White smoke

Asked by mr88keys Nov 16, 2016 at 11:23 PM about the 2004 Toyota Camry LE FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I have a 2004 Toyota Camry and all of a sudden it started
to give out white smoke from the coolant bottle. Do
anyone know what that is out how I can fix it?  I got new
head gaskets about 4 months ago. So I'm dumbfounded.

4 Answers

190

If it is coming out of your coolant bottle it is not smoke.....it is steam which quickly evaporates. If steam is coming from your coolant bottle means the car is overheating...For a number of different reasons. Most likely and cheapest is your thermostat which may be stuck and not letting water or coolant flow though. Another possibility is that compression is escaping though your head gasket or cylinder head (cracked). Another possibility is that you car is overheating because your cooling fans are failing and not coming on at the appropriate temperature causing overheating. There are several way to tell...but I don't recommend a novice to try themselves. Those ways are...when the car is overheating (coolant bottle steaming) ...if the to radiator hose is very hot, hot and expanded...this is a possible thermostat issue. If the car is running hot (Coolant bottle steaming) the cooling fans have to come on...if they don't ...well that is your problem. Back to "white smoke" if you see white smoke that is not steam AND..your engine is NOT OVERHEATING. You could have misdiagnosed the location of the white smoke...perhaps your valve cover gaskets are leaking in to the exhaust manifold and burning oil. This maybe near the same location of the coolant bottle and it is confusing you. Good luck, George

4 people found this helpful.
Best Answer Mark helpful

The gauge shows the temperature is normal. I do believe it's steam however. Is there a way for me to fix this tonight (I.e. Getting some coolant and putting it in), or unsticking the thermostat?l until I can get a mechanic to look at it his weekend? Have to work in the morning and just started a new job.

189,455

Taking the thermostat out is no good !

1 people found this helpful.

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