I was driving to work this morning and when I stopped at a light, one short puff of white smoke/steam came out of the cowl in my hood, and then it was gone. Naturally, I pulled over, but the radiator was not leaking (so far as I could see) and was full, the reserve tank was full, and there was plenty of oil and good pressure. So what the he!! happened?

 

good question...at a stoplight, every so often I get the same thing. White steam coming from under the hood...it seems like it's coming from somewhere under the master cylinder...but I'm not sure what's down there yet :P

The steam does kinda smell like something...but not sure what.

Is it relevant that, right after coming off the highway offramp, at a stoplight the car will heat up to about 220 degrees? :-P

 

revival!!!

Ok so I lived with the problem for ages before I finally got the problem fixed. My valve covers were actually broken (leaking) and that was the light white smoke coming from my hood. Fixed that, now the only steam that comes from my hood is when it's raining out and the engine is toasty warm ^_^