I had the car cool for about 45 minutes before doing this oil change. I have 500 miles of use with this oil....
First two pictures are from the top view with the oil bucket full. The last picture is of the oil bucket empty with a little left over oil in it.

 

Background Info.

White Smoke Came Out The Exhaust For a Short While « » 4:33 PM 11/14/2004 Reply Edit

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Yesterday a group of honda people ran a canyon run. The car was ran pretty hard (mostly 2nd gear) for about 15-30 minutes straight on the road. A shortwhile after the canyon run...everyone pulled over and stopped. I opened the hood quickly to let some of this hot air out......I noticed I was leaking a little bit of radiator fluid out the top of the reserve tank...and the fluid was much higher than when the engine was cold. (the toyota behind me was overflowing his radiator fluid). The temp gage didn't move at all.....but we probably climbed over 2,000-3,000 feet from the ocean we started at.
Since the guy overflowed his radiator...or something was wrong with his car..everyone decided to go back to the gas station and check it out...refill his radiator with water.

I noticed small/medium puffs of WHITE smoke coming out of my tail pipe at random moments when we slowly went back to the gas station. It was kinda farting out little/medium clouds of white smoke. On the way back....we probably dropped 2-3000 feet at a very rapid rate (8% decline). I was wondering if there was anyway some radiator fluid might have gotten into the cylinders since the car was pressured...then shut off....instead of a slow cool down...or the pressure effected it.

Most of the white smoke came out at the bottom of the mountain...near the ocean on the ride back.


It kind of scared me....so I made the 70-80 mile ride home from the canyon roads.....the car performed normal....no white smoke at all....and everything was hunky dory.


Q) Should I get my car checked out? Is something wrong? Why did white smoke happen to come out of my exhaust at that time?

 

more back ground.


well.....I drove the car hard for a good 30 minutes or so.....then we got to the top of the mtn...(climbed 3000 ft or more) and everyone shut their cars off to relax and talk about the mtn we just climbed. We drove easy on the way back to the gas station from the top of the mtn. We got to the bottom of the mtn and while going 50MPH in 5th gear.....my car started to release white smoke from the tail pipe. It was kind of farting it out.....nut billowing it out....but puffed it out in spurts at a time. The car was essentially the same power with or without the smoke. I did however see some radiator fluid that had leaked out from the reserve tank. at the top of the mtn...when the car was shut off.

The smoke looked almost white....I think it gave a different color brownish tint inside the exhaust tip....from what I remember. Other people behind me confirmed it was a white cloud....with not really a hint of blue.......I was at about 2500rpms and I am running a test pipe.

could be a blown HG....i checked my radiator fluid and its as clean as can be. I do see some very minute bubbles on the dip stick after driving the car....which could be from normal driving(never paid THAT close attention to it before).

I'll check the oil again.....(300 miles on the oil change) to see if water is in the oil.

could white smoke come from unburnt fuel? I am running a test pipe.

 

Nice write-up

As for the oil, personally, I think it looks like you have coolant int he oil. That most likely means you blew a ehad gasket.

The bubbles you see in the oil should not be there. That is a sign of coolant being in the oil. Not only that, you said that it was blowing white smoke out of the exhaust; another sign of coolant being in the oil.

I hope I am wrong. Good luck.

EDIT: Stop with the canyon runs. You are just messing up your car, putting yourself, and others at risk, and just being out right irresponsible. Take it to a track.

 

What you should do it pour what you got in that bucket into a clear container and see if there are different levels. i.e. an oil level and coolant level. The two fluids will not mix. Or just stir up that bucket and take a sample in a clear bottle. If you can see a coolant level and an oil level it might lead to some conclusions.

 

I poured a lot into a milk jug....and poured the rest into another milk jug. I just went to look at the partially filled one....and it looks like its completly filled with oil. Thats the more likely one to contain water as well....since water is more dense than oil...it also should condense together..since its a hydrogen bond for intramolecular forces.

