i have smoke coming out from my engine, on the left side head. it usually doesn't smoke while the cars running but as soon as i turn it off, smoke, or steam comes out. it doesn't smell, and it's white. so i think it's just steam, but where is it coming from? i used a pressure washer and that helped it a bit, then cleaned the bottom of the block, now it's a bit better yet, but still smokes like mad, and gets up to 150-200 degrees. is any of this normal? and where is my smoke coming from? and what's causing it?

 

Well if you just used a power washer you could have film and dirt on parts of the engine that once didn't have dirt. A little grease or dirt will apear as smoke but it is nothing more than that stuff burning off your engine. Everytime I wrench I always get a few minutes of mystery smoke that is nothing more than water, sealant, grease, oil, rtv etc etc that has rubbed off onto the engine. Drive the car around awhile and see if it still does it.

 

It could be the fanswitch, or whatever is in that hole, leaking. Also the intake can leak around the rear of the heads and cause water/antifreeze steam to appear in that area.

 

interesting. i'm going to clean my engine tomorrow completely, or atleast so it looks semi-nice, then i'll see if it still does it.