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what would cause tons of white smoke

ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
took my car in for a regular oil change saturday. as i was bringing it home it started belching white smoke out the tail pipe. it was way down on power, and the transmission didn't want to be in the proper gear. like, in third taking off from a stop.

i took it back to the place that did the change. they checked the oil level, drained the oil they'd just put in it, put new oil back in it. brought it down off the lift, started it up, and it was belching white smoke still. turned it off, checked the level again. turned it back on, left with it to drive whatever was in it out. came back a few minutes later and it was fine.

i've been going to the same place for the last year and a half, and as far as i know they've always used the same bulk oil. the replaced oil was done with a special order, said it was synthetic.

they said they hadn't messed with the coolant. the stuff that came out of the engine when they drained it was definitely oil.
 
That's odd. Usually trans in 3rd means limp mode and white smoke is a sign of burning coolant (blown headgasket).

The fact that everything returned to normal after another change is very odd.
 
Was it white smoke, or blue smoke? I know its hard to tell the difference, but it could be that your piston rings don't like the fresh oil and are leaking. How many miles on the engine, and have you checked your plugs recently?
 
If the car is a automatic. The membram in the vacuum modulator is broken and the engine is sucking it transfluid in to the engine and burning it, with smoke
 
My bet is that they overfilled it, or filled it twice. I've heard of this happening in assembly-line places (usually dealerships) where one guy drains and another fills.... and the drain guy forgot to do his job.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
My bet is that they overfilled it, or filled it twice. I've heard of this happening in assembly-line places (usually dealerships) where one guy drains and another fills.... and the drain guy forgot to do his job.
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I concur. you could have some blown seals as a result of that, so keep an eye on things.
Wife's Niece's retard did something similar only worse: He drained the trans, then double filled the engine. Trans was toast!
 
SpatiallyAware said:
My bet is that they overfilled it, or filled it twice. I've heard of this happening in assembly-line places (usually dealerships) where one guy drains and another fills.... and the drain guy forgot to do his job.
Click to expand...

i had thought overfilled as well, but doesn't oil burn black?


it really looked white. blue is what comes out of my barbecue.


engine has about 42,000 miles on it.
 
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I would suggest getting your car checked-out ASAP to see if anything was damaged; they would be responsible if something was affected by their carelessness (presumably).
 
I helped a neighbor whose Chrysler minivan was misfiring at idle. There was a little bit of smoke out the tailpipe, but not much, and not too bad considering that is has high mileage. There had been a lot of oil leaking out the front valve cover - so much that it had formed crusty lava rock like formations on the exhaust manifold. We cleaned it, replaced plugs, changed the valve cover gaskets and it still ran like crap, missing at idle and absolutely no ability to rev above about 3k. Turns out that the oil pressure switch was bad and the low oil pressure lamp was lighting at idle. They thought the lamp meant low oil, so they just added more each time. I drained more than 16 quarts out - more than my empty oil container could hold. Nothing blown but the front valve cover gasket. I still can't believe they didn't lose a main seal or worse. Runs perfectly fine now, and passed emissions without issue.

Hope all remains well with your vehicle
 
ExarKun333 said:
I would suggest getting your car checked-out ASAP to see if anything was damaged; they would be responsible if something was affected by their carelessness (presumably).
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Huge +1. Does anyone know exactly what to look for in this situation? I know the entire engine is under more pressure, front/rear seals, valve cover gaskets, lots of places that could give under pressure. Wonder if the intake itself could get oil in it...
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Huge +1. Does anyone know exactly what to look for in this situation? I know the entire engine is under more pressure, front/rear seals, valve cover gaskets, lots of places that could give under pressure. Wonder if the intake itself could get oil in it...
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You would want to check seals, piston ring, etc (as suggested by others in the thread).

A friend of mine had a 'situation' at a Jiffy Lube way back when I was in college. The tech forgot to tighten to oil filter and essentially the oil drained out almost immedately. Unfortunately, it was my friend's wife who took the car for the oil change, and drove it for 3-4 days until he happened to notice the low oil light was on the next time he drove the car. She said it had been on for a couple days (!!). The engine was essentially out of oil and was just lubricated with what was on the parts, but no actual pressure.

Long story short, my friend had to work with the JL owner and they paid for a tech from the Toyota dealer to tear apart the engine to verify everything was OK. That was pretty fair from the side of the JL owner, and they often to replace a number of seals 'just in case' while the engine was in pieces. It was not a great situation, but because they handled it right away and worked with a third-party to make sure the engine was good, I think it worked out OK for everyone. Who knows how it might have gone down if something was seriously wrong, but my buddy was ready to ask for a replacement engine or vehicle if that was the case. Their car was only 1.5 years old, so they had a lot riding on it.

Others here with more technical experience might be able to provide more expertise. As with a lot of situations, don't wait on it and act quickly to make sure your rights are protected.
 
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ExarKun333 said:
You would want to check seals, piston ring, etc (as suggested by others in the thread).

A friend of mine had a 'situation' at a Jiffy Lube way back when I was in college. The tech forgot to tighten to oil filter and essentially the oil drained out almost immedately. Unfortunately, it was my friend's wife who took the car for the oil change, and drove it for 3-4 days until he happened to notice the low oil light was on the next time he drove the car. She said it had been on for a couple days (!!). The engine was essentially out of oil and was just lubricated with what was on the parts, but no actual pressure.

Long story short, my friend had to work with the JL owner and they paid for a tech from the Toyota dealer to tear apart the engine to verify everything was OK. That was pretty fair from the side of the JL owner, and they often to replace a number of seals 'just in case' while the engine was in pieces. It was not a great situation, but because they handled it right away and worked with a third-party to make sure the engine was good, I think it worked out OK for everyone. Who knows how it might have gone down if something was seriously wrong, but my buddy was ready to ask for a replacement engine or vehicle if that was the case. Their car was only 1.5 years old, so they had a lot riding on it.

Others here with more technical experience might be able to provide more expertise. As with a lot of situations, don't wait on it and act quickly to make sure your rights are protected.
Click to expand...

pokey.gif
 
dtgoodwin said:
I helped a neighbor whose Chrysler minivan was misfiring at idle. There was a little bit of smoke out the tailpipe, but not much, and not too bad considering that is has high mileage. There had been a lot of oil leaking out the front valve cover - so much that it had formed crusty lava rock like formations on the exhaust manifold. We cleaned it, replaced plugs, changed the valve cover gaskets and it still ran like crap, missing at idle and absolutely no ability to rev above about 3k. Turns out that the oil pressure switch was bad and the low oil pressure lamp was lighting at idle. They thought the lamp meant low oil, so they just added more each time. I drained more than 16 quarts out - more than my empty oil container could hold. Nothing blown but the front valve cover gasket. I still can't believe they didn't lose a main seal or worse. Runs perfectly fine now, and passed emissions without issue.

Hope all remains well with your vehicle
Click to expand...

Can't believe it would hold over 4 gallons of oil, or anywhere close to that amount, let alone run at all with that much oil in it.
 
LTC8K6 said:
Can't believe it would hold over 4 gallons of oil, or anywhere close to that amount, let alone run at all with that much oil in it.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't have believed it myself if I didn't see it. When I checked the oil level, it was about half-way up the dipstick. It was very foamy. Starting it should have given me an indication - it really struggled to crank the engine over. I'm sure that the it was up into the valley area. It did take a while for it to all drain out. 20 minutes and it was still not down to drips.
 
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