Smoking car
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 289
Likes: 0
From: The wrong side of the Atlantic ocean
Here we are...I removed half a liter of oil and now its within limits...
I went for a drive in order to check. I drove for 40 minutes, 30 minutes in city and the rest on highway. The last 15 minutes the oil temp was above 210°F.
the "smoke effect" didn't occured as it did last time but when I stopped I could see some thin smoke coming from the firewall area...
What do you guys think ? Do I have a real problem or was it just because of the excess of oil ?
I went for a drive in order to check. I drove for 40 minutes, 30 minutes in city and the rest on highway. The last 15 minutes the oil temp was above 210°F.
the "smoke effect" didn't occured as it did last time but when I stopped I could see some thin smoke coming from the firewall area...
What do you guys think ? Do I have a real problem or was it just because of the excess of oil ?
Racer
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 286
Likes: 0
From: Alpine California
My #1 thought the whole time has been that you may have a small leak somewhere, and the higher oil level mave had made it noticeable, where as it never was before. Sorry I didn't get back to you yesterday, ended up being out in the field all day. As far as oil in the coolant tank, it's not a likely scenario, because the # 1 place they can come in contact with each others (the cylinder heads) the coolant is underpressure (16 to 20#'s, whatever the radiator cap is rated at), and the oil is not under any pressure at all (in the cylinder head region, anyway), so coolant end's up in the oil, not vice versa. Just keep a close eye on the oil level (I'm sure your already doing that), and see if it goes back up.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 8,753
Likes: 9
From: Louisiana
I too think that the oil level being overfilled can cause oil to leak out of places it wouldn't usually leak. Make sure all the fluid levels are normal and just watch for something like this again.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 289
Likes: 0
From: The wrong side of the Atlantic ocean
Well guys, thank you for all your feedbacks...here is an update on my smoking story:
After I put back half a liter of oil I decided to go for a 3.5 hours trip (I first checked it on a one hour drive, which was satisfactory...).
The 3.5 hour trip went smokeless...so were the 2 days that followed, I then drove the car 250 miles without any smoke or so...
I then felt
but the following day, I drove 20 miles and...the car smoked again 
. It didn't smoke for 250 miles before and then it did it again. I simply don't understand what happens.
The only think I noticed is a large puddle of something looking like water under the righthand side of the hood afet leaving the car an hour...50 inch large, it look likes it comes from the a/c but I never saw an a/c dripping like this.
The most surprising thing is that today I drove again 3.5 hours (I had to come back from my trip
) and no smoke...
Help me guys, I have no idea of what happen...Do you think this can be an a/c related issue?
Thnks
After I put back half a liter of oil I decided to go for a 3.5 hours trip (I first checked it on a one hour drive, which was satisfactory...).
The 3.5 hour trip went smokeless...so were the 2 days that followed, I then drove the car 250 miles without any smoke or so...
I then felt
but the following day, I drove 20 miles and...the car smoked again . It didn't smoke for 250 miles before and then it did it again. I simply don't understand what happens.The only think I noticed is a large puddle of something looking like water under the righthand side of the hood afet leaving the car an hour...50 inch large, it look likes it comes from the a/c but I never saw an a/c dripping like this.
The most surprising thing is that today I drove again 3.5 hours (I had to come back from my trip
) and no smoke...Help me guys, I have no idea of what happen...Do you think this can be an a/c related issue?
Thnks
Racer
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 286
Likes: 0
From: Alpine California
This is just a possible, but when I worked at Mercedes Benz, they used to have a lot of problems with the evap. box drains clogging up. We used to put the cars up on a lift and (carefully) run a straightened coat hanger up the tubes to unclog them. Got some pretty nasty looking mossy stuff out of a few of them. If the smoke is actually steam, it could be this. An easy way to tell is steam usually condenses and disappears really quickly after hitting the atmosphere, where as smoke will kinda drift along and dissapate more slowly. Wouldn't hurt to try cleaning the drains, just don't get so vigerous that you punch a hole in the evap. core, You REALLY don't wanna go there! I'd put a 90 degree bend in the end about a quarter inch long so theres no sharp point at the end. Hope this helps!
