Thread: white smoke while idiling

brought the car in the other day, but couldn't replicate the problem which i believe probably just water vapor. will keep an eye on it.

Quote: Originally Posted by hipertech what parameter should i need to look for? plus, no idea how to datalog via BT... i am supposed to get codes if there is white smoke rite ?! BT tool won't help much in this situation if your car isn't throwing any codes... Might have to do some good old fashioned trouble shooting and open up the hood and actually look at the reservoir and see if the antifreeze is low

Car might not throw codes but you might be able to tell something more via Datalogging. If you are tuned, contact your tuner to find out what parameters to datalogg to find some more info. Juss my guess, next step would be to bring her into the shop.

well usually when ur burning oil or antifreeze im sure the fumes will smell different. Im used 2 the smell already, so I would pretty much tell if something else was burning. It will defenately smell different if ur burning oil and there would be a good amount of white smoke coming out of the pipes. How much smoke are we talking about here? a lot or just a little? The best way is to take a video 4 us 2 see.

Quote: Originally Posted by ianthegreat You would smell antifreeze also. Nice and sweet. and poisonous....keep your pets and children away from any that is spilled.....

Quote: Originally Posted by MTV I don't think antifreeze is getting into the engine. That would make a lot of smoke. I blew the head gasket on my VR6 Turbo about a month ago and the amount of white smoke that came out of the exhaust was just ridiculous. Couldn't even see a foot in front of me when I got out of the car. Needless to say the engine hydrolocked and i cost me 8 grand to replace I think it's just normal water vapor....

Possibly your turbo bearings have some play in them, allowing oil and coolant into your exhaust. When you accellerate hard you get more white smoke

Quote: Originally Posted by hipertech hey guys, i recently noticed there white smoke coming out from my exhaust while idiling(not sure if it does the same thing while driving). I have fully catless dp, exhaust, but i dont remember i have seem the white smoke when i went fully catless awhile ago. I used BT to scan the car but there is no code founded, any idea ? No codes at all? How is the car running? Good? bump for someone else to chime in...

Quote: Originally Posted by detrick I agree with the previous poster. White smoke on cold starts is typical because of water condensation in the fuel system. Typically, as you drive, the cats heat up and evaporate the water and the white spoke goes away after driving for 10 minutes. Since you're catless, I would think that it would take much longer wait to get the exhaust hot enough to create evaporation, no? If you get white smoke after...

sounds like its just water vapor being evaporated in the exhaust. It is cold outside, and this will increase the effect of it. I doubt you have a blown headgasket, as it would linger in the air if it was coolant, oil or fuel.