Please help with my question.

This isn't a camaro question, but you guys know what your talking about and its more of a "car" question. (Please dont take offense to the car) My Girlfriend has a 1990 Geo Prizm, around 130k miles. The Mileage doesnt scare me because I know these little motors can be bulletproof up to 300k miles with decent maintenance. Its been running rough for like 2 weeks, kind of sputtering when accelerating. Well last night I was at work and she stopped at Walmart and purchased some oil for her car. SHe put the oil in her car and dumped 2 quarts in the engine, without even checking the oil to see if it was needed (although it probably was) Well as soon as she dumped the oil in about 15 seconds later TONS of white smoke started shooting out the tail pipe. Like "filling up the parking lot" (her words) tons. She then proceeded to drive it, got around 1 mile up the road (car smoking white terribly the whole way) and the car killed and wouldnt crank at all. I check the radiator and oil weekly for her, and NEVER see anything unusualy on the dipstick, or in the radiator. She has some car knowledge, and said its never run anything close to hot. Can anyone gime some kinda clue as to what this is before I tackle it when I get off of work tomorrow? ANY info is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Rob

first off.. Dont try to start the car until you drain some of that oil out.. Look for any oil or antifreeze leaks under the hood.. hoses, gaskets, etc..
If the smoke was infact white, it means its burning coolant.. First, you want to make sure the smoke was coming out of the tailpipe and not from under the hood.. Sounds like she could have done some serious engine damage.. 2 quarts of oil is a lot of oil..

First thing to check is the oil, check to see if there is anti-freeze in it... It'l turn white and milky, check under the cap and on the dipstick..

Check the anti freeze (which will most likely be down) but check to see if theres oil in it)
Then your gonna haveta do a compression test and a leak-down test (which will havta be done by a mechanic) to find out what was blown and where..

Thanks alot for the info Damone. My only problems are these:

Its NEVER smoked/done anything like this before. I check the radiator and oil for her all the time and have never found anything film or anything in the radiator, and nothing unusual in the oil. It literally JUST STARTED after she added 2 quarts of oil to the motor. I dont see how just adding oil would make a head gasket blow, etc.

Rob

Rob,


well you have a lot more oil than is required and when the engine is running going to have a lot of pressure built up plus as things spin and move that only supposed to get X amout of oil is now got a shit load more. But I really dont know what the hell I'm talking aboutbut it sure sounds good

Fixed the problem.. I drained the oil out of the motor and LITERALLY drained 8 quarts of oil out where around 4 was suppose to me. Put the correct amount of oil in, cleaned the oil off the spark plugs and it fired right up. Let it run for 15 minutes, doesnt smoke at all now.


Rob

I would keep a close eye on it..
I still think there is damage there you are not seeing.. The engine not cranking, a lot of white smoke, and oil on your plugs are all indicators..

Check the coolant and oil levels daily for rising or dropping..

And like you said, its never done anything like this before.. That may be, but you'd be suprised what 8 quarts of oil will do to a small engine in 15 seconds..

anyways, good luck.. lets just hope it was one of those looks alot worse than it is cases..

My son did the exact same thing to my Mitsubishi Mighty Max PU. No reason just he thought it might need oil. I drained the oil within 5 miles of driving and noticed some foam on the oil cap and low and behold water vapor in tail pipe. I suggest prevent now with some bars leak or D&W before it shows up with a blown gasket or worse. The Bars probably bought me another 10k around town or a chance to sell at auction and not lose my shirt. Good Luck!