Hello

Here is the deal:

I bought the car Friday, its a 1996 Nissan Maxima with 103,600 miles on it. She has been sitting for past year and not driven much (around 4,000 miles in last year)

I bought the car with knowledge of needing a new axle, rear brakes and wheel bearing. (Also the car takes few tries to start which I thought was ignition switch).

So few hours ago I did an oil change. I went out and bought some Mobil 1 5w30 synthetic blend oil and an oil filter. I jacked up the car, drained old oil, removed old oil filter. Checked to make sure the rubber was still on it. I put the some new oil on the new filters rubber ring. Screw back the drain plug and filter. And put in at first 2 quarts of oil (as suggested on motorvate) started the car, revved it a tiny bit. Then put in 2.5 more quarts of oil.

After that I to get something from my trunk and noticed there is white smoke coming out of my exhaust. So I thought nothing of it and let it run for few minutes. The smoke did not go away. So I drove the car around for 5 minutes, and let it rest. Start it up again and same white smoke coming out.

Not TONN of it but still very noticeable and I can see its not normal. The smoke is humid (like water vapor) and has little smell to it (NOT burning oil)

I googled and some sources state it might be head gasket. They say the smell should be sweet. THe vapor does have a smell not exacly sweet but it doesnt smell like burned oil or anything.

1.What relations does oil change has with head gasket?
2. Can by any reason the oil filter or the oil produce this effect (car doesnt like the oil?)
3. What else can it be?
4. I triple-checked the filter and drain plug are nice and tight.

I found this:

OVERFILLING THE OIL will produce this white burned smoke too. Yes, it will SMELL different. IT will also usually go away after some driving. CHECK THE DIPSTICK, it's obvious, but do it--do it right. Flat surface; cold engine. Pull--Wipe it off--put it in--now you are getting the real level.

Is 4.5 qts too much? I couldnt see the dipstick its already dark and its hard to see it with a flashlight also.. Im going to try to check it later on tonight.


Since I just bought the car, and I read head gasket is very expensive to fix I might Lemon it back to the buyer if it is infact head gasket.

Can the car be driven? I will take it to a mechanic tomorrow to check it out(initially it was going to get rear calipers done but now this came up. )

It would be very frustrating and TOONS of hassle to give the car back to seller and deal with that.

Update:

I think its the head gasket for sure.

More symptoms:

When car is in neutral and gas is pressed to 2-3 RPMs fluid shoots out of it (not too much but enough to cover palm of my hand.

There is a leak under the car, I suspect its the coolant liquid.

I will check the oil tommorow for the "chocolate brown" color which supposed to mean there is liquid in the oil tank. This is so sad My spanking new car

double check your oil level. Max is 4 1/4 quarts of oil i believe. The fluid out of the tailpipe is condensation, normal. Coolant leak is probably from the water pump if it is leaking near the timing chaincover/oil pan. I suspect the white smoke is because of bad rings or bad head gasket as a result of oveheating. Best way to check oil level on our cars is too leave the dipstick out for about 5-10 minutes after a start up, on a level surface of course.

White smoke is burning coolant. Either a bad head gasket or O-rings. Check your coolant level, check to make sure it's not over heating. Check color of oil on oil dipstick.

my HG blew in my 98 auto because hte previous owner did absolutly no maintenance on it. at the time it was my parents car and they paid nissan 4400$ to replace the HG, pistons, rings, resurface heads, magnaflux the block and heads for cracks i think. then 2 years later my timing cover started to leak like a *****. i suggest finding another engine from the wreckors and getting it installed rather then rebuilding a questionable engine.

The engine is not overheating (Atleast the sensor says so)

I will double check the oil levels tomorrow.

That sucks sooo bad, is it really easier to get new engine then to fix then head gasket? Thats not good

I dont even know what to do now...

Return the car to the seller under the Lemon Law? Make seller pay for the repairs? The car is not registered yet on me since the RMV was closed during weekends. And I need to regiter it first thing tomorrow even to go get an inspection which will provide legit proof of bad head gasket.

And I already put love in this car, washed it, cleaned it, oiled up some stuff, changed engine oil, new ignition switch, fixed up few dents and now this bad news.
I appreciate your responses

I was in exact same situation as you, purchased a car which wasn't really run for a while and then I changed oil from firestone, They use some cheapo synthetic blend. and my car started throwing oil out from exhaust. reason Synthetic blend oil is thinner and it will leak under seals especially if they are brittle like on cars which didn't run for a while.

I changed oil to dino and now no burning. I have 5 qts oil and 200ml CD2 detergent in my car, Earlier i didn't knew about oil levels, bu i doubt i makes much differnt.

too much oil can blow your seals.

UPDATE!

This morning I checked the coolant fluid levels, they are fine. oil is good. NO MORE WHITE SMOKE!

I took it to a mechanic and he said he is positive its not head gasket. Head gasket doesnt go "on" and "off' with white smoke. And today there is no smoke at all!

It was raining and humid yesterday so Im guessing its because of condensation the white smoke was going. So results: no more white smoke, oil is good, coolant is good, no funky smells.

IT WAS PROLLY ALL CONDESATION.....and to refer back to ur original inquiry on Lemon laws...they only apply to new cars and u have to return the car to the dealer or shop so many times within a certain period of time for the exact same problem for it to be a lemon.....and if the seller was smart they would put AS-IS on the bill of sale meaning u cant come after him for ****....unless he was a nice guy and offered to help....

Nope, the law applies both to dealer and private sale

Here's the link to Lemon Law on MASS website:

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocatermi..._law&csid=Eoca

Withink 7 days if the car does not pass inspection and it costs more then 10% or 15% (not sure) of buying price and buyer has proof then seller has to take the car back.

We did sign a buyer agreement that stated that I know of current problems that are left axle, right wheel bearing and rear brakes + knock sensor. But we did agree if something else came up on inspection she would pay for it. Or her words were " I will have to take the car back" The sellers are not shady which is good

well NY is different then.....and personally if ur buying a used car it should be ur job to make sure its ok...if u dont notice it ur fault....but all seems ok and good luck with the new car

Yeah it is different. I agree but if I buy the car, drive 90 miles and head gasket blew I would be pissed. There is no real way to predict "blowing head gasket" esp if you are not mechanic. Well I have done my first oil change! I will tackle driver side axle.

Do you know whether the car ever ran on synthetic oil before? If not, and because the car hasn't been driven much for some time, I would give it two applications of AutoRX. See www.auto-rx.com and the Additives Forum of www.bobistheoilguy.com.

yeah well you better get going on returning it quick, theres stuff you have to do like go to a notary and a shop and send certified letters and stuff, assuming that chick blew your money already or is a biatch, that way you can take her to court, and you only have 7 days.
You should compression test it to know for sure if it is a headgasket and to know what kind of shape the rest of the motor is in. If you want I can come up in to town tomorrow with some tools and we'll do a compression test on it. leave a message at 774-766-7463,

There is update posted, I took it to a mechanic and he said the head gasket is fine. It was the condensation after the rain and moisture. Today I drove around all day with no white smoke, coolant liquid doest leak either, oil has no funky colors. Head gasket doesnt go on and off so I know for sure its good.

Ahh Im located in Haverhill/Lowell not exactly in Boston, thats around 75 miles from where you are. Thank you for the offer