white smoke

[BeatDaSHO]

well......i was crusin on I-95 tonight and i was doing about 70 in the left lane. this guy pulls up behind me and gets right on my bumper and tails me for like 30 seconds. i drop it to third and gun it. i take third up to 7 grand and hit fourth.........the guy was no where to be seen. haha. so anyway my brother noticed that when i got on it like that, white smoke was coming out the back like crazy. now, i noticed that when i park it at night, white smoke comes out like crazy yet it has no smell to it. i can stick my nose right down at the exhaust pipe and i don't smell anything yet it's a smoke screen. it doesn't happen during the day. does anyone know what this might be? it's been happening ever since i got the car in the summer. please help. thanks.

Greg

 

[Mike Kopstain]

Is it losing coolant?

 

[sdpatt]

There is water vapor in a car's exhaust. given the right temperature and humidity, you could make clouds with it. Was it humid on that day? Did the vapor trail quickly dissapate or hang around for a while? I hope that is what you were experiencing.

 

[BeatDaSHO]

i haven't been losing coolant. And it does it every night so i dont' think it has anything to do with humidity. i have no idea now what it could be. the smoke comes out and it stays in the air for a while. anymore suggestions? thanks guys for ur replies.

Greg

 

[sdpatt]

You could suggest to your car that it try that nicotine patch.

Scott

 

[wht93atx]

The only thing I would think it could be would be coolant, but seeing as how your not loosing any. . .maybe its some bad gas...not sure if that would do it, but if its only recently, and your not loosing any fluids. there has to be something burning to give ya a white gas.

 

[BeatDaSHO]

it's not bad gas cause it does it every night. grr. i'm lost. the car performs awesome. i couldn't ask more from it. i just hope nothing serious is broken to give me that white smoke.

Greg

 

[LowSHO]

I think you are burning oil. Rule of thumb is: black smoke is fuel (like overrich mixture), white smoke is oil.

Might be your rings are on their last legs. High RPM's will force a little oil into the cylinders where it will burn.

And there's a chance that a compression drop at idle will draw a little oil into the cylinder.

I suggest the first thing to do is a compression check.

Good luck.

 

[Two93SHOsguy]

White - coolant, blue - oil, black - fuel.

Compression check: Not only max pressure, but rate of decay. Retest with 1 oz. Marvel Mystery Oil in cylinder for piston ring isolation test.

Piston rings or valve guides bad - see blue smoke while OFF the gas, like rolling down a big hill in high/mid gear, no accelerator pedal. Oil gets pulled into combustion chamber due to high vacuum. Hope it's not that!!!

 

[ret]

Could it be a blown head gasket? I have never actually seen this myself, but I've been told in the past that there will be white exhaust smoke sometimes if you have a blown head gasket.

Being at night though, I would be more inclined to think it was just steam from the difference in air temp and exhaust temp.

 

[Rob94]

There is nothing wrong. It is just water vapor. Mine's been doing it since I bought her in 97.

 

[stevetatro]

It's most likely just water vapor. When you notice the smoke, has the car been running for awhile? Or is it still "cold"? Until the exhaust fully heats up and vaporizes the water that's condensed inside, it's normal to see some clean, white smoke.

Now if it's any other color, be afraid.

Probably a good idea to do the compression test, as Two93SHOsguy stated, just to be safe!

Later.