White Smoke Coming Out Of Exhaust

[silverwave]

Hey Guys,

I was driving home last night in my 94 4Runner and this thick white smoke starts coming out of my exhaust (earlier in the day the temperature gauge went to the red) the smoke had that sweet smell to it and just kept coming out non stop.

I thought it was a broken head gasket or maybe a cracked block. I spoke to my friend today who is a service guy at Toyota, he told me to check the engine oil to see if it was a milky color (oil and coolant mixed). The color was just a brown engine oil color and he said that it wasnt a head gasket but it was a low end problem, most likely piston rings worn out.

Anyways, wanted to know what you guys think it is...I still think its the head gasket. Also, if the cars temperature gauge going into red once could cause the head to blow.

Thanks for your help...whatever it is, it looks like its going to cost alot of money.

 

[rivertrek]

From what I can remember white smoke means there is water in the exhaust where a blue-black smoke means oil in the exhaust.

What that means for you I'm not sure...sorry. I don't want to give you some bad info on where I think water could be getting into your system? Has your coolant level gone down at all? Keep an eye on it.

I hope this helps you somehow.

 

[greasefingers]

Blue, black-like, or dark gray smoke is evidence of worn rings. White to light grey smoke is water in the combustion cambers. The sweet smell also confirms antifreeze mixture is being burned.

I am not positive but the dipstick trick may only work shortly after you shutdown the engine. If you checked the stick after the engine has gone cool, it may be that the water has separated out and is sitting at the bottom of the oil pan. A better test would be to drain out two inches of oil from the pan into a clear container (like a clean spaghetti sauce jar) The water, if any, will be a separate layer at the bottom of the jar.

A leak-down test can isolate a leak by pressurizing the cylinders. Easy to do but a compressor makes this simple. If you see bubbles inside the radiator, then it

 

[AZRunner]

I have had 2 vehicles where the head gasket blew and the dipstick test doesn't work. The antifreeze was going directly into the cylinder and evaporating. Check your coolant level. Chances are if your temp gage is going off the chart at times then you have air in the system. When it happened to me, the worst times were when it started in the morning and at stop lights. Very rough idle. Cleared up after accelerating after a few seconds. Had two mechanics tell me the first time that it wasn't the head gasket. Problem was that there wasn't anywhere else the coolant could have been going. No external leaks. Had them open her up and there it was. Make sure and get it fixed quickly before you crack a block.