I just recently bought a 98 Eclipse RS 2.0 non-turbo manual with 148k miles from a dealer 400 miles away from where I live, paid cash. I drove it all the home ( used half a tank yay! ) and had no issues other than just a little smoke from the exaust when I was playing and did a quick start. When I got home, a few days later it started blowing minor smoke more often. I found out about the too much coolant issue, corrected it and then it was fine. Well then I decided it probably needed an oil change cause I had no idea when the last one was. After I changed the oil it started blowing smoke BAD... I called a friend thats familiar with eclipse's and he told me that I probably should put some engine restore in it to narrow down what it could be. It continued to smoke, and even got worse. I've even went to a heavier weight oil. Still nothing. It started trying to shut off, and now the check engine light is on.. AND ALL BECAUSE I CHANGED THE OIL!! Im just absolutely confused... Im almost sure it's the piston rings, but not 100% sure. Any ideas on a quick fix till I can get a new engine?

 

what color is the smoke? I assume you are saying smoke from the exhaust. Have you noticed any overheating at all? If you just bought the car then this could easily be covered under lemon law.

 

Yea its coming from the exaust (sorry) , and it looks to be white... And after you mentioned about the lemon law, I looked it up, and from what I've read, since Im in Fl, it does not apply to used vehicles... Ive heard from someone else that it could possibly be as simple as the PCV valve, or lost compression. Im just taking any advice I can right now...

 

Have you noticed any overheating? the reason i ask is that white smoke is typically attributed to coolant getting into the cylinders and being burned off during the chambers. Now i know its not the best thing to do but you may want to try and smell the exhaust a bit (i suggest not smelling it directly for obvious reasons but just wave it toward yourself) and see if it smells sweet (like coolant) or if it has a gaseous smell to it. If it is coolant you will also notice a loss of coolant in the resevoir. If this is the case then i am sorry to tell you that the car has a bad head gasket and will most likely cost around $1k to fix.

The only way it is oil is if the smoke was actually more grey than white with a bluish tint (sometimes hard to see). This is attributed to oil being burned in the chambers and again could come from a number of contributors. The simplest and cheapest would be the PVC valve. Once again when you smell the exhauast and it does not smell like coolant but more of an oil, then change the PVC valve first. If that doesnt do it, you may have something like warn valve seals, valve cover gasket, ect.

Another thing to do is pull the spark plug wires and check for oil on top of the spark plugs for oil. This will tell you about the valve cover gasket. You also may want to consider doing a general tune up as well (air filter, fuel filter, spark plugs, Spark plug wires if they look worn)

 

Engine restore? Yeah don't take advice from who ever told you that again.A new engine in a can..... yeah.

More than likely you blew a head gasket. I've done three on that engine in the last year, on three different ones. Total **** heaps.