Hey guys,

I've got a little question for you. When I'm driving around town and I really slam on the gas I get a puff of white smoke out of the exhaust. It's not a huge cloud, but it's definitely noticable. I did a search, and everyone seemed to have problems on startup, or when the engine was cold. However, this happens when the engine is warm, and it usually only happens once during the drive. The first time I noticed it out of the rear-view I thought I was seeing things, so I punched it again. Didn't happen.

I'm hoping that this is just condensation sitting somewhere in the exhaust, and I'm just helping it leave. I haven't noticed any excessive oil burning, or any other symptoms. It only does it when I floor it, so it's not a head gasket. The only other thing is that when I pulled the codes I got the infamous 0304. If it was running lean would it smoke more often? I'm hoping for the best, but who knows?

 

Sounds potentially like you may have a coolant leak into the combustion chamber(s). Normally white smoke from the exhaust means that, maybe a head gasket leak or something. Blue smoke means oil in the combustion chambers and black smoke means a rich condition which most cars default to at or near wide open throttle. One thing to avoid is a lean condition at wide open throttle...things burn up very quickly under that condition. Not sure what else it might be, hopefully someone else has had it happen. What year and mileage do you have on the vehicle?

 

It's a '96 GLE with 96k on it.

When I was doing my search I heard some people say that a bad KS will lean out the car....I noticed the 0304 about two months ago, but that was also the first time I pulled codes off it. So, I'm just hoping that the KS hasn't been bad for like a year or something. If it's been running lean for that long, and I've been driving the way I have, that might spell bad news for me.

 

a bad KS shouldn't hurt your car. I knew mine was bad before I even pulled the codes.

 

I wouldn't worry about it. Lots of cars blow a little under WOT. I can't really tell during the day, but at night if I go WOT and there is car behind me, i can see a little "dust-Like" stuff behind me. I belive its unburned gas or a tiny bit of burning oil or both. I wouldn't worry.

Mike S.

 

I wouldn't worry, sounds normal. Could be condensation if your exaust isn't HOT yet or just carbon that your blowing out under WOT. My car usually throws out dirty exaust at WOT if I've been driving like grandma for a while, or if I go WOT within the first 5 - 10 min. of driving. I attribute that to the rich mixture at startup leaving some moisture and excessive carbon or dirty exaust from unburnt fuel.