is this normal? white smoke from the tailpipe in the early morning drive/startup?

Question

is it normal for white smoke to come from your tailpipe/s in the mornings? also, why does it take so long for the dew to evap.from your windows in the morning? i use the defroster but half the time i dont have the time for it to go away so i end up wiping it off which leaves spots

okay so im not well versed in physics and things of that nature. plus i am not a mechanic and this is my first car so there are plenty things i dont yet know about them so please bear with me.

well i live in milwaukee, wi. sometimes its a little cool in the morning even during summer.

the smoke is only when i start the car up and drive a little bit to work.

Answer 1

Yes - it is steam from water. When the catalyst in your car is working properly it will "digest" the fumes and cleave them into water and CO2. When the car is still cold, the exhaust pipe for example then the water steam condenses and is visible. When the engine is hot the water vapor is very hot too and leaves the exhaust very fast.

So this is all fine and normal.

Only when the "smoke" is not white but blue or gray or black then you have to worry because that means unburnt fuel, particles, burning oil and so on.

With the dew - same thing. It depends on the temperature. cold windoew = dew. Once they warm up by iether sunshine or you heating it will evaporate.

Answer 2

Jeeesh, here we go with a science class. Ok, your car has been sitting all night long with ho heat on, so both sides of the window are the same temperature. Dew is on both sides, inside and out. Now what you are doing is turning on your defroster to heat up the window, but remember, the window has been out in the cold all night with the temperature the same on both sides and you have to heat the whole windshield up with the defroster before the dew can evaporate. Did you ever notice that when you turn on your windshield wiper to get the dew off when you first start the car that the dew appears again and you have to keep your windshielf wipers on until your windshield heats up enough to instantly evaporate the dew as it hits the window while you are driving? Same with a cold glass that you drink out of. If you have cold liquid in the glass and its kind of humid out do you notice that the glass sweats and gets wet on the outside even though noting is leaking? Its because the moisture is drawn to the cold glass just like the dew in the morning. Once the glass heats up the dew and or the condensation evaporates and won't settle on the glass anymore. Since the window takes more time to heat up when you first start your car compared to when you have been driving your car for a while and everything in the car including the window has heated up, the statement above is why it takes longer in the morning. Also, some cars use the air conditioning with the defroster to take the humidity out of the air to make the dew evaporate faster. If you car doesn't, try putting the AC on and turn the heat up to hot, this will work too.

Answer 3

Done this many times. I live in Phoenix, Arizona as well and I can inform you about this stuff. Smoke from the tailpipe usually indicates a problem no matter what the color. White smoke: coolant. Blue: Oil. Black: Fuel. When I say coolant, oil, and fuel, I mean that whatever is being burned, it is getting into the cylinder and being burned there. Not a good thing. If it is white and a big cloud, that indicates a blown head gasket. Had two on mine. With the head gasket being blown, you can look at the simple clues. Number 1, white smoke. Like I said, white smoke is caused by coolant entering the cylinder. Usually, you can take out each spark plug and do a compression test. Two low readings in two adjacent cylinders indicate you have blown the head between the cylinder. Another sign: Coolant in oil. Look at the dipstick, look at the cap. If coolant and oil mix, you will notice a color that resembles chocolate milk. You could drain the oil and see. If it looks like that, coolant is being mixed with the oil. Over 95% usually means the head gasket. But, it could mean others. Such as: cracked head or cracked block. Doubt it is that but have seen it. Watch your temperature. It will increase. And another easy test, look out for your coolant level. Is it getting low? If so, it is going somewhere. The bearings on the motor hate it if the oil has been mixed with coolant. You will want to drain that right away. But before you do that, one last test: take off radiator cap and start car. Look for bubbles in the radiator with it filled. If there is bubbles, another clue. I believe you do have a problem there. Best way if you don't know how to do it, take it to a mechanic and have him/her get all that old oil out of there and all that stuff. Good luck, had this problem and have done this stuff many times.

Answer 4

No. You have a small crack in your cylinder block that's leaking coolant into 1 or more cylinders. The reason why you only see it in the morning or after longer periods of time of not driving it is because the leak is small. You need to get it fixed promptly though.

As for the defrosting...

Dew is basically water on the windows of the car, it's different than when your windows fog up. Use your wipers to clear it off, if the windows are fogged, then use the defroster. Defrosting can take up to 20 min on some cars but as fast as just a few on others. It really depends on the car. I wouldn't worry at all about the defrosters. Just give it a little more time.

So good luck, i hope that helps. Don't forget, you should fix that leak soon before it turns into something bigger.

Answer 5

The white smoke is water vapor and is perfectly normal.

As for the dew, given this and the white smoke I would presume that you live in a fairly humid climate that is experiencing cool mornings these days. There is not much you can do unless you figure out how to change the laws of physics.

Answer 6

Sounds like you have a cracked head and possibly a bad heater core. Put some radiator stop leak in it and see if this helps. If I am right the stuff on the window will smell/taste sweet (put it is poison so don't really taste it). The exaust will smoke even when you are only stopped for a 10-20 minutes.

Answer 7

Water is a product of combustion and you have an internal combustion engine,this combines with the water that is suspended in the air making the vapour that you are seeing as smoke.Once the engine warms up the steam becomes superheated and invisible.So everything is normal and not anything to worry about.

Answer 8

I've been told by smog techs that if they see a little water dripping from the exhaust pipe, the car will almost always pass the emissions test. Maybe not the visual test but the sniffer test will pass.

Answer 9

Condensation in the tail pipe can equal several ounces in a humid climate like what you are describing. If these things annoy you, park in a garage. If you cannot have a garage, use a car cover.

Answer 10

It's condensation buildup in the exhaust
This is normal

The dew on the windshield is wet and cold,it has to warm before it can evaporate