White smoke coming from exhaust?

+1 vote
asked Sep 5, 2020 in Repairs/Maintenance by Edgeofdreams (570 points)
White smoke coming from exhaust?

This morning I started my car to go to the post office to mail some things and I noticed that when I came back out of the post office that there was white smoking coming from the exhaust and it smelt kind of like coolant?

Is the white smoke an indicator of burning coolant?

I notice I have been losing a little coolant lately and having to add more coolant but it wasn't until today I noticed it having white smoke coming out from the exhaust.

2 Answers

0 votes
answered Sep 5, 2020 by SandSam (7,630 points)
White smoke coming from your vehicles exhaust is an indicator that you're burning coolant.

When your coolant is being burnt by your vehicle white smoke will come out the exhaust and it's not a good thing because the coolant is gonna get into your oil.

When the coolant gets into your oil it becomes milky and then your bearings will eventually be destroyed and you'll have a seized engine.

Check your oil and look for signs of milky oil and if so you have a bad head gasket, bad intake manifold gasket, cracked engine head etc.

You said you're losing coolant and that is a sure sign that your head gasket is going bad or has gone bad if you're getting white smoke.

You can go to auto parts stores such as Oreillyauto and buy some Bar S Block seal that you pour directly into the radiator with the coolant.

Then run the engine for 15 minutes at idle with your heater on high.

Then shut the engine off and allow it to cool and check your coolant level and top it off.

I've had good luck doing this and keep a few spare bottles of the block seal in my vehicle with me.

If I notice white smoke coming from the exhaust I immediately dump the bottle of the block seal into the radiator and it stops the coolant burning within a few seconds of the engine running.
0 votes
answered Dec 19, 2020 by Shelde (51,990 points)
White smoke from exhaust is an indicator of your car burning coolant which means the coolant is getting into your engine cylinders and likely through your head gasket.

You can pour some head gasket sealer into your radiator and it will fix small coolant leaks from head gaskets.

But for larger head gasket damage the entire head gasket or head gaskets need replaced.

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