Car Smoking

[roxanne]

Hello, i have a 1996 ES300 lexus. I just replaced cam/crank seals, timing belt, valve cover gaskets, radiator hose, and rear main seal. The car is not running hot, but driving the car with or without air on white smoke is coming from under the hood on the right side. When i park the car or idle there is white steam or clouds of smoke coming from under the hood. When i raise the hood, i only see steam as if it's burn off. I have had the car back into the shop, and they can not detect the problem. My car was never running hot or seeing smoke/steam until i had all the listed repairs done. Please Help!

[lenore]

Sure it is not the water pump leaking? How can they not find the problem.? Especially if it is that bad.

[George_Jetson]

Are you loosing coolant? Or oil? If you are loosing water, the shop should be able to pressurize the system and determine where it is leaking from.

[lazycreeks]

Sure it is not the water pump leaking? How can they not find the problem.? Especially if it is that bad.

Dollars to donuts it's coming either from a valve cover gasket or the new rear main seal. When the engine runs, a small amount of oil is escaping onto the hot engine block, probably from the back of the engine. By the time you stop and get the lid up, it's vaporized. If left long enough, I think progressively more and more oil will escape such that you'd see it. I've experienced this same phenom after DEALER-performed maintenance that you described.

After they fix their sloppy work, look for a new mechanic.

Best to you