My Car Spits And Sputters, Then It Dies And White Stinky Smoke Comes Out Of The Exhaust. Can Anyone Help?

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Mark Henderson Profile
Mark Henderson answered
It sounds like your car may be burning antifreeze. This can happen when the head gasket malfunctions, which allows antifreeze to pass into the combustion chamber.

However, this is by no means the only reason why your car might produce white smoke, so it would be beneficial to take your vehicle to a garage and get it checked out by a mechanic.

Car spits out white smoke?
If the engine is leaking antifreeze into the cylinder, it can be fixed in a relatively easy way:

  • Check if any of the antifreeze is leaking out of the reservoir tank.
  • You can do this in a simple way if you own an air compressor.
  • Remove a rear spark plug and the radiator cap.
  • Fill the radiator up with water.
  • Then, using the air compressor, push some air into the hole where the spark plug was. Make sure there is a tight seal.
  • Repeat this with all the cylinders in the engine.
  • Whilst you're doing this, watch for air bubbles appearing in the radiator.
  • If there are air bubbles in the radiator or fluid is coming out, then this means the head gasket has malfunctioned. You'll have to replace this to stop antifreeze leaking.
  • There is a higher risk of this happening at the rear of the engine, because it's further away from the cooling fan.
  • You can also check to see if antifreeze is leaking into the engine oil. If the oil has turned a brownish color then this means antifreeze has mixed with it - which could potentially damage vital parts of the engine.
Mark Westbrook Profile
Mark Westbrook answered
It would appear that water in getting into the engine. It is burning water through the cylinders and this is what is producing 'white' smoke from the exhaust.

This is a sure sign that the head gasket is leaking water. I would suspect that the head gasket needs replacing.

If 'blue' smoke, the engine is not burning fuel.

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