White Smoke After Oil Change

[dahlmaker]

Just did an oil change on my FJ62 like I always do with 20W50 Castrol, but this time I topped it of with about a quart and half of 10W-30 because that is all I had left and I didn't think it would make a difference. Both were standard oil not syn or blend.

Well clearly something happened as once I started it up the exhaust was big white clouds. This went on for a few minutes and after 3 starts it kept happening. On the 4th start up it stopped and I gave it plenty of gas and the white smoke was gone.

Did I dodge a bullet???

 

[OSS]

Adding 1-1/2 quarts or any amount of Castrol 10W-30 to an engine that already has 20W-50 Castrol in it won't cause any harm and "shouldn't" create white billowing smoke out the exhaust pipe.

So what you did isn't harmful, but I can't explain the smoke.

Ideally Castrol recommends (I called their tech support once) to use the same oil when topping off if available, but it's ok to top off with any engine oil if that's all that's available. Its better to run an engine on a full oil pan of mixed oil than to run low.

Mixing different viscosity oils can cause shear (break the film) on a molecular level when under high load - or so they said.

 

[Spike Strip]

Tim, mixing viscosities, particularly less than 20%, will make no difference to the engine other than thinning the 20/50 somewhat and even less if mixing in the same brand.

The white smoke (was it bluish?) could be steam from condensation in muffler and CAT, but if it indeed was thick white smoke, somehow oil was in the combustion chamber, perhaps sucked past worn guides, and simply burned off. It's never happened before ?

In any case, you should switch to an oil a little better suited to your engine, say something like a Lucas Classic Car oil with high zddp.

Plenty of high zddp oils on Amazon. Not many avail over-the-counter in L.A.

 

[dahlmaker]

@OSS @Spike Strip Thanks for the feedback. I'll keep an eye and things. Motor has 220K and has been fairly steady. Since I've had it no major issues. I did notice water dripping from the tailpipe, but that doesn't seem unusual as the dewpoint here in LA coats everything in water overnight on some evenings.

Tim, mixing viscosities, particularly less than 20%, will make no difference to the engine other than thinning the 20/50 somewhat and even less if mixing in the same brand.

The white smoke (was it bluish?) could be steam from condensation in muffler and CAT, but if it indeed was thick white smoke, somehow oil was in the combustion chamber, perhaps sucked past worn guides, and simply burned off. It's never happened before ?

In any case, you should switch to an oil a little better suited to your engine, say something like a Lucas Classic Car oil with high zddp.

Plenty of high zddp oils on Amazon. Not many avail over-the-counter in L.A.

 

[OSS]

When I kept my cruiser parked a few blocks from the beach in SoCA, when I started it up in the morning and let it fast idle for a bit to warm up, there was always steam coming out of the tailpipe for several minutes and water drippIng out too. Engine was in perfect running condition with no problems- so don't be alarmed by steam & dripping water in the morning. But it should disappear within 10 minutes with a fast idle warm up.

 

[Spike Strip]

Me too, plenty of steam and water out the tailpipe for a few minutes even where I am in the Valley and it's relatively dry here. But don't forget, one of the end-products of exhaust catalyzation is H2O