Help! Car problems w/ smoke

Yomicron

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2002
1,735
1
81
I don't know too much about cars but I do know this, smoke from under the hood isn't all that good.

I have an '87 Honda Accord, Automatic ( this car has a carburator )

I was driving home tonight and when I got home, there was a noticable amount of greyish smoke coming from under the hood. I did some quick searchin on google and found mention of blue smoke, so my first question is how blue is blue? This smoke was grey and I personally wouldn't describe it as blueish. I checked under the hood and it appears as if the smoke is coming from under the engine block, but I wasn't able to see it very well. ( Its not very bright out at 9:30pm ) All of my gauges are fine, temp is normal no oil light, etc... I checked the oil and am about 1/2 full. Its been about 4000 miles since an Oil change (I know, do it every 3000) and have it schedualed to be changed later this week. More not so good news: I have to drive about 250 more miles ( all highway ) before I get the oil changed.

Oh ya, there was a not too good smell also, unfortuniatly I am unable to describe what it smelt like.


Any help in solving this would be GREATLY appreciated,
Yomicron
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0
Was the "not too good smell" possibly coolant?

Open the radiator - is it full?

The msot common "smoke" from under the hood is actaully steam. Even if the temp gauge looked good, still check the coolant level. If it's low, you'll have to figure out where you're losing coolant. If it's not coolnat, it's likely something more expensive.
 

Yomicron

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2002
1,735
1
81
I just checked my radiator, its full, but I can't check the resivor tank, becaues it is conveniently located under the battery.

The coolant could have been described as foggy but the green from the antifreeze makes it hard to tell.
I tried to see if the oil looked milky but I think I'm going to have to wait untill tomorrow afternoon to get a better look.



Thank you for all your help,
Yomicron
 

Yomicron

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2002
1,735
1
81
I was just out looking at the car. The oil level is well within the recommended levels and it looks and feels just like oil should. It is my understanding that the coolant should be pretty close to clear, as far as I can tell, my coolant is not.
There is some oil leaking from under the car, but not too much.

So, do you guys think that it will be a major problem if I drive it about another 250 miles before anyone looks at it?

Also are there any other suggestions?

Thanks,
Yomicron
 

notfred

Lifer
Feb 12, 2001
38,241
4
0


<< I just checked my radiator, its full, but I can't check the resivor tank, becaues it is conveniently located under the battery. >>



Damn hondas, I hate them. You can't change the oil filter on my girlfriend's CRX without getting under the car, as they decided that it would be a godd iea to put the filter underneath the exhaust manifold.

Did it do anything else besides smoke? How long did it smoke for? Start the car up in the driveway and let it idle till it gets warm, see if it smokes. If it doesn't drive it around the block a few times, if it still doesn't smoke you're probably OK, although I'd go easy on it.

Check and see if maybe you have oil dripping onto an exhaust pipe or something, that could make it smoke.
 

Shaftatplanetquake

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2000
3,089
0
76
Why can't it just be a busted radiator hose?

Thats what happened to me a few months back, no big deal- just a hose might be leaking fluid and it hits the hot engine and smokes up.
 

ThaGrandCow

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2001
7,956
2
0
My 88 Honda Prelude had the exact same problems you're having. Check your high pressure power steering hose. That's what my problem was. The hose busted and started dripping power steering fluid onto the hot engine block. All the guages were fine, and I couldn't even tell that the power steering was losing fluid.
 

PsychoAndy

Lifer
Dec 31, 2000
10,735
0
0


<< My 88 Honda Prelude had the exact same problems you're having. Check your high pressure power steering hose. That's what my problem was. The hose busted and started dripping power steering fluid onto the hot engine block. All the guages were fine, and I couldn't even tell that the power steering was losing fluid. >>



yeah, until you lose complete and utter control of your car and crash.....
rolleye.gif
 

Yomicron

Golden Member
Mar 5, 2002
1,735
1
81
okay, I started the car up and after it was warmed up, I started to see a little smoke. So I then turned it off and looked under the car. I noticed some new oil drops, so I jacked to try to see where it was leaking from, and sure enough it seems to be dripping rom the exaust pipe. I would assume that this has been happening for quite a while, but now there is enough oil on the exaust pipe that the smoke has become noticable.

Assuming this is whats happening, is there any harm with driving it untill I can fix the leak?