I have a automatic 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse with 163,000 miles and since i bought it, it has been excessively smoking a lot from the exhaust and don’t really know what it could be, i was told the coolant or valve stem seals but i’m not sure. It happens when the car is outside for along time. It also happens when it’s cold and warm. The smoking stops after like 1-2 minutes of it being on.
White, translucent smoke after startup on a cold, humid day is condensation moving through the engine. Opaque white smoke indicates a blown head gasket. Black smoke means an overly rich mixture and blue smoke indicates burning oil.
Doc is right.
Monitor your coolant level over the next few weeks to see if your losing coolant (only check when engine has completely cooled).
If you find you're loosing coolant, it may be the headgasket.
Has it been harder to start when cold?
Thank you and no it’s doesn’t have a hard time starting up sometimes. Sometimes when i start the car when it’s really cold out the car has a little struggle to start but it starts good when it’s warm.
My bad, didn’t mean too, new to this website. just pressing random stuff lol. Thanks for the information!
@dylan-34, It's all good!
I just checked my radiator fluid to see if it bubbles or foams and it didn’t, so i don’t have blown head gasket. Could the smoke just be a bad valve stem seals?
A bad valve stem would allow oil to burn and the smoke would be blueish in color. I would still get a head gasket test kit.
It’s to tel during the night what kind of smoke it is but during the day i can tell its a blueish smoke and whenever i turn the heat on when it’s cold while i start the car, i can smell burning oil. So it could be it. But once the car is heated up and drives, it doesn’t smoke. Just when it’s out for a long time.