iandavidcassidy

my car has 81000 miles on it (mostly motorway) and has a very clean history - full honda service and oil changes inbetween.

generally very happy with running of the car but today i noticed a lot of white smoke coming from exhuast. i noticed when idling and when reversing it kinda lingered around for me to see it in front of me.

so i got out and noticed it kind of some for 3 seconds then nothing for 3 seconds and so on.

is there anything to worry about? or is it condensation from the cold weather. (very damp today.)

KMB

Thick grey smoke / Black smoke = Oil burning

White smoke prob = Steam

B0ZWELL

byproduct of burning petrol is some water so nothing to worry about. if was headgasket problem exhaust fumes would smell very sweet due to the antifreeze

Bandit_287

If its white and only does it for a short while when the car is cold or at lights after its been idling for a few mins its just condensation and nothing to worry about,all cars do it..If its bluey colour and does it all the time then its burning oil,if its bluey colour and only does it on start up it could be the valve guides/seals letting oil drip into the cylinders when the engine is switched off(but i doubt thats the prob as never heard of that on an S..

If your that concerned do a compression test,if the pressure is down then it will tell you immediatly,if its using a lot more oil than usual then you'll also know that its burning oil.

You'll know if its burning oil as you will smell it and its such an obvious smell,if your not sure what a car burning oil smells like drive behind an old vauxhall cavalier/astra or ford sierra and get a whiff of their exhaust fumes..

I reckon you have nothing to worry about though...

iandavidcassidy

oh - thank god for that!

i'll go have a sniff later tonight! i just remebered the jorney was only to the suipermarket. so prob just warming up.

iandavidcassidy

Just went out for a drive.

smoked at warm-up. then at lights there was a massive ploom (so big i think some one beeped me for it.)

but after that, none at all as it had warmed up to 3 bars.

the smoke smelt just petroly really???

do you thinki shgould get it checked out. or is it the cold weather exaggerating the issue?

B0ZWELL

this may sound silly but is there any way diesel could be in the fuel! has been known at fuel stations for delivery drivers filling the tanks with the wrong fuel

RUSS H

That doesn't sound too good, take it to the service manager at your honda
dealer and show him.

Russ.

RUSS H

That should be a thing of the past soon due to new tanker delivery systems.

Russ.

iandavidcassidy

DIESEL!! your joking arn't you...

how long would a car run on diesel. i was near empty and have done about 10 miles since today.