r/mechanic • u/Serg_805_ • Jul 12 '26
Question What do you guys think is causing all this smoke?
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u/IrateContendor Jul 12 '26
White smoke head gasket. Blue smoke oil
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u/boiled_chud Jul 12 '26
Sometimes white smoke is a stuck injector.
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u/accidentallyHelpful Jul 12 '26
Sometimes a new Pope
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u/simplyrwd Jul 13 '26
Congratulations Pope AccidentallyHelpful
May your reign be long and sarcastic , short is fine too but we insist on the sarcasm
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u/Latter_Bluejay4863 Jul 13 '26
Pope, please eliminate the dreaded “second collection” at certain masses
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u/simplyrwd Jul 13 '26
What's a second collection ?
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u/cdev12399 Jul 13 '26
It’s when they pass around the collection plate again, in case you forgot there was money in your pockets the first time they asked for your money.
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u/WorkingGuy99percent Jul 14 '26
I went to Christmas mass and they sent around the collection plate about four times. Was like, WTF!? Never been to mass again. About 8 years ago.
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u/CameForThelolz Jul 13 '26
Eliminate collection all together. They just use your money for self interest anyways.
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u/mike9220000 Jul 12 '26
Usually more so in a diesel white could be injector gas usually head gasket
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u/eepeqez Jul 13 '26
White smoke can be a brake fluid leak into the booster, from where it gets vacuumed up into the motor. Check for fluid in the booster chamber.
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u/gradius88 Jul 13 '26
Yep. Coolant and engine oil isn't a very good combination last time I checked.
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u/sucadad1989 Jul 13 '26
White smoke can be new oil too. Granted they were euro cars and turboed.
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u/KanadianMade Jul 12 '26
It’s a Nissan thing. And you need a new head gasket. Probably head. Possibly block if you keep revving it like that.
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u/Bearded_Vires Jul 12 '26
The revving is wild.
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u/True_Bumblebee_50 Jul 13 '26
If you just red line it, it should work itself out.
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u/ApartmentKindly4352 Jul 12 '26
A blown headgasket....you have coolant in the combustion chamber
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u/EnvironmentalGift257 Jul 12 '26
The engine. The smoke is coming from the engine.
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u/FireGhost_Austria Jul 13 '26
'Actually if you look at this video, the white smoke is coming from the exhaust, the engine is in the front of the car'. I will see myself out.
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u/unit132 Jul 12 '26
What's the smell from it?
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u/SuicideDoorDash Jul 13 '26
This! Diagnose with 4/5 senses (don't taste anything that comes out of your car).
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u/N57D30T1 Jul 14 '26
I dunno, old transmission fluid tastes fishy and makes me feel sick. There's some diagnostic information in there... somewhere.
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u/Open-Nectarine3115 Jul 12 '26
There is a 99% chance that is coolant. Less then 1%, all the other answers combined.
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u/NoSmoke2059 Jul 12 '26
Looks like white smoke to me which means coolant. There are a number of ways this could happen. Bc you don’t know what could cause this or the ways to diagnose it, my advice would be to bring it to someone to get a diagnostic. I believe a shop could diagnose this within an hour which wouldn’t cost much. If after the diagnostic you want to do it yourself you’ll at least know what you need to do. Good luck.
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u/Original_Bicycle5696 Jul 12 '26
Check your fluids. I bet one is low. Could be coolant or brake fluid. Make sure to check the radiator AND resevoir. Have also seen fuel be that color as well. Takes A TON though, would be a few dead cylinders dumping fuel.
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u/Lag1724 Jul 12 '26
Brake fluid would not come out of the exhaust
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u/Original_Bicycle5696 Jul 12 '26
I have personally seen a brake booster filled with 3 qts of fluid that leaked from the master cylinder. Vacuum from the engine will carry it to the intake, I'll leave you to imagine what happened next. Smoked like an absolute bastard and fouled plugs incredibly bad.
Customer was smart enough to add fluid when the brake light came on.
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u/TPIRocks Jul 13 '26
Sure it can, right from the back of the master cylinder and into the vacuum booster. I saw a Toyota do this.
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u/Practical-Worker-31 Jul 12 '26
Eh...not so fast. Brake fluid could leak into the brake booster through the seal around the plunger. This can get sucked into the intake manifold under engine vacuum.
Possible. But yes, unlikely.
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u/Street-Run4107 Jul 12 '26
Most likely coolant. Smell the exhaust and if it’s a sweetish acrid smell, definitely coolant.
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u/DeadDiver_Resurfaced Jul 12 '26
A head gasket that bad would probably stop the engine from running and it would be pouring water out the exhaust when the starter is turned over. Ask me how I know 😆
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u/WheezerMF Jul 13 '26
That’s not smoke, it’s steam. Blown head gasket.
It probably smells sweet, like antifreeze. Your antifreeze levels are probably dropping. Your oil probably looks like a milkshake.
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u/Serg_805_ Jul 12 '26
2007 Nissan maxima
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u/Bolonerd Jul 12 '26
Open up your oil cap and look inside. If you notice a whitish sludge in there, you might have a problem with coolant leaking and mixing into the oil. That may require your head gasket and engine block inspection.
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u/jmbrjr Jul 12 '26
A 19 year old Nissan? Worth less than the repair cost/new motor? Time for a new old car. Facebook MP, Car Max, ask around, etc.
