White Smoke from exhaust and murky overflow tank

[wwecameraman1]

hello, 93 camry v6 DX 98k

About 3 weeks ago i noticed white smoke pouring out of the exhaust when i started my car, would last for about 30 seconds. some people say, head gasket or condensation, since it only occurs in the morning. the white smoke has stopped, so i really dont know what the deal is. also i noticed a brown murky substance in my coolant overflow tank, do i have leak in something? (i recently had the water pump replaced) should i just get a diagnostic done?

[frenum49]

Sounds like a failing head gasket to me. That murky crap in your over-flow is likely engine oil. Check the coolant level of your radiator. The white smoke may have stopped just because the coolant system is low. Once you fill it back up it will probably start smoking again. I would top off the radiator if it is low, put the cap back on, remove one spark plug at a time and fire compressed air into each cylinder taking note of any air bubbles coming up through the coolant reservoir. This is just one way to check the head gaskets.

[Kep]

^+1

Classic head gasket symptoms. The coolant seeps into the cylinder(s) over night and then at start up the hot gasses evaporate it when you first start up. Once it's running the exhaust pressure keeps the coolant from leaking into the cylinder(s) and typically there isn't enough time between starts for the coolant to leak back into the cylinders enough to notice the white cloud effect on start up. The cloudy coolant probably locks in the diagnosis but like frenum49 pointed out there are tests that can be done to verify the problem. Since the head gasket is not cheap to replace (or a pain to do it yourself) it is worthwhile to make sure that is your problem.

One other thought, has water gotten into your oil? It will often look "milky" on the dip stick after it has gotten water mixed into it.

Kep

[toyomoho]

Smell the smoke and determine if it is water vapor or oil.

Check for oil in the radiator upper tank.

[wwecameraman1]

no water has gotten into the oil, the smoke smells like nothing, its not oil. but $950 for a head gasket, too bad, im just gonna drive it until it fails....

[ghettosled]

when was the last time you changed the coolent? if its old enough, i have had it look like you described. if the exhaust doest smell, visible vapors disappear after 30 seconds, no bubbling in the coolent reservoir and there arent signs of coolent in the oil you may just need to flush your cooling system.

[Kep]

If you're not going to replace the head gasket (and if you feel that it is a head gasket problem) and you plan to just run it until it dies I would encourage you to consider a coolant system sealer additive. I used Cargo once quite successfully. I figured if it didn't work I'd need to replace the head gasket and if it did work I could postpone the replacement (which I did for about 100,000 miles until the car was in a wreck). One thing I didn't expect was the water pump had a small leak and the sealant got into the bearing and trashed it out so I had to replace the water pump (and the T-belt).

Anyway, just a thought. I'm kind of a fan of additives. They don't always work but when they do they're cheap.

Kep

[Bdub215]

the 3vzfe headgasket starts to go around 100k miles. check under the oil cap or the breather hose at the back of the front bank for "milkshake" to be sure. if you dont see that substance then you likely have another problem.