White Smoke after running over big puddle!
 

Hello all,

I'm hoping you can help diagnose my problem...

Today on the way to work I hit a big puddle in the parking lot of my office building.

As I came out of the puddle I noticed there was a bit of smoke that was coming out of the exhaust/back end of the car, then suddenly the engine bay. The white smoke didn't look like it was coming out of the engine itself but instead the radiator/front end of the engine bay.

I immediately parked and popped the hood, at this point the smoke is just lightly pouring out of the front end, nothing excessive, but it definitely is still coming out so I kill the engine after letting it cool down for a few seconds with the hood popped.

:scratch:

Anyone know what could cause this? Or if I should be worried? I noticed the radiator cap was crusted over (picture below) could this have been caused by running over the puddle?

The car will be parked for the next 8 hours so hopefully I can get some good advice by then.


http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps67b75cd7.jpg

Cheers!

You can see where that part is leaking coolant in the pic...at that Brass adapter part.I would investigate that more.
But NO,that would not cause a big white smoke problem.The pics show the path of coolant clearly.If that Part "let go" then Yes,huge smoke,and coolant all over the place!
Your Concern can in my opinion be explained as water hitting hot parts,such as exhaust..that is the most reasonable explanation I can give you.

Thanks for the quick response Mr. Styx, is the leak something I should be worried about? (Safe to drive home? Or should I get the car towed?)

It doesn't seem to be leaking anymore, I fidgeted with the cap and it looks like it might've been loose or not fully closed.

You have to remember that these engines depend Highly on the Coolant system to keep it running.
If you have checked your coolant level and established that it is OK,then you are OK.
BUT in the same breath you don't keep on driving on a wheel that loses air EVERY night do you?
There ya go...find the source of that leak and fix it,then you can go rotoring happily ever after into the sunset..get a couple chicks..get more happy.............Pick up Mr STYX..make HIM happy..lol!(as long as One is for him..hopefully not "Horse face"..dat gurl..she ugly mang!..wassat gurl?..Winnie?????)

Yeah, to me it sounds like it was probably just steam from running over the puddle not smoke. I imagine it probably went away after a couple of hours of drying out right?

and making sure your caps are tight is always a good thing >.<

OP what was the cause of the smoking? Right now I am experiencing the same problem.

I chalked this one up to water vapor from my exhaust causing the smoke, there weren't any malfunctions in the engine bay that stood out after letting it sitting for 7-8 hours.

The tips on smoke smell people have posted definitely helped cross a few things off the possible list of issues, I'd recommend trying to diagnose exactly what you smell that's actually burning in my case there wasn't any sweet smell or gas so I'm assuming it was just water vapor.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

My friend got that problem with his rx7.