe. Best practice for owning any car is to check both whenever you fill the gas tank.

mwblank

I topped off the antifreeze and the oil levels are topped off. The best thing is there is no more slow oil leaking from the pan. I just wanted to ensure that nothing drastic could be wrong with it. It was just a little concerning to me to see smoke and a little burning smell. I check my oil levels and coolant at least 2-3 times a month. It's a great car, but I was losing oil slowly and changing it was a pain because of the stripped threads in my oil pan. When I took my old oil pan off, I found a piece from a pansaver oil plug. I am never going to those quick lube places again. I usually change my own oil, but I did not have access to a garage for a couple years.

How long should it take for the smoke to stop? Just driving it a few miles until the oil burns?

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

If I'm right about it just being residual on the exhaust, it should be cleared up after 5 minutes on the highway.

Former User