Smoke from engine bay

Well I just got back from Vegas and when I parked at home after the long drive I smell something burning and then I see white smoke coming out of the engine. When I open the hood the smoke is coming from the back of the engine bay. Although the smoke was not thick it was enough smoke to have me worried.

 

I left the hood open for for a min or so with it shut off and the smoke stopped. I tried to see what was smoking but there was nothing. I have 30k miles on the car and this has never happened before. I did drive the car hard coming back from Vegas but nothing crazy. I'm not sure what this could be. I checked my oil and it is a little low which is odd since I got my oil changed on Thursday for my trip this weekend.

 

Any thoughts on this? I am going to take it to the dealer tomorrow anyways but I was hoping to get some feedback before hand. Thanks.

maybe oil burning off that had dripped from the oil change? My Bimmer does it every time as the drain plug is right above the header pipe - The service manual actually says to wrap the head in tinfoil before draining.

Okay good to know! I'll still take it to the dealer to see if something came loose causing the oil to drip. thanks.

might have just been drips from topping it off.....good to have them check it anyways

i remember an old post about a wiring harness or something coming loose and causingthe same smokey issues

What side on the back of the engine bay? Passenger's side? Driver's?

check to make sure the oil filter is tight and thats its not damaged or punctured or they might not have tighened the filter enough when they did your oil change.

yeah I'll check that. I think the smoke was coming from the driver's side but it was hard to tell.

firewall insulation touching down pipe?

firewall insulation touching down pipe?

Good point, especially with one from a WRX that is modified.

Bros 02BlueFirehawk and jedi -

 

firewall insulation touching down pipe?

 

Not if it's coming from the driver's side, as Omen reported......

 

Okay took the car in to the dealer yesterday and the smoke was from an oil leak. They said that the oil filter was faulty so they replaced it and the problem is solved. I'm glad it was an easy fix!

 

 

Thanks for the help everyone.

Good to hear that things were resolved!

I had a similar issue last night. I was driving fairly aggressively on the way home. Cold night so felt like I had stage 1 even tho Im stock

I have recently had the clutch/flywheel replacement due to bad pressure plate that work was done a couple of weeks ago and around the same time I had my last oil change. The clutch is great now, it used to slip constantly, now it just grips. I made one 3.5k launch last night as well, my first since I got the new clutch, just to see the difference between new and old, and I was happy to see that it just grabbed and went, there was no slip at all and no clutch smell, believe me I know what that smells like from the old clutch.

 

Once I got home and pulled into the driveway I noticed a faint hot electronics (?) smell and could see (a very small amount) of smoke coming out of the hood and maybe a little in the cabin? I opened the hood and could see a little bit of wispy white smoke (it was nighttime so not much light). I didnt see anything weird but did see some small part down on the engine which looked like hot metal and is prob normal after a hard run?

 

I dunno if this is nothing, some oil, maybe a wire touching something, or maybe my clutch compenents breaking in?

Could be a faulty oil filter was put in (like happened to me) during your oil change and a little oil leaked when you ran it hard. Just keep an eye on it and if it keeps doing it take it in. Most dealers are aware of the faulty oil filters and if yours is one of them they will replace it with the new one. Hope that helps.

they probably got some oil on your DP when they were refilling your tranny. I had that happen when I replaced my tranny oil. I've cleaned the pipe several times now but there is still a bit of burnt gear oil stink every now and then.