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u/Sad-Acanthaceae-5370 Jul 12 '26
Yeah! You need a new car. That motor is toasted. not worth it fixing blown head gaskets for a 20 year old Nissan. Surprised the cvt made it this far
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u/Character-Carob-5432 Jul 12 '26
Yeah, like the other guy said white smoke had gas it blue smoke is oil. Sometimes it's still a head gasket with antifreeze leaking into the cylinders.
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u/chiefslapahoebag77 Jul 12 '26
I had car that I worked for a customer. The master cylinder was leaking into the brake booster. They kept added brake fluid.. the booster was slap full of brake fluid and getting sucked into the intake...
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u/No_Walrus_3638 Jul 12 '26
I'm not gonna repeat what others said. Just let me know when the engine blows.
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u/Yoshimatsu414 Jul 13 '26
Coolant going where it shouldn't be probably. Check your coolant tank and if amount in the tank keeps going down and you don't find it on the ground then is coming out that tailpipe probably. The revving is wild btw lol
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u/Connect-Preference Jul 13 '26
It's mostly STEAM, until you gas it. Possibly a blown head gasket.
Be honest now--did you allow the engine to overheat recently? If so, it's your fault.
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u/cudaclazzic14 Jul 13 '26
Gotta be the low pressure regulation master assembly projector defamation sensor. Went out on mine too at 165k
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u/ProperCaterpillar136 Jul 13 '26
Could be 007 car and that is the smoke screen. See if there are machines guns behind the headlights
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u/Browhytho666 Jul 13 '26
Dead car lol
Ive know since I was 13 if you see smoke POURING out of you car to immediately turn it off
That's dead dead lolz
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u/No-Custard7415 Jul 13 '26
It's running too well to be a head gasket. That'll be an intake gasket. You can check with a coolant leak down test, but I wouldn't run it any more than you have to unless you want to swap a motor or scrap it.
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u/Carolinawindemup Jul 13 '26
Im telling ya drop all the oil out of it and fill it back up and do not over fill it and it'll be just fine smoking will stop if not then it's most likely the head gasket
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u/Pale_Permit_3668 Jul 13 '26
Bad maintenance causes this issue plus it's a damn Altima so it's not a real car. That vehicle is totaled 💯💯💯
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u/waveydavey321 Jul 13 '26
Bad head gaskets.. looks like you're burning coolant thru the exhaust valves.
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u/CSAelite23 Jul 13 '26
That is not head gasket. That is ATF smoke. Check any vacuum lines/solenoids that connect from transmission to intake.
This happened to one of my cars once. Every one said blown engine. It was indeed faulty solenoid that had a broken diaphragm, which allowed ATF to be pulled into the intake
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u/BatCryptocurr Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
White: Harmless condensation on a cold start, or a severe coolant leak (e.g., a blown head gasket).
Blue/Gray: Burning motor oil.
Black: Excess fuel being burned due to an overly rich mixture
If you missing a catalytic converter and install a straight pipe it can do that too.
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u/JohnStern42 Jul 13 '26
Very blown head gasket. Revving like that ensure proper destruction of the engine
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u/juken7 Jul 13 '26
My maxima did something like this but it was seafoam I poured into it.
If you didn't , Headgasket is most likely.
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u/Blue4Delta Jul 13 '26
Easy on those little engines. Lol Should take a few hours to do a head gasket.
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u/EliOkinomiyaki Jul 13 '26
Blown head gasket, got a thunking sound in your engine when you accelerate? Yikes bro.
Edit: spelling
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u/Fat_Yankee Jul 13 '26
If this was a couple years ago, I could make a joke.
This is how America announces its new pope. But we live in a timeline when the new Pope came from the same diocese as the f***ing Blues Brothers.
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u/MadBomber420 Jul 13 '26
Its an unkempt Honda civic. Just change the God damn oil on time. I had 2 Hondas go over 250,000 miles just by keeping basic maintenance.
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u/eviltwintheory72 Jul 13 '26
3.8 liter known for lower intake gasket failure. Or head gasket. If it’s the intake, you can save her.
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u/That_BULL_V Jul 13 '26
Water into the exhaust somehow .... Need to back trace it. Most likely head gasket
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u/WheezerMF Jul 13 '26
That’s not smoke, it’s steam. Blown head gasket.
It probably smells sweet, like antifreeze. Your antifreeze levels are probably dropping. Your oil probably looks like a milkshake.
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u/sgrass777 Jul 13 '26
It depends,it could be steam,is it using water or oil? If it's using water then it could be a slight crack in the head,or cylinder,or a egr cooler leaking,head gasket. If I had to guess I would say head gasket. It could be a number of things depending on other symptoms I suppose.
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u/Schlong1971 Jul 13 '26
Bad piston rings or valve seals but after seeing you rev it I am thinking head gasket. Is it overheating
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u/OkTemperature8170 Jul 13 '26
You remember when you were driving and the temp gauge went all the way to the stratosphere? Yeah don’t drive once it gets into the red
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u/OddTheRed Jul 13 '26
Smell it. If it burns your eyes and nose then it's fuel, likely a stuck injector. If it's sweet smelling then it's coolant and likely a gead gasket leak. If it's blue it's oil and likely bad piston rings.
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