i have a 97 civic that I drove hard one day and when I came to a stop it blew out a bunch of white smoke. Like a day later I drive my car again and after I drive it for a little it will start to pour thick white smoke out. Is this a problem with the thermostat ? someone told me it was the thermostat that burnt out or something ?

 

i can fix it myself correct ? with new thermostat and a tutorial

 

The smoke comes from the tailpipe, or under the hood? Is the radiator full?

 

As said above,thermostat isn`t likley to cause this problem.What about your temp gauge,is it running where it always has in the middle range?
I`ve had some issues with Honda head gaskets leaking.Closely watch your coolant level cold,in your plastic tank,with the car level,or in the same place from day to day.Is it going down?Added any coolant lately?
Regards,Dizz

 

I'm with Dizz on this. This has all the markings of a bad head gasket.

In addition to keeping an eye on the coolant level (and reporting back to us), remove the oil fill cap and take a peek inside the head. If the oil looks like hot chocolate, there's water mixed in with it, and the head gasket's to blame.

 

Exactly what the others said. It is probably a blown head gasket and has nothing to do with the tstat. White smoke = coolant burning. Check for oil mixing with coolant, or coolant mixing with oil, too. I would suggest to conduct a compression test.

 

I understand that it could be the head gasket.

Also my engine temperature gauge goes way up right away after driving for about 10 minutes. So yah all you telling me to measure my coolant i cant even drive the car with clouds of white smoking pouring out after a while so ..?

Couldnt the thermostat have burnt out and not be functioning thus letting too much coolant in because it doesnt know the engines temperature.

someone at a gas station told me i probably burnt out my thermostat ? He asked if i drove it hard at all within the past days and smoke came out right after and it did...

 

The only way the Tstat has anything to do with the problem you are having is that if it was stuck closed, causing the fluid to not circulate and overheating the motor, warping the head, and popping the head gasket. When you fix this issue, you should replace the Tstat while you are at it.

Your temp gauge goes right up to hot because you probably are burning away all your coolant. No coolant means engine damage.

When you replace the head gasket, it would be a good idea to take the head to a shop to be checked over for levelness. When you overheat, the aluminum can and will start to warp, causing head gasket leaks. If you only replace the gasket, that will start leaking immediately if the head is warped.

I'm going to assume you are only burning it and it is not mixing with your oil. That would be a whole other story. :/

 

i dont think its leaking into other cylinders, ok i will replace the thermostat myself and if it doesnt do it take it to get the gaskets fixed. and yah smokes white dont think and its not smoking as much anymore just a little ... it was smoking a **** ton the other day because i had it out alittle longer till i noticed.

 

is not the problem,I wouldn`t pay much attention to the gas station guy,but replace it if you must.I`ve put over 700K on Honda Civics,haven`t replaced one yet.
The thing you mentioned about the temp going way up after 10 min,that is also suggesting a blown head gasket.I`ve had several Civic head gasket woes,and none as of yet have put any coolant in my oil,but just depends on where the gasket is bad.
My current Civic is eating a littlewater,maybe 1/4" loss a month,but it will get worse.When I put the head on I had worked 60K ago,getting all that paper gasket off the block is a bit**!The paper sticks to the aluminum part of the block,and when you try to scrape it off,you`ll cut into the soft metal,but not the cast iron piston liners,making for a bad seal surface with the new gasket.They make a spray remover that will dissolve the paper,but it`s very SLOW.
Also torquing the head bolds down is a bit** also,as the alum thread holes don`t mate well with steel bolts,I stripped the hole in the block on my 94 Civic,you torque the bolts twice,once to about 25#,again all around at about 40#,in 20K it was leaking again.Put another gasket on,this time repairing stripped hole with a Helicore repair,worked like a charm,but the repaired hole had steel now,tightened smooth as silk,steel on steel,caused un-even torque,as the alloy holes are not smooth&gritty.Tried to clean the holes with a tap,it took out too much metal,the USA(proper thread&pitch)tap was bigger than the Japan Honda bolt.
I`m rambling here,sorry!!In the end after 10K more miles,was leaking agan,the reason I had to get rid of it.
ANOTHER WAY to tell if your head gasket is leaking:
Get your engine good&warm.Park-strart engine-pull the cap off the plastic recovery tank(NOT RADIATOR),have enough water in to just put the hose barely in the water looking in the tank,take another hand and pull throttle and rev up engine a few times,look in the tank and see if you see bubles coming out of the water as you rev engine.A bubble or two not bad,but many bubbles indicates a compression leak into water jacket,and water also going thru to be burnt by engine,hence the white smoke.
Good Luck,Dizz