I just bought a 1990 honda accord with 158,000 miles. I had the oile changed on Sunday and today when I started the car white smoke poured out of it. However, the car is not running hot.

Please help

 

white smoke can be burning oil or coolant.....depending on the shade of white......but i cant quiet remember exactly, so im not 100% sure

 

If exhaust is white and it's slightly sweet smelling, then it's probably coolant. What kind of oil did you replace it with? If you used synthetic, that might be your problem. The previous owner probably wasn't very good with his oil changes so there's been gunk that built up and plugged all the holes that eventually form in the engine. The synthetic is loaded with detergents so it cleans out all the gunk leaving the holes open again (this is why they say if you've been running an engine on dino juice for over 100k, avoid swtiching over). Looks like you'll have to get into the engine to replace all the seals which are probably cracked.

 

Take your finger and smear the inside of your exhaust tip. Is it oily?

fs

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOhp101 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The synthetic is loaded with detergents so it cleans out all the gunk leaving the holes open again (this is why they say if you've been running an engine on dino juice for over 100k, avoid swtiching over).</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, they say that because they don't know what they're talking about...I switched from the dino juice to synthetic at 248,852 miles in my 91 Accord...I haven't burned or lost any oil since the switch and I'm at 251,000 now....this myth is as bad as "you need backpressure". Just let it die please.

 

If you notice I told him first off that it was probably because of bad maintenance, which leads to sludge building up and filling up those cracks in the system. You've probably taken care of your engine well and did all the necessary steps to keep it in great shape. In all the experiences I've had with older cars where I didn't know the maintenance history, as soon as i switched to synthetic white smoke appeared.

Just because in your situation it didn't happen to you doesn't mean that it won't happen in everyone else's car and that it's a myth. Most people that state this note that this does not apply to everyone, but it does happen often.

 

Well then you cannot contribute the leaking due to switching to synthetic...you contribute it to improper maintenance....so next time you hear a story of someone switching over, tell them it's because they didn't maintain the engine correctly...that's my point....switching oils does not cause leaking, bad seals cause leaking...

 

You can contribute it to both (but yes, it would lean more towards improper maintenance). Synthetic oil just makes the problems in the engine apparent. Most people just say "synthetic oil causes it" because they assume that other people aren't stupid enough to think that synthetic oil is at fault.

A better analogy to get what I'm saying is adding a turbo/supercharger without changing suspension. The stock suspension probably won't be able to handle the stress of having that extra power and will break quickly. Of course, it isn't the turbo/supercharger's fault, but the fact that the suspension parts cannot handle it. Yet people still will "blame" the turbo for causing that problem.