Hello all, FIRST POST!

Let me give you a brief history. I bought this 97 Civic LX, Manual, as the second owner just about 1 year ago. It ran pretty smooth, had 131,000 miles, but needed some suspension work so I went ahead and had that taken care of. It still needs a few minor things like new outer CV boots and some new control arm bushings in the front, but I will wait till Tax Rebate time for that stuff.

Anyways, here are the symptoms I have been experiencing:

In cold weather, particularly when I start the car in the morning or evening after sitting a long time, I get some white smoke out of my exhaust. This lasts for maybe 15-20 seconds then it clears up. Also, on startup the idle RPM is at 1500-1800, but then it goes down after a minute or two of driving to below 1000RPM at idle.

At the same time, in cold weather, my car shifts rather stiffly and the entire car/engine seems to shake in first gear out of idle. In second gear I get a slight shudder as if the clutch or tranny is slipping. However, after about 5 minutes of driving and the car engine has warmed up, these symptoms also go away and the car shifts smoothly again.

During the summer, all these symptoms are non-existant with the warm weather. I am wondering if it is actually a tranny/clutch issue, or if the engine itself has some seals that are warped and shrinking when the cold weather roles around. I do commute at high speeds 70-75MPH each day to work and have a 70 mile round trip each day. The only other symptom I have is that my car burns oil. After about 1,500 miles I have to replace 2-3 qts of oil into it.

With my limited experience in cars, all these symptoms make me think it may just be a bad seal somewhere so my internal oil leak is causing the car to shift roughly and smoke until the leaked fluid is burned out of the system?

What I have tried so far:

I have used the quick engine fix/repair fluids you can buy and they seem to temporarily improve my symptoms but only for a week or two maybe. This car is purely a drive it till it dies commuter car for me since I drive so much during the week so I am not looking to spend much on a fix. I was wondering if maybe the Lucas Oil transmission fix fluid would help my manual transmission/clutch at all or if that would be a waste. If it turns out to be a transmission issue, the car is gone. Maybe even a clutch issue as that would still cost me $400-600 to repair. I am looking for $300 or less in repairs just so I can make this car last another year or so and then I can move on to my next $3000-4000 commuter car.

If you need any more details or have any ideas on what it could be, let me know!!

 

All cars make white smoke (condensation) in cold. The system is designed to idle fast until the engine warms up. So the first things you describe are normal.

Stiff shifting when cold could be because someone put heavy 80W / 90W gear oil in the transmission. It is supposed to use Honda MTF, which has the consistency of motor oil. Or 10W40 motor oil can be used.

 

Thank you for the reply.

Regarding the white smoke, it is not condensation. It billows out and fills my garage if I don't back out of the driveway right away and has a car exhaust heavy lingering smell. It stops smoking after 15-20 seconds of driving and the smell/smoke clouds slowly fade away.

I hope you are right about the high idle rpm and stiffness, though.

 

Do you think a transmission fluid flush/change would help?