 

It looks like tranny oil to me.. why is it redish?

 

am i the only one noticing the shiny flakes in the oil?

i'm guessing the head gasket blew, but i'm wondering what else is going...

 

its redish because my car is red...and its a reflection of my car onto the oil.

 

I noticed it...thats why I took that last picture.

 

Sounds like a very small imperfection in your head gasket, block, or head (where they all meet). I know auto places can test for this. I'd just go ahead and change the gasket. Then you can look at the head and block mating surfaces to make sure there are no imperfections in them. If there is, you'll have to get it decked (I think that's what they call it).

Does your temp ever rise? Usually it will do to either loss of coolant (that white stuff going out the exhaust) or if your combustion makes it into the coolant system heating it up (evaporates it)...

 

I have noticed no loss in coolant....and also no white smoke ever since the canyon runs.

I only noticed the white smoke at the bottom of the mtn the one time....I pulled over and checked it out....saw nothing.

Then I started the car back up and went to the gas station....it smoked a little bit there as well. After that...I never saw any white smoke.

So....I am thoroughly confused.....I think I am going to get a compression test down and see if the numbers are good all across the test....if not...I might need to do a leak down to find where the problem is.

I'll go saterday.

I was also talking with the guy who is going to do the compression test...he is skeptical about it being a head gasket. He has never seen a head gasket blow on a honda....they are made from strong metal. He said..Maybe the head is warped or something else is wrong......

I have yet to see my temp gauge even budge.....so I know it hasn't been running hot.

 

Mine did the same thing for about a week. I could have sworn i had bad valve seats or something. Then out of no where, it doesnt do it anymore. I too have a test pipe. At this point, i think it may have been condensation being burned off in my case, but you have some pretty good size metal flakes in your oil. Have you checked to see if they are magnetic? Oil looks like it is slightly tinted green. Flakes could very well be pieces of head gasket, or another more serious problem.

Do a wet and dry compression test just to be absolutely sure its nothing horrible.

 

get an oil analysis : :

 

It can happen that the headgasket blew and you experienced coolant, they resealed itself after it cooled down. Know that the headgasket it weak though. A good way to test is to put your hand infront of the tailpipe and feel the exhaust. If you get moisture on your hand, even a little, you HG is on its way out and its best to get that replaced before you overheat and warp the head.

 

so.....warm the car up to operating temp and see if any moisture is coming out the exhaust.....because we all know moisture comes out the exhaust when the engine hasn't been run for a while.


I think the best way to tell would probably be a compression test.....and see if anyone cylinder is different than another. I don't know the specs off hand....but if the compression is like 10PSI different from anyone cylinder...something is wrong....I don't know what the spec is but it falls on the lines of that theory.

Then I'll run a leak down test if the compression test fails to meet the specification call out. This should pinpoint the problem...correct?

 

taste the oil (DONT SWALLOW!!!)

If it tastes sweet it means there is coolant in your oil...

just please make sure to rince your mouth after and dont swallow!

 

umm, dont do that. dont get oil or coolant or fuel or anything near your mouth.

it looks tinted green. Also, bubbles are a sign of water or some outside substance as oil does not bubble up like that.

 

that was my first instinct of something forgien being in the oil. I don't recall my oil ever being bubbly like that.........Hopefully you can help me out with this whole compression test deal?

 

check for milkshake like material around places like under the valve cover, on the back of the radiator cap, etc. do a compression test. Sounds and looks like you've got a blown headgasket but it could be something else.

 

Ill come on by this weekend and we will do your compression test and stuff. Ill check out all your stuff. We can pull your valvecover if you want as well, i got a brand new one and some hondabond i will seel to you.

 

I would also taste the oil for a sweet taste. Just a little bit and spit it out afterwards, no harm done.

Where are the metal flakes? Only the top pic is workin for me.

I would do the UV dye thing still. It doesn't look that bad aside from the bubbles that shouldn't be there.

Newer Honda headgaskets are hard to blow, but they can go occasionally