I changed the oil and filter and forgot to put the oil cap back in place. I drove about 12 miles and she started blowing white smoke out the exhaust. I had the car towed home, investigated to find the following:
1. oil on dip stick is clean, it was down 1/2 quart so I added oil to the max line.
2. the coolant is clean (orange) and the correct level
3. the engine compartment is clean (no oil spray)
4. I ran the OBDC scan and it showed 12 codes all related to emissions
5. I cleared the codes
6. I ran the engine and it sounds normal, but its still pushing white smoke out the exhaust (drivers side more the passengers) there is a lot of black soot on the tail pipes now with a little black liquid on the drivers side tail pipe
7. Yesterday I removed the battery cable and left it off overnight

Any next step suggestions? Should I have a compression check done? I read some other similar situation threads and a new PVC solved the smoking issue so I'll get a new PVC and try that.

 

What type of engine oil did you use during the oil change?

 

mobile 1 5w30 synthetic

 

full synthetic to be accurate

 

Here's my take on this....
In leaving off the oil filler, you have allowed air to enter the inlet manifold via the engine breather. This is not a path that should be there for any length of time, normally there is a vacuum inside an engine. Of course in passing through the engine this air has picked up a load of oil and you now see it burning off as white smoke from the exhaust. I would think after a while this should diminish as any deposited oil get sucked and burnt.

 

+1 and your fuel trims will be all over the place too due to the perceived large air leak. Given this is a cause and effect problem, unlikely you have done any damage so a temporary problem rather than permanent, take it for a good run and there is every chance it will sort itself out. Some garages call it an "Italian tune" - take out and give it a good thrashing, fixes most problems of this nature as will clear the remnant oil and reset the fuel trims.

 

One thing to add, catalyst coatings typically don't react too well to a lot of oil additives, so with the excessive oil amount going through the engine there is a possibility they don't convert anymore the way they should.
No need to take any action just yet, but if you have to go through scheduled emission tests in your part of the world you will know after that if everything is still ok.

Other than that I do agree to the "give it a thrashing" fix. Probably not so easy under US highway speed limits

 

A thrashing can be done by choosing a suitable gear to make it rev, regardless of speed

 

Well, a bit maybe. But ...

The power lost by exhaust gas temperature flow is a certain fraction of the induced fuel energy. So no matter the revs, if you drive 70mph you will only need use the engine power needed to move the car through 70mph (air drag plus alls orts of mechanical frictions and rolling resistance of the tyres).
But you are right that you can totally mess up efficiency of the engine by revving it high under low load conditions. So burned fuel energy needed to provide the same driving power is much higher


Revs are good

 

+1 on a thrashing.

I kicked mine down hard a couple of times on a straight bit of road.

 

A shop having a bad day performed the same service for me. She did not cough a bit of white smoke but behaved more like a destroyer laying a smoke screen. All credit to the shop, they owned up, cleared the codes, sorted out the mess, and after the "Italian tune up" she's been fine for six months now. There are no emissions tests in Indiana. However, the performance and mileage have been fine, so I am assuming the catalysts survived the experience.

 

Thanks, I pulled the PVC value last night, cleaned it with gas and reinstalled it. Then I reconnected the battery and started the engine. It smoked a bit on start up and while acceleration on my 20 minute drive. I drove it to work today (37 miles 90% highway) and it no longer smokes.

Thanks again Gents!