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VortecLlama

Hi, I recently had issues with my car, it’s been smoking a white smoke out of the exhaust, I queried with a friend and believed it could’ve been over filled oil as water and coolant were fine, we completely drained the oil and changed the filter as well as the coolant just to be sure and it’s still smoking substantially when the car has warmed up, any advise on possible faults or solutions would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Tyran.

Anon

Hi Tyran,
White smoke is most commonly actually steam from moisture collected in the exhaust and when the exhaust system is hot will show. Another source is burning antifreeze from a blown head gasket- for this to happen generally the vehicle will misfire as it tries to "burn" the antifreeze and the cooling system will be requiring a top-up regularly. Another potential is if the vehicle has a blown turbo and there is a significant amount of oil entering the exhaust and burning when hot, however you will be draining the oil sump in a very short time for this to happen.
A small amount of oil burning is generally blue in colour and the main cause is worn piston rings and valve stem seals (common signs of an old worn engine).
I recommend having the vehicle checked by a mechanic to make sure it's not just steam, a simple fix like a breather issue or something more serious starting to show.