I have a stock 89 DX Hatch. I noticed that while accelerating in first gear there is a little cloud of white smoke that runs out. It isn't like a puff, just a constant amount. It isn't super white either. After you get up to speed it goes away. But also the exhaust has water dripping out of the tip...

Could it be water that is steaming in the exhaust? I drove my car around for quite a while without a muffler and so the exhaust actually came out where the muffler would have bolted on right in front of the rear control arm. Did water get in there?

I also haven't noticed any loss of water or coolant or overheating so I hope it isn't the head gasket. And it doesn't look like there has been any water in my oil any time I have changed it.

Any help would be nice thank you...

 

Could be a leaking head gasket, not fully blown yet. I had the same problem when my HG was bad, it would smoke on and off and I had a lot of condensation from the exhaust. Does your car stutter at idle or misfire / backfire at all?

 

It stutters a little bit on a cold idle. But after it idles for like 2-3 minutes it is fine. Is that a head gasket symptom? It doesn't seem like it has a head gasket problem though.

Thanks.

 

im having the same exact problem, condensation in the tail pipe and small amounts of white smoke, i was gonna wait to see if it went away (its a swap of a b16a) I thought it might have to do with my engine sitting around

I'm a little curious to what this can be caused by as well so heres a bump

 

a little bit of moisture is normal. water is the by prodcut of the catalyst and combustion.

as long as the white smoke isn't all the time every gear, every operating temp then its ok.

its normal to have a lil white puff when its cold still.

 

valve seals

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Suck my DX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">valve seals</TD></TR></TABLE>

X2 agreed.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by square_1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It stutters a little bit on a cold idle. But after it idles for like 2-3 minutes it is fine. Is that a head gasket symptom? It doesn't seem like it has a head gasket problem though.

Thanks.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah, mine did the exact same thing when it was blown, but that may not be the case here as you idle problem could be a multitude of things. I couldn't really notice any oil in my coolant or vice-versa, I had to do a compression test to fully figure it out. And yes, it may just be oil leaking past your valve seals as mentioned.

 

drive it like this for a while, and keep an eye on the coolant and oil level's.

 

I thought valve seals would make blue or black smoke, not white?

I am probably going to do a compression test, see if any thing comes up through that. It is only a little puff of white smoke when first accelerating in first gear. It doesn't happen in any other gear (that I know of), only when at a stop and then starting.

 

when only a small amount of oil is getting into the combustion chamber it will burn white....the symptoms you described sound like valve seals to me but thats just my .02