smoke from oil fill tube
 

Changed oil in the hhr their was a slight amount of smoke coming from the oil fill tube while the oil was draining never saw it before car has 139 thousand miles on it any idea what would cause this?

The engine was warm.

No smoke coming outta mine & I drain when it is Fully HOT.

Possibly steam? Either from condensation or (bad news) coolant.

Unless there is a brown milky buildup on the inside of the oil cap, I wouldn't worry.

Only other thing that comes to mind is a PCV system that isn't working correctly. Don't recall the particulars of what type vent system the HHR's have, so maybe someone can post up. PCV valve or what ?

With a 139k on the clock it could just be a bit of "Blow By" venting through the path of least resistance.

There is a PCV system of sorts George, although this pertains only to the normally aspirated HHR's AKA the 2.2 and 2.4's.

"The crankcase vapors leave through a positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) orifice in the cylinder head directly into the intake manifold. If abnormal conditions occur, the system is designed to allow excessive amounts of blow by gasses to back flow through the vent hose into the intake system to be burned in normal combustion."

Thanks for the replies everyone no buildup on oil fill cap so I wont worry for now one other thing though when we took the oil filter cap off the engine the filter had come loose and was just sitting in the engine the new filter snapped in place and we reinstalled it like always.

You're lucky you didn't have oil everywhere under the hood! Hope that's all, and this ends well.

Burning oil, a little air and smoky fill
 

So glad I found this. I was worried my rings were toast. I will be ordering a new pcv valve post haste.
Looking at Lullabell's ticker, I was a bit overwhelmed at the thought of performing open heart surgery on the ol' Gal. Perhaps she only needs a stint, an outpatient procedure I'm told.
Keep you dic in a vice.....

Unless you have an SS, you don't have a PCV valve.