Today when i got home from school i popped the hood to see my oil level. When i took

the dip stick out i noticed there was some white steam coming from under the valve

cover.

Is this normal?

88 civic lx original engine

 

No its not normal....White smoke is coolant

 

Coming from under the valve cover?? Hmmm doesnt sound normal, thats for sure.....check your coolant level. Is there white smoke coming from the exhaust also? You might have a blown headgasket.....need more details though.

 

in the morning i see white smoke then in the day there some blue because it burns oil.

the steam comes through or under the valve cover....

car runs great and has idles at 700 rpm all the time

any ideas?

 

maybe it isnt white smoke? maybe its just oil burning from a bad valve cover gasket or maybe the valve cover isnt tightend down...cause thats how mine came,,all the bolts that hold the valve cover were loose thanks to previous owner

 

its steam not smoke

steam like from hot food

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ck123 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">its steam not smoke

steam like from hot food</TD></TR></TABLE>

Uh....like the other guy said, make sure all the bolts are tightened down....but I dont know y steam would come from the valve cover......

 

any time i've ever popped my oil cap or pulled my dipstick when the engine was good and warm on the 3 piece of ****'s ive owned so far, they had this mysterious "white steam" that you speak of...and oddly enough they all burned oil as well....i know thats not an answer to your question, but it probably has something to do with the fact that your burning oil...so i would be fixing that problem...cuz 2 of the 3 of mine blew up and i didnt really beat on them at all...

however, people that saw this "steam" whenever i was adding oil said that was normal for a warm motor???

 

^ i would also like to know if its normal

 

I think the steam from a warm motor coming from the oil cap is normal......but not under the valve cover.

 

it started coming out after i pulled the dip stick.....

how do check coolant level? wheres the dipstick for that

thanks

 

theres no dipstick for your coolant level...you just gotta "eyeball" it...when the car is cool, pop the radiator cap and see if there is coolant visible...if not, then add pre-mixed coolant until it reaches the top of the radiator....also....before you add coolant, check the oil again...if on the dipstick the oil is unusually runny, milky looking, or **** brown color rather than black, then you more than likely have oil and coolant mixing, which is either a bad headgasket or a cracked head

 

More then likely a cracked hose right before the head, causing it to leak out slowly onto a hot engine making it smoke from around the valve cover. I had 2 hoses burst on me in a 2 month period with my old 1.5. The lower rad hose blew up on the highway and I leaked 2 liters of coolant before any smoke came out of anywhere, needle didn't budge cause I caught it in time.

The other time a hose in the back of the intake manifold crached and leaked a little bit of coolant onto my head, man, for the like .3L of coolant that got out, it smoked like a ***** cause it all went onto a hot engine.