exhaust blowing white clouds of smoke
11-21-2002, 03:25 PM
#1
exhaust blowing white clouds of smoke
My max is blowing a ton of white smoke....but I use the word smoke loosely...it has no smell like it is water vapors. I have this problem for a year now, but is considerably worse in the winter. I can flood an intersection with a whole cloud of exhaust. I have brought it to 2 garages, 1 being a Nissan Dealership, and they said it was only water vapors and it would go away. Well, that was a year ago. Where could water be getting in and gathering in the exhaust?
11-21-2002, 03:53 PM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 573
Well EVERYONE's car blows white smoke in the winter, cause of the cold (just look around at a stoplight). But that seems to be a lot of smoke. How is gas mileage/performance? Anything else weird going on? Maybe a little more data will help.
11-21-2002, 08:35 PM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Posts: 1,158
Mine does this too, once the car is warm it goes away, it only does it for about 15 mins, just dont gun it! LOL...actually I see LOTS of Nissans doing this, Vans, Pathfinders, I think its just cause its cold and there is condensation in the pipes and when its all warm and shoots out into the cold it condenses into a fog of whiteness just like clouds are formed or something like that??
I remember asking about this last year and people said it was normal! lol, so dont worry too much about it I guess.
I remember asking about this last year and people said it was normal! lol, so dont worry too much about it I guess.
11-22-2002, 04:57 AM
#7
thanx for the responds..to reply to a few of em: Mine doesnt go away after a lil time...I can drive 5 hours and it still is putting out water vapors. I never thought about coolent, but wouldnt that mean the head gasket is gone? Where else would coolent leak? My miles/gallon is average. The garages keep saying that it is water in my exhaust, but after a 5 hour drive, you would think that it would burn off the pooled water.
11-22-2002, 05:41 AM
#8
Member who somehow became The President of The SE-L Club
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Posts: 16,033
I don't think your white smoke is anything to worry about. If you had a leaky head gasket, by now the car would be completely out of antifreeze and you'd be overheating like crazy! There's no way you could drive for 5 hours with a blown head gasket.
What your seeing is similar to the smoke you can produce when you blow your own breath into winter's cold air. It's normal.
A by-product of combustion is moisture. Blow warm moist air (your exhaust) into cold dry winter air, you see condensation. It's not laying in your exhause pipe, your engine is producing it as it burns fuel.
Watch other cars on the road, they all do the same thing, expecially on cold winter mornings.
What your seeing is similar to the smoke you can produce when you blow your own breath into winter's cold air. It's normal.
A by-product of combustion is moisture. Blow warm moist air (your exhaust) into cold dry winter air, you see condensation. It's not laying in your exhause pipe, your engine is producing it as it burns fuel.
Watch other cars on the road, they all do the same thing, expecially on cold winter mornings.
11-22-2002, 03:28 PM
#10
I do understand that its the condensation...but why is it that other cars condensation reduces after warming up...where my car blows excessive condensation after plenty of time to warm up? It does this in the summer too.
11-22-2002, 06:56 PM
#11
vicodin ... gift of life
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: norcal
Posts: 5,401
Originally posted by MaxWolf
I do understand that its the condensation...but why is it that other cars condensation reduces after warming up...where my car blows excessive condensation after plenty of time to warm up? It does this in the summer too.
I do understand that its the condensation...but why is it that other cars condensation reduces after warming up...where my car blows excessive condensation after plenty of time to warm up? It does this in the summer too.
It's not normal. I think you're leaking something.
11-23-2002, 06:19 PM
#12
i had the similar problem, but since i changed to synthetics (amsoil first,mobil 1 now) i have sometimes smoke only when i start car in the morning(winter time mostly) but it lasts less than a minute,i went 6k on last oil change will go 4.5k this time,i guess my engine is cleaner.last week i replaced pcv valve it was really dirty idle now is .7k before .8k.try to use synthetics for at least to oil changes,also i use mobil 1 filter.what is price for egr valve?
11-24-2002, 07:50 AM
#13
it is normal.. a lot of people say something is wrong because of the weather conditions.. of course someone in florida will not see this in the winter because it does not get cold enough. my car does this also and so do all the other cars i see on the road.. 
11-24-2002, 08:14 AM
#14
I don't know what to tell you but keep going to other mechanics. There has to be a leak somewhere.
And to everyone that keeps saying it's condensation, it can't be condensation because he said it happens all the-meaning morning to evening, winter to summer, 40 degrees temp. to 100 degrees temp. It is not just condensation.
I was going to say the piston rings but if you've been driving it for a year it probably isn't. Otherwise your engine would've seized up.
And to everyone that keeps saying it's condensation, it can't be condensation because he said it happens all the-meaning morning to evening, winter to summer, 40 degrees temp. to 100 degrees temp. It is not just condensation.
I was going to say the piston rings but if you've been driving it for a year it probably isn't. Otherwise your engine would've seized up.
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