Everyday before schhol i warm up my car 5-10 min or until the little cold hot meter is in the middle, but on my way to school i see, through my hatch, white smoke coming up from the exhaust pipe, and when i really hit it in any gear the white smoke is like a cloud of smoke, is it my head gasket? other things i noticed are that the smoke does not smell or is blue, its white, there is also an oil leak under the valve cover on the left side going down to the engine code, the car also idles low but not too bad, and once i turn off the car ther is a rattling sound coming from under the engine, Ive read other searches about white smoke and blown head gaskets but i only see an oil leak under the valve cover not a coolant leak.




[Modified by 92eg6, 10:26 PM 4/8/2003]

 

is it cold outside? obviously since u warm up ur car...right? probly ust the hot gases meeting cold outside air..

 

Yea its still cold in NY, but even when it was in the 50-60's at high revs theres alot of smoke, also on the highway when im in the higher rpm's a little heat starts to come out, this is probably from overheating but do you thing it might have to do with whatevers causing the smoke?

 

probly not from overheating...if u think about it u can make your breath visible in 50 deg weather, and ur exhaust gases are way hotter, so its probly just condensation or steam or whatever...


[Modified by hybridvteceg, 7:11 PM 4/8/2003]

 

I wouldnt really worry about it. My car does the same thing. Its because its cold outside. I also get condensation in the exhaust.

 

check your coolant level. if you are burning it, they you are going to be low

 

you said you dont see coolant leaking....well you said you saw white smoke out the tail pipe....there's your leak...coolant is leaking into the cylinders and coming out the tail pipe in the form of a vapor

 

Ill check out if the coolant is low, its my first car so im just nervous about everything with my car

 

As long as you are not losing oil or coolant then you should be fine. If the cloud disappears then it's nothing to worry about, if it hangs around in the air then it's burning something other than water.