im getting onto the 605 tonight from spring tonight and i accelerate onto the freeway in 2nd gear, revving to 8.5k. as i shift up i happen to look in my rearview mirror and there's a plume of white smoke in front of the car behind me. as it being night, i could clearly see the smoke in front of his lights.

is this normal or maybe something wrong? my car has about 12000 mi and i do regular oil changes, i even put syn in about 3k mi ago. and yes, i drive this car pretty hard.

my only mods are the neuspeed exahaust and jr air filter. has this happened to anyone else? is this normal? can anyone shed light on this? ive always thought that poorly maintained had this problem....

 

White smoke=condensation or water vapour. Was it cool outside? I don't think it's much to worry about, but I could be wrong. Anyone else?
Asif

 

i dunno, i noticed this after about 30-40 miles of driving. anyone in cali notice this on theirs?

 

Could have been dust or something on the road that you kicked up....

Wouldn't have thought that it would be condensation after that much driving.

White smoke also = burning oil.... keep checking your oil level regularly. Have you put in oil recently? If you over fill, you will burn some off as well...

 

I don't think you can see the true colour of smoke at night. It will just light up with the colour of the headlights of the following vehicle. What you saw could just be the effect of the car running very rich at wide open throttle, which is completely normal. Unburned fuel will make black smoke that can look white at night. After a track session there is a huge amount of soot around the exhaust tips for the same reason.

 

It was burning oil. Everyone knows the Stook burns oil... This is the least reliable engine Honda has built in years..

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jnmunsey
[B]It was burning oil.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by jnmunsey
[B]It was burning oil.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by naishou
[B]Unburned fuel will make black smoke that can look white at night.

 

It's not related to oil. The smoke and soot comes purely from running rich. There's carbon left over because the fuel is not completely burned. It's normal and a safety feature that Honda engineered in to keep the top end running cool and prevent detonation (pinging) which can damage big end bearings and valves.