# Re: My Vehicle Producing White Smoke **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** volkswagen, passat\ **Created:** [November 24, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698 "2012-11-24T22:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alamo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b782af/32.png) [@Alamo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Alamo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698/1 "2012-11-24T22:00:04Z")
My VW Passat 2002 produces lots of white smoke when stop at light or parked and restart. My engine light stays on after spending over $200.00 trying to get fixed. Need help please. ---
**Author:** ![euryale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@euryale1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/euryale1)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 10:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698/2 "2012-11-24T22:11:14Z")
What is the engine code? You are going to spend a lot more to fix this than 200$. What was the fix attempted? White usually means either unburned fuel or water in the exhaust. Any fuel or sweet odor to the exhaust? ---
**Author:** ![EllyEllis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f14d63/32.png) [@EllyEllis](https://community.cartalk.com/u/EllyEllis)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698/3 "2012-11-25T06:04:59Z")
Head gasket? ---
**Author:** ![RemcoW](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/remcow/32/2471_2.png) [@RemcoW](https://community.cartalk.com/u/RemcoW)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698/4 "2012-11-25T06:37:52Z")
Are you losing any coolant? If so, I think @EllyEllis is correct. ---
**Author:** ![no1\_driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba9def/32.png) [@no1\_driver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/no1_driver)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698/5 "2013-03-28T08:49:35Z")
do a pressure test on the radiator to determine if you are losing pressure, if so and you do not see coolant coming out anywhere, proceed to doing a compression test on all cylinders to determine if you have a bad head gasket in one or between two cylinders. ---
**Author:** ![Tester](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/tester/32/15976_2.png) [@Tester](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Tester)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698/6 "2013-03-28T18:34:20Z")
You want to do a leak-down test to detect for a leaking head gasket. Not a compression test. A compression test is too dynamic where the rapid motion of the piston moving up and down can build the proper compression even with a head gasket leak. You can’t compress a liquid. A leak-down test is a static test where a constant pressure of air is applied to the cylinder. Then you can look at coolant in the radiator to see if there are any bubbles appearing in the coolant, or remove the spark plugs to determine if any air is escaping from one cylinder to another. Tester ---
**Author:** ![longprime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@longprime](https://community.cartalk.com/u/longprime)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/re-my-vehicle-producing-white-smoke/75698/7 "2013-04-23T01:57:10Z")
Ap 22, 2013. I’m guessing that by now OP has discovered that he has a burnt engine because he’s been more concern with the water vapor and not checking the radiator fluid level.