I know, its a kind of scary question if the fuel filter is actually smoking but sometimes after cruising on the Interstate for extended periods of time I see smoke coming from the rear driver's side wheel well (filter area). I, for some stupid reason, did not check to see if it was coming from the other side either so I'm not sure if its just the brake pads or something else.
My other solution is that it is the oil burning off from my oil leak on the oil pan just passing through the exhaust tunnel. I very often do have smoke come from the engine bay, always at the same time, when i see this smoke from the rear. Its a faint whitish smoke that almost has no smell to it. I almost positive that it is the oil but I wanted to check with you guys as well hoping that its not something too serious. Thanks in advance.

 

I seriously doubt it's the fuel filter - the car would probably have burned to the ground if the filter was smoking .

Could be oil burning off, or a frozen caliper wearing the brake pad bigtime.

Dale