Burning white smoke
 

Hi guys. As I was driving, all of a sudden A LOT of white smoke started coming out from my car. The smoke had a burning smell. The yellow engine light went on in the dash. So when this happened, I immediately stopped the car and had it towed.

What do you guys think this is?

I have consistently changed the oil on this car, usually every 5-10,000 miles. The most recent oil change was 2,000 miles ago. According to the dash, I have adequate oil. So is this an oil problem?

What I have noticed is that for over 1 1/2 years, there was a burning smell, probably from the rear vents, after I drove and then parked the car, but everything worked perfectly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

You might want to research the Air Oil Seperator (AOS). That can be the cause of white smoke and is fairly common.

tnoice, thanks for the reply. Any other suggestions as to what the problem might be?

99 % of the time it is the AOS.

Is the car rattling? Engine feels like its at brink of stalling? If so maybe a fuel injector issue.... Once had the injector stuck in the open position... So kept dumping fuel into the cylinders and exhaust...

+1...happens to mine not long ago..a big puff of smoke..well more like a mushroom clouds out of the tailpipes while driving...had the AOS replaced & no more smokes...

I tried to remove and replace my air oil separator, but I couldn't do it. So I haven't turned on the engine since. So I had the car towed to the mechanic, but now I notice an oil leak, which I never noticed before. Even when there was first white smoke, I checked the oil level, and it was full. Can removing the AOS, without replacing it somehow cause oil to leak?

I think the oil leak was because of the bad air oil separator allowed too much oil to get into the cylinder/piston. So I replaced the air oil separator. But after I replaced the AOS, I tried to start the engine, but it wouldn't start. It just made a "click" sound. At first I thought it was a battery problem, but then I charged and then jumped started the car, but it still wouldn't start.

My thinking was that perhaps too much oil went into the cylinder/piston. The engine won't start because now the piston was trying to compress oil, which is an incompressible liquid. I think this is what they call "hydraulic lock." So I tried to take out all 6 spark plugs to allow the oil to drain out. Sure enough, after I removed the 5th spark plug, oil drained out. After removing all 6 spark plugs, I cranked the key for several seconds so that the pistons would pump out any additional oil in the cylinder. Then, I replaced all 6 spark plugs.

After doing this, my engine was able to start again, but there was still the initial white burning smoke, but a lot less of it. So then I figured there was still some oil residue in the engine, so I stepped on the gas, and had the car at 3,000 rpm for a few minutes to try to get rid of the oil residue. After doing all this, the burning white smoke has stopped, and I believe my problem is fixed. However, now I'm getting the error message "take to the engine shop." I think that the problem is solved, but now, because of oil being in the engine, perhaps some sensors have been damaged, and therefore I'm getting this error message, even though I think that everything is ok now.

Why do you think I'm getting this error message? Do you think I did anything wrong? Can you guys make any suggestions or give any advice?