1992 Honda Civic White smoke

Hi J-Choe,

Do you have coolant loses and overheating issues?

Smoke from the exhaust if it is completely white indicates water based fluids are being burnt in the engine and it could be a bad head.

However if there are no coolant losses or overheating issues and the smoke is slightly grey, then it is oil being burnt in the cylinders. They are usually due to bad valve seals.

As to the A/C not cold, you need to check the freon level in system.

Hi KHLow,

Thanks for the advice..in the end i still end up going to the workshop..the mechanic said i need to overhaul the whoke engine..is that a serious problem?i know overhauling is not cheap..but is there anyway to clear the white smoke or atleast reduce it.. I've top up the coolant n add a small bottle of engine oil that the mechanic recommended me to atleast reduce abit of the white smoke..

another question..i have three indicators on the car desktop,one indicates volt,vacuum n water temperature..i have no idea what does the indicator means but i think it has gotta do with the engine..eversince the white smoke start to come out,the water temperature indicator rise up to almost 100 n the vacuum indicator rise up to almost 0..i no nuts about cars..so i need help badly..
Thanks

Overhauling is not going to be cheap. It means taking the engine out, disassembling the unit and replace whatever components inside that is bad and/or machining of parts to get them back to specs.

The cheapest option is to just replace the valve seals and it can be done without disassembling the engine. It would still cost a few hundred $.

I would suggest getting a second opinion. The mechanic does not seem to know much about Hondas. Additives are not going to help reduce smoke, and I believe that is what he recommended.

The gauges that you mentioned, I believe they are after market add-ons

Temperature indicating 100 is an indication of overheating.
Was the coolant level very low? Do you need to keep topping up?

The vacumn indiactor showing 0 could mean a leakage in the vacumn hose or the engine is not running correctly. At idling, the vacumn should be negative but if the engine rpm is high, it could be nearer to 0, but still won't be 0 unless the throttle is opened abruptly.

Volts is for indicating the alternator charging and should show between 13.5 to 14.5 when engine is running.
With engine off it would show the battery voltage with ignition switch turned on.

Hi KHLow


Thanks for the advice..now i know more about cars..i'll let y know if i have any problems again..thanks very much..

You're welcome.

Glad to be of help.

Have a nice day.