Car smoking when cold

Hey, i read in another other fourm that white smoke when starting could have to do with coolant burning. However, my coolant level doesn't drop that much whenever i check it. I also have a bad o2 sensor. The car only does this when it's getting colder out, it did it at the end of last winter, was fine all through summer and now that it's getting colder it's doing it again. The smoke stops once the car is running for maybe a minute or two, and then wont' do it again untill the car is sitting again in the cold for a while. Im just looking for some clarification on what it is before i spend money on it. Thanks for any help.

Guess I should have said what kind of car i have eh lol. It's a 96 Accord Lx 5spd.

That's normal. All cars do it in the cold, to varying degrees.

Coolant smoke has a smell to it that is reminiscent of antifreeze's sweetness (glycol)

Normal cold air condensation just smells like exhaust.

It never happend when i first got the car though, it's a lot more than a normal amout of smoke or whatever it is. I'm positive it's more than just normal start up smoke when it's cold out.

The car only does this when it's getting colder out, it did it at the end of last winter, was fine all through summer and now that it's getting colder it's doing it again.
That's the key piece of information. It's just condensation. Don't worry about it - it's normal.

So it's normal for my whole front yard to be full with smoke when i start my car in the cold? But yet it never did when i first bought the car, which was in winter...im not saying normal is when it's summer, im comparing to when i first got the car in winter, it smokes 10 times as much now than it did when i first bought it

So it's normal for my whole front yard to be full with smoke when i start my car in the cold?
Well, you didn't TELL us THAT!

I can't believe it's coolant. Enough coolant leaking into the cylinders to do what you describe would make it very hard to start.

Sounds like it just steam coming out of the pipes as the result of conensation trapped in the pipes. When the pipes heats up due to engine exhaust, the water evaorates causing the steam. After all the water has evaporated, then no more white smoke.

DonSor, I just suggested that above. But Kmizzie's later description sounds like WAY too much for condensation.

Pull your plugs out and have a look. If you're burning coolant, you'll have one or more that have an odd white coating on the electrode.

Not off white or tan, that's normal fuel deposits. A coolant burning cylinder will usually have an abnormally bright white plug.

Or if this is not conclusive, pull the plugs out while the engine is still a little warm one night. I say do it then, because if you try to take them out of a stone cold head, they may gall or strip the threads.

Then put them back in, just barely seated. Let it sit all night. In the morning turn the motor over by hand a couple of turns, then take them out and see if one or more is soaked.

It's possible you've blown a head gasket or have a cracked casting.

Then again, consider this. Your catalytic convertor breaks down HC (hydrocarbon) and CO (carbon monoxide) into their respective elements (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen), then recombines them into new forms, H20 (water), and simple carbon (the black crud in the tailpipe) .

If since last year you've done anything to the car that would make the cat more efficient (tune up, new cat, etc) it will produce more water than before.

Also, because of the shortages of fuel this year, the EPA relaxed the requirements for reformulated winter fuel in major metro areas. That will make a difference in the tailpipe output as well, comparatively.

In all cases if you're leaking coolant into your cylinder/s, obviously sooner or later you're gonna have to add more coolant into your radiator or overflow jar. Any other problems pointed out will definitely result in other symptoms such as rough engine if the plugs get wet with coolant or overheated cat conv if the beads get extrememly wet. If everything else is OK, as long as the white smoke disappears quickly after driving off, just leave it as is but keep an eye on it.

My monte carlo puts out enough condensation to consume the car in fog....With no catalytic converter and flowmasters.....hehehe

OK. Temporarily disconnect the exhaust pipe at the manifold. Now try starting your engine in the cold. If you get steam coming out of the header you got yourself some serious problem. If not then it must be somewhere in the tail pipe assembly. You know what to do to isolate it further.

OK. Temporarily disconnect the exhaust pipe at the manifold. Now try starting your engine in the cold. If you get steam coming out of the header you got yourself some serious problem. If not then it must be somewhere in the tail pipe assembly. You know what to do to isolate it further.

and no, it doesn't sound cool, don't leave it like that...

That's good advice, another thing is, residual moisture steam usually starts a minute or so after starting the motor, as the pipes have to warm up enough to start evaporating it.

Coolant burning blows right away...

So coolant burning would happen as soon as i started the car? This happens maybe 20-30 seconds after it's started

this is normal, all cars do it when the temperature is cold outside, its like you blowing hot air out of your mouth, the air turns into white smoke, same thing here

Read the rest of the fourm..it's not normal

i have it booked for an appointment at the garage to see what it is... hope it's cold out lol thanks for the help guys