Thanks for the follow up Perry. Instead of buying me lunch, take your mom & dad out (if you’re fortunate enough to still have them).
Have a great holiday.
Hi guys - Here is a follow-up on the issue discussed in this thread.
I drove the car for 300+ highway miles during Thanksgiving, and everything was fine except a little oil leak around PCV valve. I guess that’s because I didn’t install it tight enough. (I couldn’t push it all way down.) The MPG was 27+, which I think is normal for a V6 engine.
Today I started the car in the cold morning and noticed the same white smoke. I guess the smoke was there every time I start the car in cold mornings recently. I just didn’t open the hood and saw it before. As the engine got hotter, the “smoke” was lighter – It’s more like vapor than smoke. Now I suspect it is caused by a leak on the exhaust pipe. Is it a reasonable guess?
I didn’t hear loud noise. Should a exhaust leak cause bang-bang noise?
Perry, I have great news for you. White smoke out of the tailpipe of a cold car on a cold mornings is perfectly normal. It’s water vapor.
Believe it or not, your engine is a water manufaturing machine. The hydrogen in the hydrocarbons are seperated from the carbon and bond to the oxygen…creating H2O (water). Since gas is 50% hydrogen, for every gallon oof gas your engine takes in it takes in roughly 3 gallons of oxygen (22% of the roughly 14 gallons of air pulled in), you get over a gallon of water produced for every gallonn of gas burned. When the system is cold, the water condenses on the cold insides of the pipes and it comes out as water vapor and dripping water, either out a “weephole” in the muffler or out the tailpipe. Once the pipes heat up and the exhaust stream heats up it gets carried out invisably in the exiting exhaust.
The key is to monitor your coolant, oil, and other fluids. If you’re using any fluid excessively, let us know. If not, welcome to cold weather.
Thank you, the same mountainbike. I have been monitoring all fluids closely, and they all look fine. I have excluded the possibility of bad head gasket since coolant is stable and no grease accumulated on radiator cap.
While white vapor out of tailpipe is normal in cold days, what could cause it coming out of the engine?
As noted previously, Camry V6 engines are known to have leaky valve cover gaskets. The leaks cause both smoke and odors. None of this was caused by your engine revving. No harm done.
The rear gasket is much more work to replace because parts of the intake manifold have to be removed.
Hi Texases, my car does have bad valve cover gaskets, but that doesn’t explain the white smoke (or vapor), as it came from somewhere way below the cover. Any idea about this?
You might have an exhaust leak, but it could also be simple condensation burning off. Before starting your car tomorrow, pop the hood and see if you have condensation on the engine.
@Perry - the smoke is not coming through the valve cover leak, it’s caused by oil leaking out of the bad valve cover gasket and dripping on your exhaust manifold or pipes, then turning to smoke. At least that’s why my Toyota V6 had smoke coming out of the engine compartment.
Just a revisit of the topic and reporting to all that what happened to my car was exactly as @texases described in the previous reply.
Sincere thanks for the update. I know thie thread is getting old, but go back to my earlier post for a clear understanding of the condition described.
I think at this stage a compression check might be prudent.
The white vapor coming out the tailpipe is because while the engine is running, it is creating water vapor. When you shut down, the water vapor in the exhaust condenses, as does any water vapor in the air surrounding the car, especially in an area with high humidity. It all condenses in the exhaust pipe and muffler, then when you start the engine, the heat evaporates the water and you have a cloud coming out the tail pipe for a few minutes after start. This is all normal.