Tom Posted September 17, 2019 Report Share Posted September 17, 2019 I was getting on the Washington Beltway (I 495) today and had to floor my accelerator pedal to merge with traffic (something I almost never do as I am a very careful driver). I noticed a cloud of white smoke coming from my exhaust while accelerating. Should I be concerned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plus 3 golfer Posted September 17, 2019 Report Share Posted September 17, 2019 Probably not. How long was ICE on before this happened? What was the ambient air temperature? How is your coolant level? Probably just condensation in exhaust system from morning cool temps that turned to steam on hard acceleration as ICE was not on long enough prior to hard acceleration. Obviously, the amount of condensation, ICE operating temperature (say lower than 140 F), and catalytic converter temperature (say lower than 400 F) will affect amount of white smoke one might see on occasion. Try hard acceleration again, after you know ICE and CC are hot. If still white smoke, then issue could be coolant leaking around head gasket. Also, with ICE running smell your exhaust for coolant smell. I don't recall anyone having a blown head gasket though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnowStorm Posted September 18, 2019 Report Share Posted September 18, 2019 A number of folks have blown a cloud of smoke, including me. See this topic for the stories. I'm now past 183k miles with no problem that might have been associated with the smoke. In my case the car was warmed up. Maybe condensation can form in the intake somehow? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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