Being a car owner it might not sound odd to you that your car emits White Smoke From Exhaust. You will say, it’s conventional and if you think so then you are not completely wrong! By the end of reading this article, you will have valuable and useful information on why a car releases smoke and how it impacts on the health of your car.
The intention of the tailpipe added at the back of the car is to emit vapors and smoke in the atmosphere. Mostly the emissions from the exhaust pipe are common and benign and this is not a sign of concern.
White smoke from the Exhaust pipe of the car sometimes creates trouble for blissful driving. White smoke is created as a result of the usual condensation process that takes place inside the exhaust system of the car. The severity of the problem depends on the thickness of the smoke. A thin white smoke is considered as vapor and is normal. While the thicker white smoke indicates severe problems in the engine coolant.
Possible Causes of White Smoke From Exhaust
There is no single factor that is responsible for emitting thick white smoke from your car’s tailpipe. There can be many possible causes for this ranging from tender to intense. You should have plenty of knowledge about the causes to fix it at the initial level.
Here are some commonly occurring causes.
White Smoke on Starting up the Car
Generally in the winter days, when you start a car emitting white smoke is pretty common. You can take the steam produced through the condensation. As the engine takes some time to warm up, white smoke doesn’t disappear for a while. But after a few minutes, say 10 or 15 minutes, the smoke persists, it indicates a serious issue inside the exhaust system.
Internal Coolant Leaks Causing White Smoke from Exhaust.
Any kind of leak in the internal coolant system is another cause that your car spills out thick white smoke. In addition to the white smoke, the other symptoms of internal coolant leaks are a low level of coolant reservoir and an unpleasant distinctive smell. If you observe these signs, you can safely assume that there is a leak in the internal coolant system of the car.
If coolant leakage is confirmed, you should take action to fix it as soon as possible otherwise it may contaminate the engine oil which turns the oil milky. Also, even if the nanoscopic amount of coolant enters into the combustion chamber, it could also be a reason for white smoke emission from the exhaust of your car.
Also read our article on solving Key Stuck in ignition issue.
Cracked Cylinder Head
When your car overheats, there arise problems like cracked cylinder head, cracked engine block, and failure of the head gasket. When the cylinder head cracks, the coolant moves in the multiple cylinders or sometimes even in the combustion chamber. As a result, you see white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe.
The prominent reason behind the cracked cylinder head is the overheating of the car’s engine. Behind the overheated engine of a car, there are several reasons responsible. Some of them are dirty coolant, poor maintenance of cooling system, non-working cooling fan, low coolant levels, etc.
One more reason for coolant leakage into the engine chamber is the wear and tear in the head gasket of the engine. So, it should be taken care of.
Broken Fuel Pumping Injection Causing White Smoke from Exhaust
This could be the case in the diesel car. If the fuel pumping injection is not working properly or ceases to perform its respective functions, it may emit the white smoke out of the car.
The basic function of the fuel pump is to pump diesel into the engine cylinders. Here the correct timing of the fuel pump is crucial. The right timing of the fuel injection is just before the top dead center of the cylinder’s compression stroke. Proper functioning of the fuel pump ensures high fuel efficiency.
When the fuel pump misses its timing, it causes a mismatch of fuel injection and consequently, you will see thick white smoke coming out of your car exhaust. In such a situation, it is advisable to take the help of a mechanic instead of fixing it yourself because it needs sheer technical expertise. Any kind of experiment may lead to a muddle for you and your car.
Check out our article on Why your car AC is blowing Hot Air.
Problem With Other Parts
Besides condenser and engine, there are some other parts also malfunctioning of which may lead to thick white smoke emission. Damage in the internal parts of the car is not visible by a layman and it may cause the problems of white smoke. The Malfunctioning of the combination of two or more parts can also be a possible reason for this problem. A lot of times, it proves to be an expensive and hefty task for you.
How to Fix Thicker White Smoke Issue
As you have read above the possible reasons for white smoke from the exhaust of your car, it is equally important to know how to get it fixed. At the onset, you can do some precautionary measures but it is highly advisable to call an expert mechanic before the issue becomes a mess. If you have found that there is an issue in parts of the car, you can’t do anything except replacing it even if it drains your budget. It is very crucial for the well being of your car to get the damaged parts replaced at earliest. The untreated issues may turn into disasters if delayed or unaddressed for a longer time. If it is ignored, you might end up with a scrap car with no use.
