Good morning,

Made a stupid mistake, need guidance. Have a 2004 XJ8, just turned over 120K miles (I know it's a lot, this is my highway travelling car). Car was a little low on oil, so I added some (Castrol 5w-30). Here is the mistake, left the oil cap off. Drove about 30 miles and the check engine light came on and white smoke (smells like oil, not coolant) billowed out. Now when I drive the white smoke comes out a lot! How much damage could I have done or could this be a temporary fault, that will reset itself?

Any help for a dumb move shall be appreciated.

Thanx

UPDATE: There is oil in the tailpipe. I'm in Germany, took it to BOSCH and they said they can't help, next stop, the few and far between Jag dealers here.

 

DAC,

Is the smoke coming out of exhaust (bummer, lots o bucks, probably toasted your piston rings) or billowing out from engine compartment (you are in for a thorough cleaning and probably have residual oil running down on to exhaust components)?

A lot will have to do with whether you shut the engine down immediately when check engine light came on. Did you happen to note oil pressure and temperature when engine light came on? I know it gets a little exciting.

Rings are usually first to look at if it comes from exhaust. Run a dry compression check then a wet compression check (a tablespoon of oil in spark plug hole) and post the results here for a jag mechanic to review or find a manual. A large difference between cylinders, a large difference between wet and dry readings and a large difference between the change in readings from dry to wet will tell the story. The oil on the "wet" test forms a seal. If that seal is dramatically different than offered by the piston rings, the oil is likely passing by a broken ring, into the combustion chamber. On most engines, this also takes out the land area between the rings on the pistons - jagtech will know better what you are getting into $$$ wise.

If it is confined to smoke from engine compartment, buy a case of brake cleaner and find a well ventilated area, start taking things off you know how to put back on and clean that baby. You will need to do this if it is a ring problem but it will be in the exploded view and easier to clean as well as being the lowest of your worries.

Regards,
Steven (1avguy)

 

As a follow up, check you air filter also, it may be loaded with oil, soon to be restricted by dust, etc. this will depend on whether your intake is under the hood or ducted to front on that model.

regards again
Steven (1avguy)

 

1avguy,

First of all thank you for the reply. Smoke is only coming from exhaust pipes, none in the engine compartment. Temperature was normal, right in the center of the guage and no oil pressure light came on (there is not a separate guage, just a dummy light for people like me).

I drove home, about 15kms after the light came on, but took it easy.

Looking for a Jag mechanic now, looks like the nearest one is @ 100km away, will check out the air filter, the rest of the stuff you said is way over my head!

Will keep posting on details. I'm just a little stunned that all this could be caused by leaving the oil cap off, car ran fine yesterday.

 

If no smoke is coming from engine compartment, don't bother with the air filter, find a good mechanic.

I don't know specifics on late model jags but usually the investment in time and tow truck is well worth shutting down right away on most cars with the exception of life endangerment. Especially if oil is the issue at hand.

When you find the mechanic, the compression checks above can help you determine severity of damage and can help you start the conversation regarding corrective action if you have him/her explain what the tests are all about as well as the findings.

Before you wallow in self abuse, if you do not have a lot of oil in the engine compartment/cap area and did not get a warning light on oil pressure, check your oil level. If it is still up, you may have a non related coincidence on your hands, especially if you have been using a lot of oil lately. It may have just been time to go.

Good Luck,
Steven (1avguy)

 

Thank you for the advice, I called the German version of AAA, they are going to take it to the Jag Service Center tomorrow.

I tried a BOSCH service center, but as soon as I told them what type of car, they wanted nothing to do with it.

I checked the oil again and it is barely below the min/max hashmarks.

There is no oil present in the engine compartment, so I can only assume that maybe it was time to go and the timing was pure coincedence, I will find out more in the next few days.

I appreciate the advice!

Thanx

 

Wouldn't white smoke indicate head gasket failure (leaking coolant into the head?). The oil burning on the engine may be just overwhelming the coolant smell out the exhaust. Then again, you said smoke smelled like oil, and there's oil in the tailpipe...bad. AVguys got you some good advice already, and please follow up and keep us in the loop during diagnosis and repairs.

 

DAC,

One thing we want to do is wait to get results of compression check and review by mechanic before you panic, as H20boy indicated you can have a lot of causes for the white smoke, I jumped to rings because of the oil filler cap off as a causal starting point. If you run out of oil then white smoke, etc. You could have bad valve stem seals or a number of other minor issues cause this, especially at this mileage.

Let us know what you find.

P.S. if you have your mechanic show you how to do the compression check. You can tell a lot about valve train condition, etc. and it is a good practice to just do it when you change plugs, especially at the high service interval for plugs.

