My son's 91 Honda Civic DX, 80k orig miles, just had distributor & spark plugs etc replaced. The shop told him (and he already knew) that he was leaking oil. Now, ever since the had the work done (and not before) his car is putting out ALOT of blue exhaust when it gets up to higher speeds. He is away at college & we were going to drive it 2hrs on highway to bring it home for our repairman but 10 miles & the exhaust was terrible & CHECK ENGINE light came on. Turned around & took back to repair shop. Shop came recommended but we really know nothing about this place. Any idea what it is so when he takes it in, he can act not so ignorant *ha and have a better idea if they are sheisters or not? Thanks

 

Whats the "etc" that was replaced? Could be important.

 

take it back to shop and make them fix it.

 

I'm betting that the valve cover gasket has been leaking oil into the spark plug wells (the shop said he had leaks). when they changed the plugs the oil drained into the cylinders. depending on how much oil accumulated in the plug wells, this can produce A LOT of smoke and can take a bit of heavy throttle driving to clear it out.

 

Recomended by who? Why don't you go with him to "supervise"? Check the codes and let us know what they are... There is a high possibility it's just what "ic" said, but that wouldn't throw a CEL - unless his O2 got ruined in the process.

 

Some answers to questions you guys had.

The receipts for the work the other garage did are with the car so I don't know exactly what else was done. He did get a new battery but I think these were the main repairs that were done.

I can't go with him because he is hours away at college. The garage that he took it to first was recommended by a professor & his former resident advisor. It is on the grounds of the university & since the car had to be towed, he went that route.

N3va3vaSatisfi3d, Sorry but what is a "O2"? I am here because I know only the basics alot about cars! lol. This new place was recommended by 2 people he works with and a neighbor of his this year.

 

Well not to be rude, but just let the shop help/screw you. If you don't know what an O2 sensor is, I am not sure I can help explain stuff in a matter that would be benificial in helping your child. I understand that being "mechanically inclined" doesn't come natural to everyone - but these are the basics of the basics - batteries, tune-ups, O2 sensors... ect. that even the average yuppie attempts.

What was done is done - the only thing you can do from this point on is check the codes on the ECU and attempt to take matters in your own hands or let the shop take care of it.

 

Wow...thank you to those who happily have tried to help without judgement. To N3va3vaSatisfi3d, When you feel the need to say "not to be rude" - it is apparent that you, indeed are going to be rude.

FYI I am not a "yuppie", I am a woman, a recent widow raising 3 kids younger than the college freshman, who is TRYING to learn these things. That is WHY I asked what an O2 is. You did not say it is a sensor. It is difficult enough to do all this & I really do not need someone at this point being a smart alec when I ask for help. I hold down 3 jobs to help put my son through college. I cannot afford to take off work from 2 jobs to drive hours away to babysit a mechanic that I would hope could be trusted. Thank you again to the kind people who have responded. I asked here because it was Sunday night & my repairman is closed Sun & Mon. But the car is at the out of town shop today so I wanted to be able to give my son SOMETHING to go on. I will check with my mechanic tomorrow.

 

Correction: Sophomore, not a Freshman --- still not used to that.

 

it is admirable that you want to help your son and you have gone so far to work the jobs, but it sounds like this is something he will need to man up on and learn to make the decisions needed to maintain his car. You can always check the BBB for that area and make sure the shop is involved with that and has no history of complaints.

how much of an interest or aptitude does your son have in mechanical things? it may be worth while for him to pick up a manual for the car as many of the little maintenance things are easy to do, and even if he does not have the skill to turn wrenches he can at least get familiar with how the car works and be able to communicate with the mechanic better.

ic has the best description of what is likely so far, however other things are possible. Honestly though at this point it will take someone checking the codes, which is actually very simple, probably even counting light flashes through the window on the engine computer. the engine computer is located under the carpet in the passenger footwell.
the other thing that needs to be done is determine where the oil is coming from, as far as leaks and also how it is ending up in the exhaust.

 

+1 Ive seen this countless times. Best bet is to take it on that 2 hour drive home, if this is the case it should burn off most of the oil in the cylinders.

Also, be sure the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve has been changed- they usually cost less than $10 and a 'nice' mechanic will provide the labor for free if other work is being done (it is right on top and super easy to change). If it is stuck this could cause crankcase pressure to build and stop the oil rings from properly cleaning the cylinder walls. Further down the road it can blow out oil seals too.

Good luck!

 

hahaha.....welcome to honda-tech...and actually, he wasn't being rude, you'll know when he is

 

He wasn'y being rude, he was just being honest. At this point if you don't know what an O2 sensor is, then its highly doubtful that you will be able to repair anything yourself, let alone help us diagnose it for you.

There's no need to tell us about your 3 kids or your 3 jobs. While we may sympathize with your situation, its not going to make it any easier to fix your car.

 

Being that low of mileage my guess would be oil leaking into the spark plug holes. If they removed the valve cover which is likely, they could have either damaged or failed to replace the spark plug seals. This would cause oil to leak into the spark plugs. Normally oil won't get into the combustion chamber unless the spark plugs are loose. Pretty simple to check if you pull off a spark plug wire and it is coated in oil. If not then it is either piston rings or valve stem seals but being such low mileage the motor should not have those kind of problems until at least 150-200k miles. And on a side note the o2 sensor is an Oxygen sensor on the exhaust that tells the computer to add or remove fuel so that it does not run too rich or lean.