I'm afraid something might be wrong.....

[nadodude111]

My car has had an oil leak since I bought the car. It did not burn oil, it for sure leaked it. Well the other day I stopped at a gas station to get some gas. As I was getting on the on ramp to the freeway, which is about 1/2 mile from the gas station, I looked in my drivers side mirror to see if I could merge into the lane and when I looked back I saw smoke coming from the rear. It then stopped as I picked up speed and havent seen it since, then again I havent really looked. This happened on wednesday, well about 20 minutes ago, I go to check the oil just to see if its a milky color and when i pulled the dipstick out, of course the oil is way low because I hadn't filled it in a while but there were whitish/yellowish/brownish looking bubbles. Do you think its because the oil is low? Or did I blow my headgasket? The car has been running fine by the way and the coolant looked fine....... Thanks. P.S. I am going to get an oil change tomorrow as I havent had one in about 4k miles.

[jlevie]

Seeing smoke from under the car in the presence of an oil leak isn't unusual. What happens is that oil gets on the exhaust and makes smoke as it burns off.

Drain the oil and see if it contains a milky emulsion. A lack of emulsion in the oil doesn't mean that there isn't a head gasket leak, but it does indicate that you don't have a leak bad enough to allow coolant to mix with the oil.

[nadodude111]

I just went to check the oil right now again and take some pics and I think I am just being paranoid. What I am really worried about is the oil level now after seeing the pictures. But can you guys see those microscopic bubbles? Sorry the quality of the pic is so bad. I couldnt even tell there was white bubbles on the dipstick until i held light and looked really closely. I test drove the car and the heater got hot really quickly like normal and there was no unusual smell what so ever. The car pulled really hard and quickly like it usually does and the engine temp was as far left on the blue so it was prob not the best idea to be flooring it but i had check, that was fun none the less haha. The car does not over heat and it has never gone past the mid line. I havent filled the coolant tank up in quite awhile either and the coolant light has not come on. So I think I am just being paranoid. If I wouldnt have seen that 2 sec of smoke while driving I wouldnt even be thinking about this......



Ok so I took the car out with a friend last night to see if we could diagnose this. I took the car to his house and it was only a 5 min drive from my house to his, so thats how much time the car warmed up, which is nothing. We let the car idle in front of his house late last night with a cool engine after I got there. When I revved it, white smoke came out so i stopped the engine and let it sit. The oil looked fine though and the heater was working perfectly. Later that night (about 2 hours later), my friend had to drop one of our other friends off at his dorm which was about a 20 mile drive from where we were at. I wanted to drive my car so they could see if it was blowing smoke during the drive. Well for the first 2 miles it had stuff coming out the back but when the temp got to the middle, it stopped smoking and the car was fine. I told my friend I was going to pass him and for them to look and see if it was smoking. I passed them and they said it ran real clean with no smoke. So then I floored it and white smoke came out for like a sec or 2 and then it stopped. On the way to the dorm I had to stop for some gas, and the car seemed fine, it started perfectly fine and everything. But I did notice the temp started to rise just a tad past the half way mark and it was stayed there on the way to the dorm. Then when we got to the dorm, which was about 5 miles away I turned the car off but when I went to start it, it wouldnt start at all, it just clicked, clicked and more clicking. My friend jump started it and it turned on fine. I have never encountered this problem before and it started perfectly fine at the gas station. As we were leaving I noticed the check light was on but I was hitting the brake pedal and I was like why is the check light not going out, so I looked at the check panel and it said it needed oil. So I immediately shut the engine off stupidly not thinking that we would have to jump it again. Of course when I try and start it, it just clicks and all the lights in the car go way dim and the clock and radio shut off like last time. We couldnt stop at a walmart for oil because it was 3 in the morning, so he gave me a bottle of 5-20 oil we looked for a milky sludge on the oil cap but it was brown and it looked like it normal. Anyways, he jumped it again and we let it idle and i revved it and my friend said there was no smoke what so ever coming out the back , but i did notice the temp was starting to rise. The entire drive back was fine but it would start to go past the half way mark if i was stopped at a stop light, but after I turned on the heater full blast for the rest of the drive back it didnt over heat at stop lights or anything. I floored it a couple more times in front of my friend so he could see and he said it ran really clean. When I got home, I tried to start it and it started up perfectly fine. IDK, this car is haunting me, maybe a halloween scare? Please help me out. Sorry for the long post. Thanks

[jlevie]

White smoke from the exhaust when it is at normal operating temperature in moderate ambient temperatures strongly suggests a head gasket leak. And the running hot could also be the result of a head gasket leak.

The failure to start sounds most like a bad primary power or ground connection or a dead battery. It is simply a coincidence and has nothing to do with the other symptoms.

[ahlem]

Pull your plugs and see what they look like. If two adjacent plugs are steam cleaned you may have a headgasket leak. Put some water absorber in your gas tank, some college buddy may have peed in your gas tank. I had a VW beetle once and someone did that to it. If you park aiming up a steep hill and you get an oil leak you may have a bad oil pan gasket in the rear section. It's seasonal change time and some condensation may be present in your gas tank, not pee.

[lateracer]

San Diego doesn't really have seasons outside of "tourists are here" and "tourists are gone", so tank condensation is probably not enough of an issue to cause a significant amount of moisture in the fuel system.

If it's happening under acceleration, that also points to bad valve stem seals. Replacing valve stem seals is kind of a bummer and requires pulling the head off. Hopefully that's not what's going on. You need to figure out if your top end is OK. The easiest test is to put a vacuum gauge on your head and take readings under different conditions, including under acceleration when the smoke shows up. A leak down test would be better.

I agree that the failure to start thing is unrelated to this issue. I saw that you live in Coronado. I used to live in OB close to the water. After about 3 years there the salt air corroded one of my battery cables from the inside out. Looked clean and corrosion free from the outside...took forever to figure out. Replacing about 8 inches of batt cable solved the problem. Wild ass guess for that problem though.

Good Luck