hello again everyone. i think i might have a problem but im not very sure on this one so i am turning to the scionlife knowledge community. tonight after i finished driving, i cut my car off and got out of it and was heading into my apartment when i noticed white smoke coming outta my exhaust. it didnt really have a smell to it and it wasnt very thick smoke either, not a whole lot of smoke at all, but the car was off and the car still had white smoke coming outta the exhaust for about 30 seconds to 1 min, does anyone have any ideas to what this might be?

 

white smoke is good....there is nothing wrong with white smoke coming out of the exhaust. If it was black smoke ....or white/blue smoke then you have a problem

 

was the smoke just sitting around like a cloud or did it just disappear quickly? if its a new exhaust, then smoking is usually pretty normal for a little bit.....

 

your car just farted...jp...but it doesn't sound serious...

 

if ur n/a, then u don't really have to worry...but you should still get it checked at the dealer...if u got a warranty, why not use it? But if you have a turbo...it's not good and could be a number of things...definitely get it checked!

 

ck yur radiator level....water might be going into the engine.

 

When I just put my exhaust in it did that.

My uncle said it was the grease and such that they had in there.
Did you recently put the exhaust on?

Mine stopped also.

 

Whats wrong with black smoke DaGreat1, last time I checked black smoke usually means ur running rich buddy

 

you need to check for a BHG. blown head gasket. if your getting white smoke, it could be coolant seeping into the motor and being burned off. do a short drive, boost a bit, and look for smoke. also remove the oil cap and look for a white residue. keep an eye on your coolant level.

if you still smoke, run to napa and get a block tester and check to see if there is exhaust gases in your coolant. the dye will change from blue to yellow

 

i heard the whole white smoke blue smoke black smoke thing so many times while my car was smoking. Turns out the seals on my turbo were shot and had some major shaft play to the point where the turbine was eating away at the inside of the housing,

Now because there is no way of giving you a difinitive answer without looking at the car, my answer is this.

Find a reputable aftermarket shop, have them check your oil levels, take off the turbo and look in the piping and around the turbo for excess oil and possible shaft play, and if they can't find any of that.... have em look at everything else.

The possibility which everyone was telling me was that the seals were loose when the car was cold and a little bit of oil entered the system causing a little bit of smoke. this makes since but i believed in this a little too much and it kind of blinded me from the real problem.

Get it checked out.

if ur near CT, Excelerate Performance could.

 

Black smoke- running rich
Bluish white- oil
White- water\ coolant

 

^^^X2

 

ok now that im off work im going to check for everything that yall have said. when i was driving it today i kept checking for smoke and i did not see any. obviously i couldnt check while i was driving but when the car was at idle and when i cut it off i did not see any at all. i did check my coolant level and when i opened the cap it was overflowing, but the car was still hot, and the overflow tank was reading full. i have not checked the oil yet but i will do so when the car is cooled down. when i check the oil, will it have a white or a "milky white" look to it if there is water in it? thanks A LOT! for all yalls help with this, im hoping that its nothing, but i have a bad feeling that it is going to be something .

 

oh im sorry, i forgot to add to whoever asked about the smoke. it wasnt a cloud, it was coming out of the exhaust while the car was OFF (not sure if everyone got that part in my first post, just clearing that up just incase ). it was very thin and disappeared about a foot and a half away from the exhaust.

 

Over the years I've encountered 4 cars that had water in the oil, and in each case the oil on the dipstick looked much like chocolate milk, not white.

Also, your description of the smoke sounds like water vapor to me. I mean the type caused by condensation in the exhaust, which is very common in modern cars and nothing to be concerned about. How's it running?

 

its running fine that i can tell, boosts fine, sounds normal, everything looks normal so far but i have not had a chance to check the oil yet. in my opinion though, here the past few days the engine has felt a little hotter, it hasnt been running hot according to the temp gauge, but for some reason it feels hotter, i dunno if it actually is or if im just going crazy lol. just outta curiosity, would there just be water in the oil? or is it possible for oil to get into the radiator water also? thanks again everyone!

 

one more question, if it looks like chocolate milk, then will it look thicker than normal on the dipstick?

 

^Well, it'll be about the same consistency as your oil normally is, which is thicker than chocolate milk. However, that's not really important. If the dipstick looks like it's covered in chocolate milk, you're almost certain to have water leaking into your oil.

 

White smoke = Condensation or coolant

Blue smoke = Oil (burning from oil getting into combustion chamber)

Black smoke = Fuel (running rich)

Any other color...your either high or don't know what your taking about

 

ok, imma go check it as soon as it stops raining, which should be here soon. just outta curiosity, if there IS water in my oil and it is caused by a blown head gasqet, does that mean that my engine is shot? or does it just mean that i have to flush my oil and cooling systems and replace the gasqet, so long as nothing is bent or warped or nething of that nature?