Hello all. I have a 2014 Nissan Maxima 3.5 S. It has about 88,000 miles on it. On Sunday, I noticed white thick smoke from my exhaust when I start my car - burnt smell for about 5-10 seconds then it will stop. Then randomly while driving, I would hear a rattle noise then see a puff of white smoke. Can anyone tell me what this could be?

 

White usually denotes water while blue oil and black high carbon. What did the oil look like at last change...is it creamy or have water in it? So head gasket is my first guess but compression checks are called for to make sure. Also look to see if your radiator fluid levels have changed. It can also be valve seals But right now, it is just a guess. Your exhaust pipes can tell you a lot. Are they clean? Carbon, oilly?

 

My Service engine light came on and car started to shake really bad...went to get it diagnosed. I had cylinder misfire -3 & 5. Got it fixed ...still getting white smoke. Next day my car starts back shaking and even worse white thick smoke. I took it back to the mechanic. Said he found oil on the spark plugs. Oil change was fine ..no creamy oil on engine cap. Tailpipes are super dirty ..maybe carbon.

 

If there's oil on the spark plug it could be a few things one of them being the valve cover gasket, if the o-rings in the valve cover that seals around the spark plugs is worn it will leak oil that can seep right into the spark plug. Another problem could be a bad valve guide or piston going bad. I would have the mechanic inspect the valve cover gasket and o-ring seals first where the spark plugs are that seems to be the most common culprit for oil getting into the spark plugs. If the valve cover gasket and o-ring seals are good then it's time to figure if it's piston related etc.

 

I got the pcv valve replaced yesterday. The mechanic stated he was able to clean and burn out the oil. It drove great yesterday. This morning when i started my car up for work ... smoke again. I talked with the mechanic and he said there is oil probably in the muffler that is still burning out.

 

Besides the smoke this morning how's the car running?

 

It’s running really good.

 

That's a good thing, Give it sometime see if the smoke burns off.

 

I had the same problem with my 2016 Maxima . I was able to find out the problem quick with The help of you guys. My problem was the valve gasket had to be replace . Problem solved 😎

 

hey, was wondering if you could specify whatvvalve gasket you were talking about