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Engine "Smoke"
Topic Started: Nov 29 2011, 09:24 PM (1,732 Views)
Coche Blanco
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You know that smoke/steam your car puts out on those cold/wet mornings? What is it?...and now for my question...my car ALWAYS does it now that it is cold...my truck does not. What gives? It does not smell like oil, and my car didn't smoke constantly when the weather was dry/warm.
Edited by Coche Blanco, Nov 29 2011, 09:25 PM.
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Memphis metro


Its the same thing as blowing your hot breath on a cold day. (Gas and oil have nothing to do with it). All vehicles will do it in cold enough weather. :nfs

The main thing is, your not loosing coolant.
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allmountain40
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Your exhaust system is cold metal. The exhaust gasses are hot. When hot meets cold you get steam. Mystery solved. :thumb
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Memphis metro


allmountain40
Nov 29 2011, 11:40 PM
Your exhaust system is cold metal.
and has accumulated water laying inside.
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Coche Blanco
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No coolant leaks, but...like...how do I stop it? Why do other cars not do it?
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Memphis metro


All cars will do it for a few minutes in cold enough weather and once the engine gets hot will stop, if its not really really cold. If its really really cold they will continue to emit. Simple answer is you do not stop it, if your engine is not at fault from a blown headgasket.
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allmountain40
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Geos tend to emmit steam for longer periods because they are very small displacement, wich puts off less heat, and takes longer to get the pipes hot enough to match the temperature of the exhaust, wich in turn will make it stop combining oxygen and hydrogen to produce water vapor wich then comes out of the pipe to annoy you. If you want it to stop emmiting steam, put a bigger engine in it.
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Coche Blanco
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It's just strange to me. My car does it 100% of the time...no matter how long it has run.
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DesmondGhostRider
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My mother in laws truck does it all the time too. The geo will stop after a long drive. I took a 2 hour drive last winter to go somewhere and it had stopped by the time I got there.
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crankcase


Intresting question. Condensation forms when warm moist air comes into contact with cold stuff. Working with that in mind, maybe it is from the hot exhaust running over cool items like the cat and muffler. From time to time we see water dripping out of an exhaust, so my guess is that it primarily has to do with a cool cat and muffler and warm exhaust. That does not offer a good explaination in my book as to why your other vehicles do not produce a vapor, except that maybe they produce hotter exhaust and flush the water vapor out faster than in the coolish Metro.

I have no idea to why it would do it all the time. As the motor heats up, the vapor - assuming it is water - should get hot enough to make it into the atmosphere without condensing and evaporate (or stay evaporated? :ermm: ). Maybe it is your weather and driving conditions; it should be less in the summer.
Edited by crankcase, Nov 30 2011, 05:27 AM.
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dover
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I used to have a metro that would steam all over the place after a rainy drive, to the point that I thought something was wrong. I don't remember any details about that car, but maybe there is some flashing you're missing and on wet days your engine is getting consistently wet and always evaporating the water.
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clarkdw


If the car is consistently driven short distances it never really heats the exhaust system enough to flash off all the condensate that has formed so will appear to "smoke" all the time. A car like mine that starts, runs for over an hour on my way to or from work will appear to "smoke" much less because almost every time it runs it will flash off all the water.

It is also an indication that your oil is suffering the same fate. Cars that are driven short trips all the time and never really warm up have a much shorter useful oil life due to water contamination. My oil still looks clear and fresh after 10k miles. One of the reasons that I feel that cars "short tripped" do not benefit from the use of extended oil change intervals using expensive synthetic oil. Better to use cheaper oil, change it more often and get rid of the acidic contamination formed by all the condensate that inevitably forms when driving all short trips.

Exhaust system life is much longer when you dry it out every day as well. No leftover condensate to rust it out from the inside.
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Coche Blanco
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I may have to run some tests... thanks for the info everyone.
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TheKid
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I am thinking a simple test would be to hold a sheet of glass near the exhaust pipe to see if water droplets form.

Doubt you have a breached head gasket or so. Hope everything works out ok for you.
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snowfish
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clarkdw
Nov 30 2011, 09:28 AM
If the car is consistently driven short distances it never really heats the exhaust system enough to flash off all the condensate...

......Cars that are driven short trips all the time and never really warm up have a much shorter useful oil life due to water contamination.

...........Better to use cheaper oil, change it more often and get rid of the acidic contamination formed by all the condensate that inevitably forms when driving all short trips.

Exhaust system life is much longer when you dry it out every day as well. No leftover condensate to rust it out from the inside.
Now this makes a Ton of sense! :thumb

I still feel that the synthetic will provide for better sludge & lubrication protection. :hmm After seeing the insides of what the cheap stuff does, I'm willing to pay the price....I think. :hmm

Would be interesting to see the inside of a 100k engine with synthetic and one with the cheap stuff. :hmm And not an ad for "I love brand X because.........." :shake

I do mainly all short trips. My Mobile 1 0W40 is pretty dark by the 3,000 mile mark. Takes me a little over 4 months to cover that mileage.

Condensation steam becomes more prevalent, at that mileage, and the engine gets more clicky. Change oil and all is good again. Even the idle seems to be affected.

I can usually plan on replacing exhaust about every 3 years +/-. Mine rust from the inside and outside with our wonderfull Minnesota salty roads. :smackface
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