white smoke question

[georgeramos]

Today as i was driving i saw a single huge plume of white smoke from my engine bay. I pulled over to check and everything looked normal. Car running fine and remaining at proper temp. What might this have been?

Thanks

[azruss]

did you drive thru a puddle and water splashed on your exhaust

[georgeramos]

I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately no puddles

[So Cal Mark]

I'll bet on oil leaking from the distributor onto the exhaust manifold

[georgeramos]

That sounds good Mark. I will put an eye on that spot.

[RRoller123]

Good suggestion from Mark. Would that smoke be white? Usually that is coolant that makes white smoke? Burning oil would make a very distinctive smell as well.

Might check your throttle plate heater too. Mine has a small leak along the seam that needs re-brazing (I took it out), and when it would leak, it would make a slight mist on the windshield, which is how I found it. The leak didn't make it to the exhaust manifold, but the overflow bottle is over there, so it could easily be coming from that or the hose. Just check it all and it should be apparent where it is coming from.

[georgeramos]

Dang so far everything looks really clean. Even the manifold shows no sticky or stained areas...there was coolant down in #1 and 4 spark plug cavities (external)

Could it have caused the smoke. Wow ot was a lot of steam and i hoped there was a manhole cover right there but no.

I hope it doesnt happen again...but if it doesn't i will never know...keep the ideas coming and thank you.

[RRoller123]

That coolant around the spark plug holes is the indicator for it. Just need to trace back the source of the leak. Pull the coolant out of there with paper towels or a wet vac or whatever and see where it is coming from. My throttle plate heater did that exact same thing as it was leaking, and it was a very slight leak. Check the seams for dampness. I stripped it of all its paint and it is going to a radiator repair shop tomorrow for a quick re-brazing.

[georgeramos]

Sorry i should have said i spilled it in there myself while refilling/burping the system. It was in #1 because i had to change out the outlet port piece and i made a little mess. ..

[DanD]

Fiats are really quite robust cars, and the only thing that really seems to kill them is to run out of coolant or oil. Checking your oil is easy, and you should get in the habit of checking it often. Checking your coolant isn't as easy, even though it would seem that all you need to do is check the overflow reservoir. If you have a leak in the system, the radiator won't always draw from the reservoir.

A good way to check the system is to squeeze the top radiator hose when the system is cold and the car is not running. If you squeeze it and you hear no real sound, generally the system is full. If there is a leak, and air is in the upper hoses, you will hear a lot of sloshing and gurgling as the water and air splash around. If the level is below the top radiator hose, you might not hear anything at all, but the hose will feel empty and squishy. Smell is another way to tell if you have a small leak. after a drive, it really doesn't take much of a coolant leak to create a faint smell of radiator fluid. Conversely, as a car is warming up, a slow oil leak on the manifold will smell like burning oil until the car is very warm, and the oil is burnt off.

Since you have seen ''smoke'', use this as the excuse to keep a eye on things.

[DanD]

One other thing. The large radiator hoses tend to start to bulge under pressure as they get older, warning you of imminent failure. However, the small lines going to the heater, etc., get old and hard, and they don't really bulge or look like they are going to fail, they just start to crack, and can suddenly fail, especially during a downshift, or when driving hard rocks the engine on its mounts. The short heater hose is the one that fails the most often, and it can drain the coolant from your cylinder head in seconds.

Anyone who hasn't replaced those heater lines should seriously consider it, especially if they seem original or you don't know how old they are. They are much cheaper than a new head gasket.

[RRoller123]

Good advice.

[georgeramos]

I just bypassed my heater last week so those hoses are gone. Im diligant to the point of obsessive on checking fluid levels regularly. There is definitely a burning smell happening however and i will track it down...

[4uall]

When you flicked your joint, it may have landed in the engine bay LMFAO!

[georgeramos]

I know this is an old thread but I figured out what the plume was from. The plastic coolant bleeder Tee that I installed on the heater hose had a sporadic leak. Under pressure it would sometimes squirt a blast of coolant directly on to the exhaust manifold. I only figured it out because I actually saw it happen once.