What is wrong when white smoke from exhaust?

White smoke from the exhaust: This could be steam caused by condensation in the exhaust pipe or a more serious issue caused by an engine coolant leak. Excessive amounts of white smoke could indicate head gasket failure.

What does it mean when your car has white steam coming from the exhaust?

If white steam is accompanied by a sweet or pungent smell it means the engine is burning coolant. This can happen by one for four ways the most popular failures is a blown head gasket which can be tested for.

Why do I Smell coolant coming out of my exhaust?

If you’re absolutely sure that you smell coolant out of your exhaust pipe, then that means it’s leaking into one or more combustion chambers, getting burned up and emitted out of the exhaust. The only two possible ways that antifreeze will make its way into those chambers on its own is a ‘blown’ head gasket or intake manifold gasket.

Is it normal for car exhaust to have steam in it?

On cold days, seeing steam in the exhaust on a cold engine is normal. Ruben de Rijcke | Wikimedia Commons. There are times a brand new vehicle in perfect condition with low miles may emit puffy white clouds of steam. As described above, the production of steam, like water, is a normal part of the combustion process.

Why does my car smell like a blown head gasket?

It is very unlikely it’s anything other than a blown head gasket. The three major clues are the exhaust smell, brownish colored coolant, and missing coolant. The overheating is a problem of losing coolant. At this point it’s just a slow coolant leak.

Why does my bathroom radiator smell so bad?

This odour is caused by a build-up of hydrogen sulphide, so if you detect it near your bathroom radiators or central heating radiators, you need to take action quickly.

What causes steam to come out of the exhaust system?

A small amount of water is produced as a normal bi product of the combustion process and until the exhaust system warms up the water evaporates and can be seen as steam. When an engine heats up under normal driving conditions the exhaust system will get hot as well.

What does white smoke and steam from exhaust mean?

In cold weather a moderate amount of white smoke/steam the first 10 to 15 minutes of run time is not unusual. The image above shows an abnormal amount of steam which indicates a problem. What goes wrong? If white steam is accompanied by a sweet or pungent smell it means the engine is burning coolant.

Why does my car have a white steam smell?

If white steam is accompanied by a sweet or pungent smell it means the engine is burning coolant. This can happen by one for four ways the most popular failures is a blown head gasket which can be tested for. Additional causes include a cracked cylinder head or engine block or the intake manifold gasket failure…