White smoke?

[yasmoni]

Hey guys, firstly i want to thank in advance anybody that offers their input trying to help me diagnose this. I have a ‘03 Tahoe with roughly 185,000 miles on it, still running very smooth, no major mechanical issues. I noticed today that when i send it to high rev, high acceleration, a white smoke discharges. I got it on video as well. Anybody have any idea on what this could be? I read online in could be nothing to worry about or it could possibly be the coolant or another fluid burning up. Thanks guys.

 

[Doubeleive]

well it's not normal so keep a keen eye on your coolant level, maybe even take a magic marker and make a line on your coolant tank where the level is in the morning before you start it up, check it everyday same time, if it doesn't change over a period of a couple weeks then maybe by some off chance it's some kind of weird air-fuel or oil burn mixture going on. I would also keep an eye on your oil fill cap, remove the cap flip it upside down and look inside and see if there is any milky looking stuff inside normally there should be none but some people say a little bit is normal but some of these people also only drive there trucks a very short distance everyday and moisture gets built up, mine have always been clean. otherwise I have only ever seen that happen in the mornings when it's cold out and the truck is just not yet warmed up yet, but it shouldn't be happening all the time. if it turns out to be oil then doing anything about it all depends on how much it burns versus how much you can afford to burn versus doing engine work to fix it.

 

[PG01]

 

[Shaw520]

As shown above,..you most likely have a head gasket leak, coolant from the water jacket is passing thru a head gasket, into the combustion chamber. As it gets worse you run the risk of burnt valves/piston in the cyl.

 

[yasmoni]

So Judging by these answers, I’m definitely going to want to take it to my mechanic as soon as possible just so they can check on it and hopefully get a real diagnosis for it.

 

[Shaw520]

and hopefully get a real diagnosis for it.

...what our diagnosis wasnt good enough..???

 

[M1Gunner]

Just get yourself a combustion leak tester and test for any combustion gases in the coolant resi. If the head gasket is blown that will rat out the culprit.


And have you checked the casting numbers on your heads yet?

 

[Scottydoggs]

it do this all the time? weather the engine is hot or cold?

smell the tail pipe, if its coolant it has a sweet smell, and your coolant tank will be low. might be lucky and the coolants not getting tot he oil yet, but check that too, if its over filled, thats a head gasket, or looks like a milk shake on the stick.

you can also pull the plugs looking for one thats wet with coolant.

 

[Big Mama]

The short answer is “yes” get it to someone you trust to diagnose it if you’re not comfortable doing it. As all have stated, once or twice and all levels are good and clean is no biggie. All the time is a huge biggie.