Regards,
Steven (1avguy)

 

Update:

Vehicle has left for the nearest maintenance shop. Driver/mechanic seemed suprised, there was no visual oil in coolant, no visual coolant in the oil. Oil level was good. Engine sounded solid when started.

The only thing I noticed was occasionally a sound like ball bearings rolling in a cup. Couldn't hear it while I was in the car, only when standing next to it.

Reminded me of a bad turbo on the diesels I worked on in the Army, but of course this car is gas, so I will wait to see what the experts have to say.

Thank you for all your help.

 

Any smoke when it started up?

 

h2Oboy,

Same amount of smoke when started as before. What is really unusual is that I only received the amber check engine light (no red indicator). I turned the key, just to check all the warning lights and they all seem to work. To me being a laymen, this wasn't noticeable, til I looked in the manual.

I told this to the mechanic, there only reply is that they haven't found the problem yet, but are still looking.

Unfortunate for the circumstance, but I am learning to pay attention to the details with this problem.

Thanx,

 

This is odd, would strongly recommend the compression test that was recommended. Would be very interested in the final diagnosis and what repairs are needed. When I saw white smoke I thought coolant as well. What was the failure mode for the early 8 cylinder motors when the Nikasil coating failed?

 

Latest update:

Mechanic did a visual check (only jag dealer for a couple hundred miles, so didn't make it inside the shop today). No oil in coolant, no coolant in oil. Neither oil level nor coolant level were low. Mechanic says the smoke had a bluish hue. Engine sounds good, no red warning lights. He must check the diagnostics, because the visual showed no problems except for the smoke. He remarked that the engine sounded great, so I am confused! Hopefully tomorrow it will get in the shop and hooked up to the machines. He also said he wants to check the air system, of course, I do not know how the air system interfaces with the oil system.

 

goodluck

 

Only gets more wierd! Talked to the mechanic today, he is going to try and replace an oxygen valve (not sure what that is). When I asked what codes were in the computer, he said he didn't check because no warning lights were on.......there was an amber check engine light on when the tow truck came....hmmm. I asked him to check for historical codes, should get an update on Monday.

 

DAC,

Good call to ask for codes. I also was kind of curious of conditions when you started it back up again.
1. Was there a lot of smoke when you first started then settled back to moderate?
2. Did you change rpm or just idle it. if revved was there a initial burst of smoke when throttle was first opened or steady stream?

Some thoughts:
1. Did mechanic check to see if plugs had oil residue.
2. Did you make every effort to treat a good mechanic like an artist and not have him feel second guessed by the world of used jag owners (very, very important). Good mechanics are like customers who pay immediately. Treat them like gold.
4. Be encouraged that your mechanic is not going after major catastrophe as a cause. It sounds like it is one step at a time, that is good. Some times frustrating, depending on if you have back up transportation.
5. I still recommend a compression check. Even if problem is solved with this mileage it is a good idea to establish a base line.

Here for you but trying not to pummel you with ideas half a world away. Sometimes silence is best.

Regards,
Steven (1avguy)

 

DAC,

Sorry for not including this in last post.

One of the reasons you may want to ask for a "base line wet and dry compression check for future needs" is it will force the issue for the mechanic to do it. The mechanic will have the evidence in front of them for some of the likely things contributing to an oil saturation event.

One of the things that can happen during an oil saturation event is the sensors downstream from the event can get saturated and read as bad or give false readings. These can throw mixture off and other things to contribute to smokey exhaust but not usually to the point you ahve indicated.

The compression check might "turn the lights on" for the mechanic if he is only chasing code readings. etc. before you pay for replacement of fouled sensors to have them foul again if problem smoke is from an oil source. It may be a gentle way to get to the bottom of issues if you are footing the bill.

With Best Regards,
Steven (1avguy)

 

1avguy,

Thank you for all the advice. Unfortunately, I am no where near the mechanic to find out exactly what he is doing. Not sure what happened after he started it, I do know he took it on a test drive and am very happy that he is not going for a major catastrophe as a cause.

I will ask for a compression check, I already asked him to give it a full service after the problem is found, i.e. change plugs, filters, oil, trans fluid, it is due at 120k anyway.

I told him I am not in a hurry, I will be out of town for two weeks, so he has plenty of time for diagnosis. He said he will call tomorrow and let me know what he has found.

Thanx,

 

Thank goodness for good mechanics!

Picked up the car today, no smoke, no performance issues. Talked to the mechanic and all this trouble was caused by a bad PCV valve! From what he said, it was stuck wide open and had a reverse effect sucking oil into the air system. I have never seen a PCV valve create the amount of smoke I had, I mean enough to make people behind me pull over!

He asked me to bring it back in two weeks for an overall check/service which is due anyway.

I wanted to say thank you for all of the advice, this may be one lucky event on my part!

Thanx

 

what are the odds of that being the root cause? and the timing...weird.