We are here giving you some of the possible solutions to get out of this white smoke issue. It is strongly recommended that, if you are not able to judge the severity of the problem or the issue in the parts, the best idea is to see a good auto mechanic that can help you with professional advice. Blind experiments here may create more severe problems.
Check The Coolant Level
If you find the coolant level is the cause, you may fix it by opening the engine hood to check the coolant level. While doing this, make sure to not remove the radiator cap or coolant reservoir cap when the engine is hot. If you ignore this advice, you may injure yourself. So, it is best to wait for a few minutes so that the engine turns cool before you open the engine hood.
Now, open the coolant reservoir and check the level of the coolant. To check the level, you can take the help of a stick and see how much the stick is wet when you insert it into the coolant chamber.
If you find a sufficient level of coolant, then it is not the cause of the emission of white smoke. Then, you should change the direction of your investigation and check the cylinder heads, engine blocks, and coolant leaks. Confirm that the head gasket of the engine is properly closed.
Check The Intake Gasket
If the level of coolant is ok, then the intake gasket is the part you must look into. There is a gasket placed inside the hood of the car. This gasket seals the manifold to the head. The primary function of the intake gasket is to prevent the coolant from entering into the combustion chamber. It is responsible for distributing the combustion mixture correctly. If it is broken, you will see white smoke from the exhaust of your car while driving.
Check The Head Gasket
f the intake gasket is working as expected, you should investigate the head gasket then. The primary function of the head gasket is to prevent the coolant from entering into the cylinder. If the head gasket does not work properly, the coolant will find its way towards the combustion chamber.
Check The Cylinder Head
When both the intake gasket and the head gasket is fine, then probably the problem lies with the cylinder head. The cylinder head, made up of aluminum, gets damaged when the engine of the car is overheated.
In all the cases above, the broken parts need to be replaced fully with the new one. Even if it is expensive, it is crucial because they are the significant parts of your car without which your car can’t run long. As we have already advised you to call an auto mechanic for repairing it for you if you don’t know the nuts and bolts of the car engine. Despite that, if you want to try to fix yourself, the above-given suggestions will surely help.
FAQs
This article revolves around the generic issue of white smoke and its possible solutions. However, there are specific issues that can be encountered by an individual or some points that are left above, are given in this section.
Yes, apart from white smoke, you can see your car emitting black smoke, grey smoke,
and blue smoke as well. Different colors of the smoke give a clue about a different problem.
Black smoke is related to the problem of fuel injection. The most common cause of black smoke is when the excess gasoline enters into the combustion chamber in place of coolant. The other possible causes are burnt engines, damaged fuel injectors, lame fuel sensors, a problem with fuel pressure regulator, or clogged fuel filters, etc.
Blue smoke comes out of the exhaust due to the burning of oil or leaked combustion chamber.
Reasons for the emission of grey smoke are distorted transmission fluids, bad turbocharger, faulty transmission vacuum modulator, etc.
So, every color of smoke complains about the malfunctioning of your car’s parts. Every car owner should have at least a basic idea of this so that they can take proper measures to come out of the irk situation before it gets worse.
There could be two possible reasons if your car blows white smoke from the exhaust while accelerating. One is the problem with the transmission of fluids and the other is burning coolant.
In the first instance i.e. problem with transmission fluid, the fuel is transported to the engine through the hosepipe. That’s why when the driver applies the acceleration, white smoke comes out. You will smell a burned oil odor when you accelerate. This indicates that there is something wrong.
In the second instance, if the problem lies in the coolant, you will notice a sweet smell due to burning coolant.
Yes, white smoke from the exhaust can even come out when the car is not running. This is because the combination chamber in the engine contains fuel in it even in the idle position of the car. Anyone can easily identify this problem when the car is an idle condition. However what’s the problem identified, it has to be dealt with as early as possible otherwise due to the presence of fuel in the combustion chamber, there are chances of explosion.
Conclusion
To wind this, it is clear that the causes behind the white smoke from the exhaust are completely technical and you can do it only if you have practical knowledge of automobiles. Be it a low coolant level or a problem with the combustion chamber, it is always recommended to consult a mechanic if you are not sure. There are available fixes with respect to the causes of the issue. White smoke is not actually a problem unless it is thicker. It is ok if your car exhausts a thin layer of white smoke. A car owner must take the issue seriously and take measures to fix it at the earliest to save himself from a bigger issue.
Leave a Reply