1990 Mazda Miata

Laura Zone 5 · #1 01/01/15, 07:19 AM

Sunday, Dec 28 my daughter says "the engine is making a knocking noise".
I said "for how long".
She said "about a week".

Monday, Dec 29 I check the oil.
It's empty.
I put in a gallon of 5w/30 high mileage synthetic oil.
I can see the oil has 'leaked' around the valve gasket. Not like it's spraying all over the place, but it is goopy around the gasket.

Tuesday Dec 30 and Wed Dec 31.

She drives it to work and back and says when she starts it up, thick white smoke that smells bad pours out of her car so bad that it fills her car on the inside and when she backs out it looks like her engine is smoking.

Any ideas?

blufford · #2 01/01/15, 07:47 AM

Are you sure the oil you added went inside the crankcase?

po boy · #3 01/01/15, 07:52 AM

Is the smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe?
If it's coming from the engine compartment, raise the hood and see if oil is blowing on the headers.

I have a 1993 Miata with 225,000 miles on it and does not use oil. It will drip a little..

blufford · #4 01/01/15, 07:57 AM

Did you put the oil cap back on?

Laura Zone 5 · #5 01/01/15, 08:16 AM

I put oil in the place where the cap has an oil can on it.
I checked the dip stick, when i put it in, and it showed it was full.
I checked the dip stick today and it is MORE than full.....it's above the 'full' line by about 1/2 inch!!

Please tell me I didn't just ruin my daughters car......

Laura Zone 5 · #6 01/01/15, 08:19 AM

The 2nd photo (below the exhaust photo) shows where I think it's leaking. It looks like I need to replace the valve cover gasket?

po boy · #7 01/01/15, 08:51 AM

I don't think you ruined the car. Any damage done was running it without oil.

I'm not a mechanic, but the exhaust looks like you have water getting into your cylinders. Read this about white smoke..

PS: Check the water level in the radiator. Does the water look like it has oil in it?

#8 01/01/15, 12:23 PM

Over filling is not a good thing either . Enough oil should be removed to get the oil level back down to the full mark .

po boy · #9 01/01/15, 12:42 PM

I believe it's 4 qts with a filter change or 3.5 qts if you don't change the filter.

Laura,

It most likely could use a valve cover gasket, but that is not your current problem

jwal10 · #10 01/01/15, 12:48 PM

I would say it blew the head gasket, may have warped the head. I would be worried about the lower end too, with running out of oil....James

Dixie Bee Acres · #11 01/01/15, 12:59 PM

Check the oil on the dipstick, does it look milky?
Check water in radiator, does it look oily?

Sawmill Jim · #12 01/01/15, 02:40 PM

Little to much oil won't do that kind of smoke job and that valve cover is the least of your worries .

If it were me I would teach car oil and fluid checking at the next opportunity while using the last miles of that car looking for another car

Wis Bang 2 · #13 01/01/15, 03:36 PM

The oil is filling w/ coolant...

White smoke is coolant entering the combustion chamber...

Time to shop for an engine

**alleyyooper** · #14 01/02/15, 05:35 AM

Dip Sick is that thing on the engine that has a T handle or a P handle. You pull on the handle to remove a shiny steel stick with markings on it to show if the engine is full of oil or needs some. Some of the dip sticks even show how much to add if your only a quart low.
A bright red light on your dash that says oil on it means your out of oil. Some cars/trucks have a needle gauge when it is on zero running you have no oil.

Why is that so hard to under stand?

Al

Laura Zone 5 · #15 01/02/15, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alleyyooper

Dip Sick is that thing on the engine that has a T handle or a P handle. You pull on the handle to remove a shiny steel stick with markings on it to show if the engine is full of oil or needs some. Some of the dip sticks even show how much to add if your only a quart low.
A bright red light on your dash that says oil on it means your out of oil. Some cars/trucks have a needle gauge when it is on zero running you have no oil.

Why is that so hard to under stand?

Al

Post 5
I put oil in the place where the cap has an oil can on it.
I checked the dip stick, when i put it in, and it showed it was full.
I checked the dip stick today and it is MORE than full.....it's above the 'full' line by about 1/2 inch!!

No 'bright" red light on the dash.....

I posted here looking for help.
For 25 years, I have not handled the auto maintenance, and now I am....and so it's all new to me: thus coming here seeking help.
That's why I posted photo's.
I wasn't looking for condescending rude comments. Thanks so much.

Laura Zone 5 · #16 01/02/15, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dixie Bee Acres

Check the oil on the dipstick, does it look milky?
Check water in radiator, does it look oily?

The oil on the dip stick looks dark.
It's supposed to look "clear" / clean.
This looks 'dirty' for a lack of better words.....

do I just pop open the cap on the radiator and look in? or should I use something to pull some of the water out?

ETA: The radiator is new, we replaced it this summer. I popped the cap and it's full, and it's just green...not milky. Feels smoothe.
Checked the dipstick again.......it's no longer "extra" full....just full. Checked the garage floor, just a few drips but that is normal....
HOWEVER, the oil on the dip stick is almost black. So I 'felt' the oil. It's not gritty (like there's metal shavings in it) it's smoothe.
It does not 'smell" burnt.....but it's DARK.

When she took off this morning it was a huge cloud of white smoke......

po boy · #17 01/02/15, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laura Zone 5

The oil on the dip stick looks dark.
It's supposed to look "clear" / clean.
This looks 'dirty' for a lack of better words.....

do I just pop open the cap on the radiator and look in? or should I use something to pull some of the water out?

There should be a plastic over flow container for the radiator. If that has water in it see if you can put a straw down in it and cap the straw with your finger to pull some fluid out to look at. If not, yes remove the radiator cap and try the same thing. Make sure the engine is cool.

Laura Zone 5 · #18 01/02/15, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by po boy

There should be a plastic over flow container for the radiator. If that has water in it see if you can put a straw down in it and cap the straw with your finger to pull some fluid out to look at. If not, yes remove the radiator cap and try the same thing. Make sure the engine is cool.

When she gets home, I will take a picture of the engine and post it. There are two plastic containers (I know one is for the windshield wiper fluid). The other one 'appeared' to be empty when I looked this morning, but I didn't look "hard" at it.....

Thank you for your help!!

Sawmill Jim · #19 01/02/15, 07:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laura Zone 5

The oil on the dip stick looks dark.
It's supposed to look "clear" / clean.
This looks 'dirty' for a lack of better words.....

do I just pop open the cap on the radiator and look in? or should I use something to pull some of the water out?

Sorry you are getting a crash course in auto maintenance for the first time .Please have someone show you if you don't know on checking the break fluid ,over heating or running out of oil would pale compared to running out of breaks for lack of fluid

Be sure the motor is cold when you remove radiator cap as it can burn you fast . Wild guess it is going to be low as if the head or gasket is blown it is going out the tail pipe in a mist or steam as you see .

Laura Zone 5 · #20 01/02/15, 07:25 AM

Can you blow a head gasket by letting the oil run empty? Wouldn't there be a bigger puddle of oil on the floor? Thank you for your help!

Yes I did check the radiator fluid when the car was cold......I have seen enough movies where the dude was on the side of the road with the hood up and steam coming out; and he opens the cap and burns the poop out of himself.......(TV is not all bad HA HA HA)