White smoke coming from exhaust!?

I don't know if this is normal or not but when i rev my engine hard some white smoke comes out the exhaust. The car is already warmed up and it's not that cold out is like 56F outside so im now worried. I've been also told by my friend who was following in his car that he noticed white smoke come out the exhaust when i accelerated quickly. It only happens when i accelerate quickly(Gun It) or rev it hard. I only drive the car once a week or 2 weeks so i dont know if it could be from no use. Should i be worried? Its an 05 LGT 5EAT with like 32K miles on it.

only thing that I know is my buddy had a head gasket issue (which caused coolant to leak and be burned) which made white smoke only when floored. His was so bad that it made A LOT of white smoke...kind of fun actually until it got fixed. This was an inline 6 GS300

Sounds like it could be a head gasket to me too. Are you using antifreeze? How does your oil look?

You will have to get a leak-down or hydrocarbon test done, any competent mechanic will be able to do one or the other for you.

 

Paul

Definately a BHG.

How much white smoke are we talking about here? Are you sure it's not just normal condensation? I've noticed with this car even in slightly cooler temps (i.e. pretty much anything less than 60*) once the exhaust is warmed up it produces more condensation than any other car I've had. There much just be a greater differential in exhaust to air temp. When I first noticed it last year I thought I had a BGH as well, but subsequent oil analysis have shown zero coolant/water in the oil. Plus my coolant looks fine. It doesnt do it right away when I start the car, just once it's warmed up a bit. It's condensation, it's normal. Be sure yours isn't before you spend a bunch of money having people diagnose a problem that doesn't exist.

Anyone care to think there he might have to much oil in his car? Your car could be burning oil, do you check it regularly?

I'll throw my bet in to say it's a dying turbo and that's oil it's burning.

Yea I think that's normal dude... and i don't think the turbo is blown. It's normal for these cars to use a "bit" (quarter of a quart every 2,000mi) of oil. Best of luck to u tho.

Burning oil makes blue smoke, white is antifreeze. Only way to be sure is with a leak-down or hydrocarbon test.

 

Paul

id say normal!!! but check fluid levels and report back. highly unlikely about the head gasket. possible about the turbo but doesnt sound like it to me

It's not a lot of smoke but like i said it only happens when i rev hard or gun it while driving. Normally idle and driving produces no smoke; regular condensation but it goes away after it warms up. The oil was changed last Saturday and it didn't seem low. I didn't overfill the oil either i got 4.5qts down packed it's the same amount my helicopters take. I did go 5 months without changing the oil and then the lack of driving the car; i probably drove maybe 1500miles in those 5 months. If i recall a new turbo was installed at 20k miles or so, so i doubt it could be the turbo. When i get a chance ill check the coolant level to see if its low. Hopefully it just needs a good drive, i just got mad that people were hitting my car while parking so i stopped driving it as much.. damn NY'rs but i have it garaged now. If it does happen to be something wrong with the engine would Subaru cover repairs? if i'm not mistaken ain't the warranty 5 Years 60K miles?

Depends how much smoke is coming out. Watch any car from behind when the driver steps on it, they will all emit smoke as they take off. My GTI was running straight pipes, that thing used to let out this huge plume of dark smoke. (Sorry for you tree-huggers.)

I think it's normal. My friends have told me before that my car does this when I get up on it a bit too. I can't see it from inside the car, only from people following me.

 

if its more than that though, somethin could be amiss sa others have said.

Cob webs.

stop playing around and do a compression test.

The reason I never get into the white vs. blue smoke is that 99% of casual observers will report both as "white" simply because they have nothing to compare it to. If the car smokes when you rev it while parked, you're burning something and in these cars that's most likely to be oil, with either the turbo or a bad cylinder as the cause.

The reason I never get into the white vs. blue smoke is that 99% of casual observers will report both as "white" simply because they have nothing to compare it to. If the car smokes when you rev it while parked, you're burning something and in these cars that's most likely to be oil, with either the turbo or a bad cylinder as the cause.

 

Thats a good point, unless the person has had a car that really REALLY burns oil...lol, then they will have a good idea of blue vs. white smoke...lol

Cobb webs.

 

Fixed

If you are under the powertrain warranty 5yrs/60k have a dealer check this out for sure. It could be a head gasket issue or coolant leaking past the seal in the turbo. Either one would create white smoke.

or just a bit of moisture in the exhaust system. what car when its cool out does not puff a bit of white smoke?

So I just bought a spec.B and noticed that there was what I assumed was condensation coming out of the tailpipes, long after the car was warmed up. It seemed to disperse quickly but sounds like maybe I should have this checked out... what tests would I ask a dealer to run?

If it doesn't smell funny it's usually not a problem - providing that you use antifreeze in the cooling system (which you should do).

Well i checked the coolant today and it was super low. So i topped it off and took 20 minute drive to Universal Subaru to find out they went out of business. The guy there told me that koeppel bought them out and will be in service within a month. So i said screw it, and drove back home. I decided to call Bay Ridge Subaru and find out if my powertrain warranty was still good. When they picked up i asked her my question and she responded by saying it's only a 3 year 30K mile warranty; When i told her about the 5year 60K mile warranty she transferred me to someone else who then intern transferred me to someone else and again. Eventually i got i guess a technician who i explained my problem, and then told me ill have to bring my car in but hes to busy.....for a week. So now I'm really annoyed so i just called my regular mechanic and he said to bring the car over tomorrow. So hopefully he can investigate further, and maybe ill try again with a dealer this time with Star Subaru.

Updates on this? It's pretty cold where I'm at now, and whenever I really hit the gas, some James Bond action crops up...it looks like I put a smoke bomb up my tailpipe. I'm sitting there looking in the rearview like, "holy crap." It's pure white, no blue at all.

I also have "white" smoke even after warmup in cold weather. My coolant is somewhat low, but it hasn't dropped after 300 miles. It sometimes is a good sized cloud at idle.