White smoke

I noticed that my car is emitting white smoke in the morning or after sitting for some time. Is this burning oil? and is it going to become a larger issue?

Mike

Blue or purple smoke is oil and black smoke is a extremly rich fuel-air mixture. White smoke is normal unless you happen to have a blown head gasket or seal somewhere that is letting engine coolent into the combustion chamber. Sometimes when youve got an internal coolent leak in an engine you can tell by looking at your oil to see if its a creamy frothy looking mixture, if not and your not loosing coolent I wouldnt worry about it.

BKVic

Is the smoke bluish in color or just white? If it is white, it is totally normal. On a cold morning the hot exhaust gas mixes with the cold air and this causes the water vapor in the exhaust to condense and form a white smoke (fog). If it 's bluish in color, you might have a coolant leak that is allowing coolant into the combustion chamber like BKVic detailed. In many cases, this is caused by a blown headgasket. So keep an eye on the coolant level. The car will tell you if the coolant gets low.

The car will tell you if the coolant gets low.

It's best to check the coolant levels rather than let the car tell you with it's dummy light and temp gauge.

I am going to monitor the coolant level closely.
Thanks
Mike

The white exhaust will often smell like burning antifreeze if the there is a leak also.

Yeah I tend to get a ton of white smoke, but the coolant level is fine and it doesn't give off a sweet smell, so I believe it is normal. Especially since it only happened when it started to get colder.

HL