I just bought a black 95 SE nissan maxima with 99k. parked it in the garage and even with a warm engine noticed white smoke comming out the tail pipe from the exhauast. not full blown "i can't see anything" smoke but from time to time and it just lingers in the air.

this is a serious problem isnt it? smoke out the tail pipe is never a cheap fix.

 

black smoke = running rich
blue smoke = burning oil
white smoke = coolant = bad head gasket???

 

It could be a head gasket, but I really can't imagine the kind of stress you'd have to put on a VQ30 to blow one.

Have you checked the coolant and oil, just in case?

Does it run okay, or are there other possibly related driveability issues?

 

levels seem ok, drives fine, sometimes it would have little shakes at idle.

ive only driven it from the dealership to my garage for like 15 miles though.

honestly im taking it back and asking for my money.

printing this out and take it with :
http://www.jag.navy.mil/html/NLSOGlakesLemon_law.htm

car is not reliable nor safe.

 

ok i started the car, waited for it to warm up the engine, and noticed no smoke, so i went and reved the engine up to 3k or so, and thats when the smoke started up again.

 

Not levels, condition.

Minor missing at idle could be a number of things, most likely just needs a tuneup and cleaning though.

So, how again is it not reliable or safe? Hasn't broken down, has no driveability issues, and you have hardly given it enough road time to determine either it's reliability or safety.

 

Try it under load, out on the road.

 

im not worried about the shakes at idle thats nothing serious.

white smoke out the exhaust is a problem, in any car.
its not safe because it wont pass emissions testing, its not reliable becuase it needs repairs, and the car doesnt perform like i thought when i bought it from the dealrship. no car should be smoking from the exhaust, they said they performed an inspection and it was misrepresented because it said car runs great.

 

blown head gasket means dirty oil and coolant (they mix with each other) and overheating problems (you check that driving for a while at highway speeds then let it idle for a while, if the temp gauge moves up and down ... you get it ...)

pmohr is right, blown head gasket in a vq at this mileage ... it doesn't sound right ... was it turboed (see supra) ?

 

im not sure, it was a 1 owner car for 13 years tho.

 

How much did you buy it for ?

I've had the same problem before. I changed my oil, and oil filter, and the problem seems to be gone, for now. Has the dealership changed the fluids lately ? The might have put to much, or not enough fluids. That happened to me when I had no time to do a quick oil change, so I droped it off, and a shop did a bad job. I think theres supposed to be like 5 quarts of oil, they put like 4 -4.5 quarts. It was noticable, and I went back over there, and even got my money back.

Just check all the fluids to see if there old and need changing. I would say that the head gasket might be going bad. where does the engine temp. stay at ? Does it get hotter at times ?

 

maybe the previous owner seafoamed it b4 selling it

 

Could you post a video? Is there any chance what your seeing is condensation of some sort? Im just saying that cause white smoke with no other obvious symptoms is kinda vague. Im not trying to bust your stones but you walk into a dealership with a copy of a lemon law and claims of driveablity issues due to some mystery white smoke your gonna laughed right out the door. How about just going back and having thm check it out?

 

And thats perfectly normal. Condensation is a by-product of combustion.

 

if it is indeed coolant being burned, that white smoke should have like a "freon" smell to it. it should smell a little bit sweet.

 

i will get you guys a video, as soon as i can.
BUT now another problem is the car barely even starts without tapping on the gas pedal. ahhhhhhhhhh.

 

go get ur money back.

because its a dealership, you can basically threaten them with bad publicity if they try to give you any ****.

 

change the oil and check if the IACV hose is crimped......

 

Yea exactly. My car is always parked outside but the first night I parked in my boys garage and started in the morning I could really notice it, just thinking it could be the problem. Antifreeze, obvious by the smell....oil again the same...the starting issue is almost certainly unrelated based on what youve said, so like I said why not go back to the dealer? Also dont go back and threaten with bad publicity, thats a joke...bad publicity??? Yea Im sure they gonna lose sleep over a 10+ year old used car that some guy bought and now claims driveability issues becasue it "smokes" and starts rough. Why not juust go there like a gentleman, ask about the issues and have them look at it? Seems like a no-brainer to me.

 

i did go over there, and the general manager took it to a shop to see what the problems are with the car, and then he said once we find out, we can go from there and see what steps to take. i highly doubt they will get me my money back tho.

 

Sounds like they overfilled it with oil, try an oil change

 

Hi guys- I have similar concerns. My 02 GLE is using 2 quarts per 3000 mile intervals. I have 54k on the car, and I have this smoke (see link to video below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IefIt5yD4h4

This is with the car warmed up to operating temp, and my wife is depressing the gas 1/2 way. I have no driveability issues and the temp remains constant in the midrange (doesn't overheat).

Am I in trouble? Thanks in advance for any input.
Maury

 

Wrong forum. http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...on-thread.html

Is it more blue, white, or black?

 

Do a search in the 5th gen forums. There have been many instances with oil consumption on the 3.5's when they first came out.

 

Sorry man, I read this in the Noob thread -

This is only for LEGIT 5th Gen questions that may be specific to one user.

and assumed my question is not specific to just me. If I'm wrong, I apologize. The smoke looks slightly white to me. Not blue or black at all.

 

Did that last night and found some conflicting opinions about smoke. Some said blue smoke is bad. Others said any is bad. Just trying to get more info that wasn't directly answered by my searching.

 

I think it looked more blue Pmohr ... to me anyway. And btw ... ^^^ yes, please post in this site first. Lots of good general knoledge and, you're in the wrong forum for your gen anyway. You're in the 4th gen and you need to be in the 5th gen. Not saying we can't help and it's not a big deal mate ... just letting you know, please don't take it wrong

If it's more blue, it's likely oil - hard part is from where? Might be burning off the Y pipe if it's coming from the upper pan gasket ??? Or, it's possible (especially if you aren't the orig owner) that someone really really over-revved it and the rings are going / gone. Could be a few things ... hard to say for certain.

Anyway ... welcome to Max.org ... this place is full of great people and TONS of knowledge.

 

I was thinking the same myself, slightly blueish; especially with his oil consumption, it fits.

Though if it was burning off of the Y or the outside of any exhaust component, it wouldn't be traveling through the pipe. The VQ35s in the 5.5 gen were prone to burning oil (though really it seems to be luck of the draw), so chances are it's just it's nature, not having been over-revved or otherwise mistreated.

 

Thanks for the help and for the welcome! So in short, my exhaust smoke isn't harmless, its likely the oil. I'll poke around the 5 gen forums for what to do next. Thanks folks.