White Smoke

[scorpio47]

Hello

Recently, my car has begun to smoke under the hood. Sometimes it's more than others, sometimes not at all. It is white smoke, and to my knowledge, nothing is coming out from the tailpipe, only from the hood. I'm attaching a picture to show where the smoke is coming from; I've circled the area in yellow. That's the area, but I can't pinpoint the exact origin of the smoke. The first thing I thought considering that it's white smoke and considering the location, is that it's coolant, but the coolant level is at full, and the temperature never goes past warm (middle of the gauge). Any ideas? If it matters, this is a 1996 Lexus ES300. ANY help you guys can provide will be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance...

[gbhrps]

scorpio47,

If the smoke smells sweet, its coolant, and you have a leak from the radiator, a coolant hose, or the front bank head gasket. One thing for sure, if its coolant, you will be able to smell it, Be aware that it doesn't take much of a leak for the coolant smell to be prevalent.

Then again it may well be oil that has found its way on to the front header pipe and is being burned off, again from a minor leak.

To track it down you may well find that you'll have to get the car on a hoist, and have an experienced mechanic check things out, before a minor problem leads to a really big expensive one. Good Luck!

[landar]

Power steering fluid often burns a whitish color so I am wondering if you might have a pinhole leak in a line for the PS fluid running the cooling fan. Could be squirting on the hot exhaust manifold? Just a wild guess.

Welcome, Scorp!

[scorpio47]

Really? I didn't know that. I will check that level. Thanks :)

[landar]

Yep, sounds crazy but on the ES300's, Lexus uses the power steering pump to push fluid thru the cooling fan to make it spin. As I mentioned, it is a long shot, IMO, that this is your problem. Still, it should be looked at as you rule out possible sources of the smoke.