Professional Documents
Culture Documents
White smoke
What Does White Smoke Mean?
Although ideally no smoke would come out of your silencer, white
smoke from the car exhaust on a cold day is not something to be
concerned about.
However, if the smoke persists after the engine has reached operating
temperature, there's something serious going on.
White Smoke most likely coolant is reaching the combustion chamber
and burning along with the air and fuel mixture.
Coolant can reach the combustion chamber because of:
1. Blown out head gasket
1
2. Cracked engine block
3. Cracked cylinder head
2
4. Defective / cracked injector sleeve.
White smoke coming out of the exhaust system of a diesel engine is
usually not as serious as with a gasoline engine.
On some diesel models, outside cold temperatures can cause smoke to
come out the silencer, if the engine is left idling for an extended period.
This is not a problem.
Nevertheless, white smoke can be symptomatic of serious problems that
need attention. The most common reasons include:
5. Late injection timing
6. Incorrect fuel pump timing
7. Faulty injector spray pattern
3
4