What would cause water and white smoke from exhaust?

Question

I have a 2001 Alero and had a hard time starting the car today. There is water and white smoke coming from exhaust even when warm. When I give it more gas while park the smoke gets thicker and more noticeable. Thoughts or suggestions? Easy diagonsis I can do myself?

I started the car and this time when I gave it more gas it started missfiring. It seemed like the same 1-2 cylinders because it was steady.

Answer 1

Blown head gasket

Answer 2

Coolant is getting into the combustion chamber. The white "smoke" you see is actually water vapor, and the water coming out of the exhaust is... well... water ;)

Best case scenario: blown head gasket. Requires R&R of cylinder head and new head gasket.

Not-quite-as-good case scenario: Cracked cylinder head. Requires replacement of cylinder head with new or rebuilt unit.

Worst case scenario: Cracked cylinder wall. Requires new cylinder block.

Don't chance it. Have it towed to a shop so they can check it out.

In response to your additional details: Quit starting the engine. Have it towed to a shop! Everytime you start the engine, you're dumping more water into the cylinders, some of which gets into the oil and reduces the oil's effectiveness. The more you run the engine, the more you run the chance of damaging it.

Answer 3

You have blown the head gasket there mate and the misfiring is where the bore hole is too damp for the plug to ignite fuel untill it has pumped the water out ( this is what is coming out of your exhaust) , you can check this by removing the sparkplugs one at a time before starting the car first this in the day you will see loads of muck on one or two of them, even more you can do take it for a compression test they will confirm loss of power on one or two bores.
Good luck.

Answer 4

You have a leak in the cooling system somewhere. Most likely it is either the intake manifold or a head gasket.

You need to get this fixed. The problem will progress until it finally lets go, and you could have water shooting out of the engine like a water hose. Trust me on this, it happened to me.

Answer 5

Sounds as though the cylinder head gasket has "blown". The "white smoke" is really steam, and the dripping exhaust pipe is the condensed water from it. A half-day repair job at your garage.

Answer 6

blown head gasket comes to mind, the white smoke and water is characteristic of coolant when it burns in the engine, search diagnosing broken head gasket and see if you can find a way of telling for sure that this is your problem? Overheating is one other symptom, bubbles in the overflow or/and under the radiator cap are some others.

Answer 7

I would say that it is a cracked head gasket. It won't go away, it will just get worse. With a bad gasket, water and oil are mixing inside the engine. This is what causes the smoke.

Answer 8

If this car has a v6 engine then more than likely it will be the intake manifold gaskets leaking. This a very common problem on these engines. You should have a competent tech look at this, unless you work on cars, this is not a job for the novice.

Answer 9

Leaking cylinder head gasket,check your coolant for signs of oil, this is a sure sign of gasket problems,water could also be present in oil sump.

Answer 10

it sonds like your gasket has partly gone, but not blown!
if you look into the oil filler cap and the oil is murky, like mud, then theres definatley water getting into the engine block, if its fine then theres a possiblity that it could be the oil-valve -stem cells, which are next to the pistons, this could be expensive, although first i would try a good oil change! - possibly with some engine flush