White Smoke on Start Up from Exhaust?

Hey all,

Had an issue with my truck the other day, had been driving it for about 45 minutes, stopped to get gas and when I started it back up, it started blasting white smoke out of the exhaust.

After a few minutes the smoke slowed down and then basically stopped altogether, so I drove home cautiously, watching the temp. When I got home the smoke was gone and when I started it back up, no smoke.

An hour or so later, I started it up and the smoke was back. Did the same thing and then slowed down again. It's been very hot so doubtful it's condensation. The coolant levels did drop slightly over the course of the day, and the smell of the smoke could have been sweet, hard to tell, but I'm thinking it's probably coolant. Oil looks totally fine, no leaks anywhere, and everything runs fine. Any ideas?

 

Subbed for answers. Where abouts are you?

 

as a simple test, on first start in the AM loosen the radiator cap but leave it in the "catch" position. This wont allow the cooling system to build up pressure. Go for a short drive then shut her off and let her cool down, then start her again and see if she smokes or not.

 

Crack head and when parked, coolant leaks into cylinder is my assumption.

Do a coolant leak down test. A compression test might not show

 

Most likely a headgasket and not a cracked head.
But yes, if it is burning coolant, every time you shut the truck off, coolant is leaking by, into the cylinder wall. Every startup results in the white smoke of burning the coolant off.

Get a test kit like this. The fluid reacts to the presence of exhaust gases in the coolant.

$37 Block Tester BT-500 Head Gasket Combustion Leak Test Kit - Made in USA

https://www.amazon.com/Block-Tester...a-570352767565&psc=1&ref=&adgrpid=61495038909

Same. OP, do not do this. If you smell sweet, it is coolant. very distinct.

 

That’s typically a blown head gasket 99 percent sure.
It will get worse

 

Valve seals.

 

Valve seals? You thinking his smoke is from oil?
In the pic it is a little hard to tell for sure, but I'm more inclined to think it's a whiter, and less bluer, smoke. White smoke and slight coolant consumption are very common symptoms of coolant getting into the combustion process.
I'm not trying to be captain obvious here, just brain storming with folks that likely have more experience and understand more than me, and that's okay

 

X2,
It’s definitely head gasket

 

Or cracked head, but since never overheated(I know it's a dummy gauge and needle doesn't move until it's too late), I'm inclined to think more of a head gasket issue as well

 

These are the exact same symptoms when my head gasket went out, yes there was a crack in the head when it was opened up too, so bought an engine in a rolled trunk with 90,000 miles for 1500.00,
Truck didn’t run hot either when it was like this, FYI,
Just blowing white smoke on startup and antifreeze running low And occasionally misfire

 

White smoke usually coolant, blueish smoke valve seals or could be head gasket also

 

The consumption of coolant from the tank seems like kind of a big indicator too.

 

Does she smell like syrup?

 

Yeah, your coolant is going where it's not supposed to.

Best case is maybe a blown head gasket, or at worst cracked head. Wouldn't valve seals leak oil, not coolant?

It sounds like it isn't overheating, so that's a good sign your head probably isn't warped or anything, but yeah, you're probably gunna have to tear the thing apart.

You can also drain the oil and coolant to see if the two are mixing.

 

Oh no kidding? Gasket blown and a cracked head and still no temp needle shooting up on the temp gauge???
That's scary man. This is exactly why it's so beneficial to be in tune with one's ride.
The 'dead spot' in the OEM temp gauges is kinda annoying and was done intentionally so that little fluctuations in the needle movement within spec wouldn't alarm the owner. I understand that works for regular type of owners but folks that pay attention and want to truly stay on top of their rides, this dead spot is a bad thing.
With the 80 series Land Cruisers(93-97)on ih8mud I remember someone removing the gauge cluster and he tested different resistors from the temp signal to the gauge to get the needle and temp moving as a much more accurate way of reflecting true temp changes.... But it'd be much simpler to install a high quality aftermarket one... You guys think I'm a bad OEM only type of guy, hop on ih8mud and spend some time

I know I seem to always go to or reference the 'Land Cruiser world' in my posts and it has nothing to do with me trying to compare differences in something being better than the other. It's simply where I have experience and many many things are similar, being that both are quality Toyota made vehicles. I just hope I'm not misunderstood with me always talking cruiser crap

 

always need a place to start

year / mileage .................. typical daily driving

head gasket would not necessarily affect the crankcase oil at this point
tho from UR expressed symptons highly likely

long term maybe

pull Ur plugs have a look at them.................EACH plug goes back into SAME hole !!


do the same for ALL plugs or U will just end up with a jumble
then U wont be able to read the plugs

good luck

 

Antifreeze have a very distinctive smell to it oil not so much. None of us are in this guys yard usually a puff of smoke on a restart is oil leaking past valve seals. If it has a sweet smell to it yeah it's antifreeze.

 

@choughton what is the current mileage on your '01?
welcome to Tw

 

Thanks all for your help.

I had it at a Toyota dealership for 2 days, they pressure tested the whole system, couldn't even get the smoke to come out and said all my fluids were in great shape. So I basically walked away with no info, only to have the smoke come back again a day later. It's pretty on and off, but I still get white smoke upon starting it at least once a day. It's not always in the morning, but almost always after when the car has had at least an hour to cool down. I'm gonna try and keep an eye on the coolant levels, but I'm not really sure what to do next, my guess is it's probably a really small head gasket issue that will get worse as time goes on? Hard to say though.