2005 Toyota Camry 100600 miles. Had drive belt tensioner replaced 2 days ago, and tonight I noticed large amount of white smoke coming out of exhaust. When idle, it’s less. Engine sounds good. No check engine light. It drives normal. Temp guauge is normal. It’s an odd coincidence that white smoke started after drive belt tensioner replacement. Is it possible during the tensioner replacement, they unintentionally stressed the head gasket? White smoke is the only symptom so far. Is that enough to diagnose this as a blown head gasket?
If I sell this car, I don’t think I can get more than $2500. Head gasket replacement can cost up to $2000 in my area. Should I just sell the car as is, if someone will buy it, and shop for a used car?
I think you are jumping to the worst conclusion you possibly can for this problem.
Take a white paper towel and place it over the exhaust pipe outlet. Collect a little of that white smoke. Smell it. Does it smell sweet? That’s coolant. That could be head gasket or cracked head or block. It needs a pressure test of the cooling system to confirm.
Does it smell like gas/oil/hydrocarbons of some kind? Is your check engine light on? That could be a number of things from a misfiring spark plug to sticking injector bad crankcase evap system or more. One of those will likely eventually throw a check engine light.
It is HIGHly unlikely belt tensioner work did ANYthing to the head gasket. It is not that fragile. This is just another one of those coincidental problems that crop up after a service.
I’m also wondering where you call home. The weather has been particularly cold in many parts of the continent lately, and moisture coming out of the exhaust as white clouds is normal. It’s much more apparent when the weather is cold. Water vapor is a normal byproduct of combustion, and in cold weather it can condense as soon as it leaves the tailpipe and hits the cold air. It even condenses on the insides of cold exhaust systems and drips out of tailpipes as liquid water.
If you drive the car 10 miles does the temp gauge read normally and does it still put out large clouds of white smoke? White smoke in cold weather is normal until the engine reaches operating temp.
In really cold weather it’s normal even after the engine is at full temperature. On really cold days it’s common to see cars commuting to and from work with a rolling white cloud of their own making following them.
The biggest difference in the formation of the cloud from a full-temp engine and a cold engine is simply that when the exhaust system is cold the moisture condenses on the insides of the pipes and drips out as water. Once the exhaust is warmed up, the exhaust stream is able to carry the moisture until it hits the outside air, wherein it condenses.
Both cold and worm engines produce water vapor. The difference is in how well it can be carried through the system to the tailpipe, and that’s a function of the temperature of the exhaust pipes.
The answer to your first question is NO. The answer to your second question is maybe, are you loosing any coolant from your reservoir or radiator. Check both (when cold). If you are not loosing coolant, then the answer is no.