hmmm big cloud of smoke from my exhaust

[cymru-corrado 0]

was on my way to work this morn and heading up a small hill went from 2nd to 3rd accelerated upto 40ish then all of a sudden this big ploom of smoke came out the back of my exhaust for about 10secs then went.......

.....came back to my car after work and there was a trail of oil near the drivers side front splitter, i checked the level and the mark was about 1 inch above the max mark.so im presuming there's too much oil in it which caused the smoke.

 

question.

is the smoke serious?

and how will to much oil affect the car?

 

ps car was fine driving home and too work apart form the 10 second drama

[4stud 0]

1 inch! Yes mate far too much. It's breathing oil. Take a look at your air filter. Just empty some out for now. Dont know what this would of done to your cat.

[cymru-corrado 0]

dosent have a cat its a 1990 1.8 16v

 

is there an easier way to get some out without jacking up and letting it out the sump?

[RW1 0]

There are electric drill pumps and going down the dip stick tube around but the cost out weights just undoing the sump plug while cold and letting out about 1.5 ltrs and just topping up to the max mark with a little of the drained off oil.

 

It shouldn't really smoke that much with overfilling as you've done. It's a sign of piston rings which have seen better days but don't quite need overhauling yet..... another 10k to 25k miles perhaps. Keep an eye on the piston crowns through the spark plug holes at service time for black coking up due the oil getting up past the rings.

 

.

[ZippyVR6 0]

Big plumes of smoke>>>>>>> dont go to any pubs, You'll get fined.

[cymru-corrado 0]

sump plug shall have to be then.

it does have a leak anyway so will prob have dropped about 3/4 of a litre overnight i would expect.

[Roger Blassberg 0]

You could have blown the head gasket or the oil cooler could have failed internally; the apparent overfill of oil could in fact be water that has been drawn into the oil system. The plume of smoke may have been steam. Check that you are not losing coolant and that there are not signs of water in the oil (white emulsion, globules etc.

 

You didn't mention whether you have topped up the oil or not; an inch on the dipstick must represent around a litre. Too much oil can damage a catalytic converter, but judging from the picture of an "H" reg., you don't have a cat anyway.

 

Best wishes

RB

[cymru-corrado 0]

no cat and no water loss,

i think my oil cooler could be due for a change anyway so might get one tmrw,theres a trail of oil running down the street this morn which is from my car i would gather.its mixed in with the rain so its all bluey.

[cymru-corrado 0]

update its started smoking a little bit on idle now nothing major but noticeable compared to before.

 

how big a job are mew rings? as i can easily line up a new old kr lump for £280 delivered if its not worth fixing.

[Roger Blassberg 0]

Smoking at idle isn't, in my view, symptomatic of worn bores/rings unless there is a great deal more blue (i.e. oil) smoke at full chat. What colour is this smoke? If it's black, and the idle is rather lumpy, it is an over-rich fuel/air mixture. If it's steamy, it's condensation either due to a cold exhaust system or coolant getting out somehow. Oil smoke on the over-run indicates worn valve guides and/or seals.

 

How much oil is the engine using? A compression test may give you a clue to bore/ring wear.

 

If it comes to it, you can get the pistons out from the bottom if you remove the sump, but I doubt if you can get them back in that way without risking breaking a ring or two. Anyway you would want to check for bore wear which would be very difficult without removing the cylinder head.

 

Have you reduced the oil contents to the maximum level on the dipstick? Don't make any judgements until you have because there will be oil flying around all over the place in the crankcase if it's overfilled.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[cymru-corrado 0]

the oil level dropped to 1cm above max reading, and was at that level again this morn havent had time to empty abit.just started car up quickly to see what it was running like.

started ok then a few secs later sounded like it was about to die then started ticking over again fine.didnt leave it run long incase it gets even more engine damage.

[james_88 0]

Sounds like there's still a bit of oil in the engine, hence the bad idle? I would definately drain your oil to the correct level before making any conclusions.