Help? Car is blowing white smoke

[MM93]

Ok i got my oil change yesterday after noon. Before that there was no smoke.
right after there was no smoke.
Until the drive into work this moring i notcied smoke what i steped on the gas.
i tihnk i changed the type of oil as well....from a 10w-5w but not sure if that would do anything??....Any coments or suggestions would be great!
MM

[Chadxton]

White? Not blue or black?

White usually is a sign of water vapour. Does it have a bluish tinge to it or anything?

Because my car is boosted, it pretty much billows white smoke out of the exhaust when I gun it, but only for a bit until its warmed up. And I know all that white smoke is just water vapour. Unless it's excessive or constant, I wouldn't immediately worry about it.

[MM93]

ok so it was probably just cold enough this morning .........i am going to check when i go for lunch..thanks thats a relief

[rage2]

White smoke can be coolant too... do you smell anything weird? Coolant is a strong smell, even a little bit of coolant smoke you'll notice it's scent.

[benyl]

Originally posted by MM93
ok so it was probably just cold enough this morning .........i am going to check when i go for lunch..thanks thats a relief

If it lasted all the way to work, then you probably have a problem. When it is cold, it should only last until the car is warmed up.

[sputnik]

Did the oil change guys put "engine cleaner" through the engine?

Does the smoke smell like coolant, oil or gas?

[Ducati]

All of the above are good comments.
White smoke is not a sign of a problem in the combustion chamber or valvetrain, and as it just started happening, seems unlikely to be coolant getting into the upper cylinders. However, yank a few plugs and see what they look like. Are they wet? What is on them? Fluffy graphite grey deposits are normal, Wet plugs aren't.

Maybe you are just being a bit more observant now that you have serviced your car. White smoke is normal until the engine reaches operating temperature, and that can take up to 20 minutes with some engines.

Yank a few plugs.

[core_upt]

If it is a thicker white smoke that appears on acceleration and it has a strong scet, kinda sweet smelling, its coolant. Does your car seem to be running hotter than normal too, ie overheating?

This could be a blown headgasket, wouldn't surprise me on a 93 Honda. If this is the problem and you want a dealer to fix it, take your car to High River Honda, it'll be cheaper than anywhere in the city.

Although if you just got your oil changed, it could just be some burnoff. Wait a few days and see what happens.

[lancer_evo_7]

Another thing, if your car has high km on it, and youve been running regular oil, and switched to synthetic...that can burn a bit. happened in a prelude i had, switched to synthetic and it started burning it.

[MM93]

it seems to have gone away i was just alarmed cuase my car was started when i was walking up to it this morning as it always is, but smoke was coming out. And the fisrt thing that came to mind was "what did they do to my car"
Thanks for helping me see the light.
MM

[Chadxton]

It's fun to watch all the white smoke pour out at WOT in a turbo car. :D

[mauietta]

My car is doing the same thing. The oil is not creamy looking, just black/clearish (needs oil change), and the white smoke does not smell sweet or like anti-freeze... When I start my car, it takes about 20 seconds, then the smoke starts billowing... lasts until the car warms up. This only started after I put oil in the car last week. I think I put too much.... The car does overheat, but only when I am stuck in traffic. I only use the car to take kids to school daily, (which means sitting in traffic for about 10 minutes each day)... I keep the heat on, so the temp stays down, and come right home... I am thinking that I have a blown head gasket, but since I don't drive it much, it hasn't had a chance to mix in with my oil to change the color... Is that possible? Or can putting too much oil in do this? The car recently had a new radiator (had hole), fuel pump and filter (had been dying), alternator, battery and computer. It is a 1993 Saturn with over 200,000 miles. The car was given to me by family... and I am still paying for the repairs.
Help? Single mom who just moved to the middle of no-where...

[AllGoNoShow]

Don't overfill your oil! You will end up with more problems then just white smoke, the oil will bubble etc.. and cause your gaskets some issues then you will NEED them replaced and you will have a very nice bill from a willing mechanic to fix it.

[@lchy]

Yea, too much oil is not such a good thing. It will soak your gaskets and that is certainly not good for them. If the smoke is blue, its probably just the excess oil burning off. I have no experience with black smoke, possibly really dirty oil burning off? With the heating thing, check your coolant levels first.

[QuasarCav]

Black smoke is excess fuel from running way to rich.