Oooops... Really bad smoking, what now?

[pachecoj]

I tucked my car away, under a blanket, for the cold new england winter. I had read a while back that a good thing to do when starting the car after a long sit is to pull the plugs and pour a little oil down each cylinder. I did this, about 1TBsp each cylinder, and cranked the engine over by hand (turning the fan) each time. Well I shot for about 1TBsp of oil, but I may have been slightly egregious in my pouring, and used up about 1 cup overall.

After a couple of tries I got the car starting and smoke started coming out the tailpipe. Slowly at first, but as it idled more and more smoke came out until it was billowing. I killed the engine, let it cool for a bit, then started it up again. The results were the same, not much smoke at first, then it would come out a lot once the exhaust heated up.

I noticed some drips of oil at the tail pip, then I got under the car and saw some we spots at various points of the exhaust, indicating that there is now oil caked through my exhaust. Is there any quick way of rectifying the situation or should I just keep the car running until it all burns off?

Also, is this dangerous? I am a bit concerned with letting the exhaust completely heat up to the point where it might ignite oil inside it. Although I'm not sure that there is sufficient oxygene in the tubing to allow this.

Finally, have I screwed up anything else? Should I pull my plugs again and clean them in case I got oil on the electrodes?

Jason

 

[mustang6]

If it does not give indications that you have fouled one or more of the plugs (running roughly, won't idle, etc.) then you don't need to pull the plugs. Just run it until it all burns out. With oil in the tailpipe this could take a very long time unless you head out on the highway. I wouldn't worry about oil igniting in the tailpipe, but it will smolder/smoke until it's all gone- at least in areas of the tailpipe where it gets hot enough to burn off, further back it will eventually dry up. No permanent harm done, but next time go easier on the upper cylinder oil treatments!

 

[rbohm]

8) it sounds like you just got too much oil in the cylinders and it needs to burn off. it will smoke for a while though. take it out for a long drive.

 

[mugsy]

If there is oil coming out of the tail pipe then most likely the entire exhaust system is coated in oil. You'll have to get the entire exhaust pipe rela hot to burn off the oil; so beware it should smoke for a good long time.

Oil has a very high ignition temp, don't worry about any fires inside the pipe. It will just smoke and smell for a long time.

 

[wsa111]

Take it out & drive it like you stole it.

That will purge & burn the oil out. Bill

 

[pachecoj]

Damn, I was kind of afraid of that. I didn't want to have to be "that guy" with the old car stinking up the air on the highway.

I have several oil filters that I can't use anymore, I may try to fashion something to hold the filter at the end of the tailpipe and see if it will filter out the smoke somewhat. That way I can just let it idle in the driveway to burn off.

Jason

 

[CoupeBoy]

An oil filter might be a tad restrictive, you might want to try it with something more along the lines of an automotive air filter or house furnace filter.

Your stinking old car will hardly be noticable when you are at highway speeds, and the oil leakage you've mentioned will go away within the first few miles, either blown out or burned off.

-ron

 

[JackFish]

Idling isn't going to do it. You need to get those revs up and burn it all out.
Go for a two hour drive on the highway.

 

[pachecoj]

The oil filter WAS too restrictive, so I didn't do that. I let it idle for about 10min until it burned off enough that I was comfortable driving it. Then I drove around for a little bit and it burned off.

I pulled #1 spark plug to check if it was fouled, it looked fine so I haven't pulled the others. If they were fouled it would be running like crap and it's not.

On the upside, my exhaust is now properly lubricated!

Jason