Help!! My car is spewing white smoke from the engine.....it seems to be coming from the front of the engine.It is a white smoke, not blue. It is so bad that it is starting to leak inside the car....which i'm guessing is not too healthy....any suggestions?

you might have blown a head gasket, and the coolant is getting into the combustion chamber.

If I were guessing, I'd say a blown head gasket also!

What does it smell like ?

Wouldn't my coolant levels be going down constantly then? They aren't though. It doesn't really have a distinct smell.....it doesn't smell like coolant at all.

have you checked your oil to see if it changed color?

Is your e-brake cable sticking? I had my emission test done and they left my e-brake on (despite the visible and audible warning). That sent out a lot of white smoke from the rear! How much smoke pours out?

It almost sounds like blowby (and a lot of it), but check the condition of your PCV valve and crankcase breather. If the PCV is clogged, crankcase fumes will find the path of least resistance (especially on the four...when I bought mine, the air cleaner was full of oil and the engine would smoke through the vents...new PCV and breather fixed it...5,000 miles later, no smoke and no oil in air cleaner).

Good luck.

If you had a blown head gasket, which is still posible, you just might not have seen enough lost fluid to see the level change much yet. A little water makes alot of steam. Could also be a weapy freeze plug.

If the car has automatic transmission check the coolant lines. ATF tends to smoke white. It could be dripping onto the exhaust.

make sure no plastic or wire insulation is getting on the exhaust. Make sure that you didn't pick something up from the road.

If it does turn out to be a head gasket, replace the head bolts when the gasket is changed. This is just good insurance on the V6 but it's critical on the 4 cy. The 4 cyls got weak bolts, especially on the earlier ones.

Is the smoke coming out of the exhaust or inside the engine compartment?

A blown head gasket leaking coolant into the combustion chamber will make smoke (actually steam) come from the exhaust.

If it's inside the engine compartment it is probably not the head gasket. Engine oil burned by dripping on hot exhaust does not always look as blue as when burned by the engine. The front crankshaft seal is directly over the exhaust pipe. Get under the car and see if you have any obvious fluid leaks that could be getting on the exhaust.

It is definitely coming from the engine compartment...not the exhaust

I would check for fluids dripping or running onto the exhaust. Likely candidates include; the front crank seal, valve cover gasket, timing cover gasket, oil pan gasket, leaking oil pressure switch. Also... Auto tranny fluid, or coolant as ogre already mentioned.

Good luck!!!

It seems that on some tubes near the front of the engine there is some oil....those tubes wouldn't carry oil would they?

[This message has been edited by burdell1 (edited 05-24-2000).]

How can you test to see if the PCV Valve is bad? Is it very hard to replace????

there just plastic pushed into a rubber donut on top of valve covers and a hose or plastic tube running to it. just pull it up, it will pop out. shake it, if it rattles its good, if not, its carboned up only cost u a few bucks

Ok...i'm pretty certain it is not a radiator leak...it seems to be oil....where is the PCV valve? is it at the front of the engine or the back? does anyone have a photograph?

It's on the right side of the front valve cover. you can't miss it. It's encased in that rubber elbow.

What do you have to do to replace it?

pull the old one out and stuff the new one in. If the grommet is bad(hard cracked etc.) replace it as well. you can get both at any parts store.

if the end of the vacuum line is loose at all GENTLY clamp it to the PCV valve. tighten just enough to seal the line to the valve.