The smoking gun... (well tailpipe actually)

[Brother P]

Hi, im new to the site (hello everybody *waves*) and am already begging advice.

I've got a mk4 Astra 1.6 petrol and its been running ok other than having to change most of the exhaust recently. But... Its been smoking from the exhaust for the past month or so, a sort of greyish white smoke and although my coolant tank doesn't seem to have emptied any, all indications would otherwise point to head gasket woes.
Can anyone suggest an alternative problem?

Thank you in advance.

[stevieturbo]

Brother P said:

Hi, im new to the site (hello everybody *waves*) and am already begging advice.

I've got a mk4 Astra 1.6 petrol and its been running ok other than having to change most of the exhaust recently. But... Its been smoking from the exhaust for the past month or so, a sort of greyish white smoke and although my coolant tank doesn't seem to have emptied any, all indications would otherwise point to head gasket woes.
Can anyone suggest an alternative problem?

Thank you in advance.

So it doesnt over heat, you dont mention any heater problems, it isnt losing any coolant, and it runs fine.

Then you say "all indications would otherwise point to head gasket woes" ??

Seems to me, all indications are pointing to a perfectly normal engine with no symptoms of a problem ?

Perhaps just a little condensation from the colder weather.

[paolow]

stevieturbo said:

Perhaps just a little condensation from the colder weather.

Agreed - unless there is more to it?

[paintman]

If you're not losing any coolant then you don't have a head gasket problem, at least as far as the cooling system is concerned.
Now we're into colder weather you will notice a lot more 'smoke' from the tailpipe as the water produced from burning fuel condenses in the cold air.

[williredale]

As everyone has said it might just be the colder weather and condensation. If you're stuck in traffic you'll notice it and it can be disconcerting. Have a look around you though to see what other cars are doing. Always worse when the weather gets cold and damp and the engine is cold.

[Huff]

It will reduce once the engine and whole exhaust system are up to temp but yes, don't be surpised. Burn a gallon of petrol and you get 2gallons of water - and that makes about 1300x as much again on conversion to water vapour. Makes for white clouds on cool days - all quite normal.