Pls help. My 2000 Maxima just acted funny yesterday.
I drive the car for a long journey and when i parked it for about an hour, i decided to return back to my base.

As soon as i started the car, white smoke came out of the exhaust for about 5 seconds, after which it stopped and i drove the car for the journey.

when i got my destination, i parked the car and started it again after about one hour, i saw white smoke for about 5 seconds and it vanished into the air thereafter.

I checked my oil, no drying or leakage, checked brake oil, tranny oil etc all ok.

Pls what could have caused this?



NB that its not engine steaming cos it has never happened why i start up in the morning but its when the engine is warm/hot that this happens.


Pls help as i dont want to loose my engine

Thanks

 

check your coolant......is it low? when you checked your oil...was it milky?

 

this morning morning, when i checked my coolant, water was fairly low so i topped it. i wouldnt know if all is well cos its only happen after travelling with the car at non stop speed for 1 hour more.

oil is black and ok. not light or milky

 

Being low on water could indicate a leak. Get the cooling system pressure checked. If the pressure does not stay steady, then there is a leak to find.

 

thanks dennis. i dont think, there's any leak. i didnt top the radiator for close to 2 months so it was at half level.

i also didnt tell u that i have fixed my gear incorrect ratio by replacing the VSS OUTPUT

 

What oil are you using? Conventional or synthetic?

 

That's good that you got the transmission problem fixed.

However, you shouldn't have to top off the radiator. On my 2000 that I bought in 2008, I have never had to top it off other than when I had to replace the radiator. And the same is true for my 97.

I really think you have a very small leak. Whether this is the cause of the smoke, I don't know. A bad head gasket allowing coolant into the cylinder is a possibility, but I would think that the smoke would be more constant.

Another thing that produces white smoke is a bad/worn oil ring on the pistons.

Smelling the exhaust can tell you things. Antifreeze has kind of a sweet smell and oil has its own smell.

 

this morning i started the car for the first time and the white smoke still came out first for about 5 seconds before it stopped.

Im getting tired of this. its just started on thursday . when i accelerate and rev the engine up to 8 RpM, no smoke came out and no smell. the white smoke comes at start up and then stops after 5 seconds

 

Do you have synthetic oil in your car or not?

 

pls whats synthetic oil? the last time i changed the oil was in March 2012 at 120,000 miles, now the mile is 123,000.
the engine oil used i cant remember cos i gave the car to the mechanic who claimed he bought an engine oil with treatment. whatever that means

 

I see...

What you are probably experiencing is oil seeping past the valve guides getting into the combustion chamber. Upon startup, it burns it off. Since it's white, it could be synthetic or a synthetic blend since synthetic burns a whitish color instead of blue like conventional oil.

 

thks for the response

my concern is this. if it has to do with seeping, isnt the smoke supposed to come out when the engine gets alittle hot? mine happens when the engine is cold(at least as it did at first start up this morning) it happened instantly at start up without the engine being warm and then it disappears after 5 seconds.

what could be the solution?
will it damage my engine?

 

It won't damage the car, so long as it is just oil.

Does this video pretty much sum up what your car is doing?

 

exactly exactly exactly. start up and after 5 seconds smoke goes off. the video is just perfect.

pls more suggestion

 

You can keep driving it. It won't hurt it. If its really bothering you, have a good quality mechanic check it out. I'm betting he'll recommend a valve job being done. This would involve removing the heads from the car and basically having the heads rebuilt.

Since the problem might be your valve guides becoming worn, remember that the problem will eventually get worse over time.

 

OK so i have a 2000 nissan maxima, before i explain the problem i want to say the car has been parked for about 3 months with out beeing Driven, turned on yes a couple times , when i came to turn on my car Got 2 Problems, alil bit of white smoke coming from the engine, and the RPM goes from 1 - 2 constantly up and down. oil is good, has enough coolent, no leaks. I cant exaclley see what it is but at first i thought it was because of beeing off for so long mabey i just had to leave it on for a while and itll go away , but it didnt stop it just kept making grinding noise alone from the RPM and alil of white smoke from the engine. But when i take it off from parking into drive or reverse the noise goes away, but as soon as i put it back into parking same thing all over again. GUYS CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME OUT WITH THIS PROBLEM!!!!!

DO YOU THINK MABEY I NEED A NEW STARTER-the car turns on perfecly with no problem OR A- NEW SENSOR FOR THE RPM. IDK YOU TELL ME GUYS APRECIATE IT