I have put too much oil in my car and white smoke is coming out of the exhaust is it safe to drive?

ford focus 1999 t reg white smoke from exhaust after i put too much oil in itI have put too much oil in my car and white smoke is coming out of the exhaust is it safe to drive?
NO!!! Drain the oil and refill it to the proper level.I have put too much oil in my car and white smoke is coming out of the exhaust is it safe to drive?
If you were burning the excess oil it would be blue smoke, white smoke (steam) indicates you are burning coolant.





Oil level too high will cause damage to the engine, burst seals, could cause a hydraulic lock up, so get it drained to the correct level before you drive very far at all.





Then you need to get it checked for where the coolant is coming from.
nomad.....havent laughed so much at an answer in ages its better than the tv keep it up





Pat F is spot on
could damage the catalytic converter - very expensive to replace
Gawd. I'm starting to hate Yahoo point trolls.


If you add way too much oil the oil level will reach the crankshaft and the crank will churn the oil into foam, causing you to lose oil pressure and flow and making all sorts of things in the engine to die an early, gruesome death.


All you can do is get the oil to the right level and see what happens.
You could do some serious damage with to much oil. Drain it and refill to the correct level. The smoke will not stop for a while so be patient.
Because you put too much oil in it the excess pressure is forcing the oil past the piston rings, and into the cylinder. Consequentially you are burning the excess oil, causing the white smoke. You need to drain the excess oil before you blow the seals.
You've burst an oil seal and water from the coolant system is entering the combustion chamber and coming out as steam. It's safe to drive but your engine is due for an early death.
How much oil is too much? If you put in less than 6 or so quarts (1 gallon +1 quart) then you should be fine.





Make sure the smoke is white first, PURE white and not a light shade of blue. White smoke is burned coolant, and blue is burned oil. Neither of which really happens just from overfilling the oil, unless you put 2 or 3 gallons in it.





As for white smoke, are you sure it only started after this oil filling? Make sure it isn't the normal amount of smoke that you'd get from burning off excess moisture un the exhaust.
^What Pat F said ^





Too much oil can do as much damage to an engine as not enough.