So I bought another miata with possibly blown head gasket

[Christos Adam]

I was looking for quite some time for another laguna blue miata with ABS. My plan was to swap the go fast parts into the ABS equipped car. This Saturday a friend of mine let me know about a laguna blue w/o carpet and roof been sold in Palm Springs and being a total POS but on a straight body with ABS.
The guy wanted $2K but after I took it for a fast ride there was a huge amount of smoke (probably visible even from outer space) coming out of the tailpipe.
Since I was there I gave the guy an offer and after some negotiations I walked away with title and keys in hand.

It was late (~10 pm) and Palm Springs is quite far from where I live so intead of calling AAA I decided to drive the car until it gives up.

After 160 miles of driving (and to my big surprise) the car made the whole trip w/o a hiccup. This was a route with quite a few up hills doing 80 mhp but also areas where we stuck in traffic.
There were another 2 times – one while ready to enter the freeway and one 30 miles towards home where white smoke came out of the tailpipe for 5-10 seconds but that’s about it.
The temperature never moved from the normal range and when I was home I checked and the coolant tank quantity was the same and the coolant was clear.

The oil in this car didn’t have any signs of water but since I got the car (in Palm Springs) the quantity of oil was significant more than the required (the dipstick mark was probably 4 inches more(!!!) than the max). It was that bad that I wanted to remove some oil before doing the trip but it was really late, windy and I had minimal tools so I decided to just drive home.

-> Do you think the smoke could be related to excessive quantity of oil?

-> How is when a car has a blown head gasket? Does it smoke all the time or it starts like in my case smoking only from time to time?

Thanks,
Chris

[Christos Adam]

I fixed the ABS issue that it had (took it for a ride to confirm) and now I decided to see what's going on in the engine.

The idle was smooth when I took it for a ride and it didn't have any smoke coming out - also no oil spots in the garage after 3 days parked there.

After the ride I flushed out the old oil - the quantity of oil in the engine was enormous! I have a little pan which I use for my oil changes and it was ready to overflow. There was no sign of water in the oil but the oil was very dark in color.

Today I'll buy a new filter, put the right quantity oil and take it for a ride.

[Bob Pl]

It seems possible that the PO just kept adding oil "once in a while" never had it changed, did not know what a dipstick was.

From time to time I will have a discussion with a new friend/neighbor about cars and am astounded at the lack of knowledge about the workings of vehicles.

[Jayson Woodruff]

It seems possible that the PO just kept adding oil "once in a while" never had it changed, did not know what a dipstick was.

A lot of shade tree mechanics drink while they work. My money is on them miss counting of the quarts on the way in.

Jay W

[Dan Shaw]

Check the oil, see how it goes...would worry about sludge in the motor tho...might be good to take off the pan and clean up the gunk.