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Mechanical mystery - smoke/rattle from under hood Posted by Mike Keller [Email]  (#1926) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Mike Keller) on Wed, 9 May 2018 06:02:20
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03 9-5 Linear, manual transmission, 146k miles
My wife was returning from a 1/2 hour highway drive and had already driven 80 miles earlier in the day. Just off the highway, while stopped at the end of the exit ramp she noticed a big cloud of smoke as she pulled out from the stop sign. Apparently she assumed the smoke was from the Civic just ahead of her (although she admits to wondering why a brand new Honda would have that kind of problem :) However, a few seconds later she noticed more smoke - this time clearly from her car, coming from under the hood, and then heard rattling/tapping from the engine area.
She immediately pulled over thinking it might be the water pump or worse, complete lack of oil. After popping the hood she saw the smoke originating from roughly the turbo area. She couldn’t pinpoint it exactly but it seemed to coming from beneath the engine. It smoked for about 10-15 minutes more, didn’t smell like burning coolant, and it was gone by the time I arrived 20 minutes later. No fluids underneath the car. She turned the key to check the engine temp (normal) and heard a loud fan-like noise (could it have been a bearing somewhere?) which then slowly died away and hasn’t been heard since.
Oil & coolant levels were fine; power steering a little low but not empty. She drove it home at low speeds and everything seemed normal - turbo needle moving as usual, engine temp gauge normal, no more smoke from hood area or atypical noises. I started it up in the garage and let it run for awhile, and everything seemed normal. We haven’t noticed unusual smoke from the tailpipe at all.
Of course the car has some known problems: the A/C blower motor just failed in the last few days, so could it be related to that? The ACC system had been on, so perhaps the blower was trying to operate and burned out completely?
I recently replaced the oil pressure switch and 3 days ago I replaced the valve cover gasket and retorqued the head bolts (I was ready to replace them but they didn’t need it). Those fixes stopped a small standing oil leak but it’s too early to tell whether a modest burning oil problem has been improved. I didn’t see any obvious leaks from the head, or anywhere else, after the smoking incident.
Given her long commute my wife doesn’t want to drive it again until we figure out what’s up, but I’m not sure how to diagnose a problem that I can’t replicate. Any suggestions on how to proceed? Thanks in advance.
, Wed, 9 May 2018 06:02:20 <-- Viewing This Message, Thu, 24 May 2018 15:52:10, Wed, 9 May 2018 06:36:15
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