White smoke on cold start?

[Blake1985]

My car recently started smoking "a lot!!" when started the smoke looks white seems to only do it on a cold start or after it has been sitting for awhile. I've heard it could be a blown head gasket or maybe bad rings can anyone confirm? Any ideas for a budget friendly fix?

 

[ixcocoyxi]

its a blown HG only if it does it constantly from my understanding.

of anyhing, its just the car warming up and pushing all the condensation out after sitting.

 

[Suprman91]

yeah, I thought i had a blown HG. but if it was a blown HG the smoke would be blue. seems like its a just a cold start bro, mine throws that in the mornings or after its been sitting for a couple hours.

 

[Blake1985]

It smokes pretty constant in the morning "it will smoke out half my apartment complex" until the engine gets hot then it just seems to go away. The smoke just looks white from what I have seen I'll have to pay closer attention and look for that blueish color.

 

[cted]

if its cold out it is normal for it to blow white smoke. if it is bad piston rings it would blow blue smoke

 

[ixcocoyxi]

run into the smoke and smell it. if it smells like burning coolant or oil. if it smells just like normal exhaust fumes, you're fine

 

[SilverSophie]

could be burning oil. ^^ go out and give it a whif.

other than that its completely normal for a car to smoke if its cold weather

 

[Prozon]

Smoking out an apartment complex does not seem normal. Picture maybe?

To be safe you might want to preform a leakdown test. It's always better to get a head gasket fixed before you warp the head or crack it. (Which could already have happened.) A budget fix? Buy the gasket and do the work yourself. A torque wrench is the only specialty tool you need. I have a write up in the "How To List" in my signature. Probably be about $300-400 all said and done. Probably $1000 for a shop to do it.

I am just a little curious because the old engine in my F350 smoked pretty bad. (To the point that if I revved it up, it would totally blanket everything and you couldn't see.)

 

[McMahon]

My car has been sitting for 2 weeks and I started it up and it had the same thing.

Its just the stuff burning off/a cold start.

I understand where you are coming from though, I was a bit freaked out at first.