white smoke coming out of tail pipe

[johnny bone]

I Have A 91 Prelude Got Hit A While Back On Passenger Front Side, But Every Sence Then White Smoke Has Been Coming Out Of Tail Pipe. It Smells Like Exhaust I Dont Think Its Oil It Only Happends On Start Up Are Sitting At Idle Speed At A Stop Light Does Not Happend While Iam Driving At Least Not Bad... Can Somebody Help Me Please Smells Making Me Sick..

[SBallerk2]

have u done an OIL change??? try doing one...

[johnny bone]

I Did But I Did Not Change The Filter Could That Be The Problem.

[partyhardryan16]

haha, who does an oil change and doesnt change the filteR?

[SBallerk2]

yeah...I was assuming he was going to do that 2....change the Filter...

[joellthomas]

white smoke is oil or water/anti-freeze

[sgtii]

First do a visual inspection. Look for abnormal thing around the engine. Whitesmoke is water or Steam. So you are most likely burning coolant. Check your plugs pull them all out and keep them with their cylinders. Take a look at the electrodes, if you are burning a little water them you may have an extremely clean spark plug while the others look dark or oily.

With the heat and high compression inside a cylinder you will create a steam cleaner when water is injected. Hence the really clean spark plug. Can’t tell a difference with the plug take a flashlight and look at the top of each piston look for clean piston.

Other things to think about:
Perform a compression test on coolant.
Keep an eye on the coolant level,
Get a second opinion on the color of smoke.

[AcesHigh]

White smoke is completely natural. As is any water that comes out of the exhaust. Water is a byproduct of combustion.

(2)C8H18 + (25)O2 ---> (18)H2O + (16)CO2

This is the complete combustion of gasoline with oxygen, and as you can see, in theory you should be spitting out more water than Carbon Dioxide.

Black smoke is too much fuel.
Blue smoke is worn piston rings or oil burn.

[sgtii]

[quote=AcesHigh]White smoke is completely natural. As is any water that comes out of the exhaust. Water is a byproduct of combustion.

Good Call, wouldn't we only see this in cooler temps (morning, winter,) or if we removed the cat and it was not there to burn the moisture in the exhaust.

When I say this I mean our complete combustion moisture
I was going off the assumption that it was hot outside and engine was warm we were not having light blue oil burn smoke or dark excessive fuel smoke.

Good Call though

[partyhardryan16]

good replies by both, very good imput, should help this guy out... i remember my accord would blow out smoke during the winter a lot, even after it was heated up, but i see a lot of cars doin the same thing

[joellthomas]

white smoke might be water if you are having to add water to the cooling system, or oil if you are have to add oil to the engine.

[h23_92_lude]

i have a 92 lude, w/a cold air intake... when i start the car a lot of white smoke also comes out... i was told it was becuz the cold air intake suckin' in water......