Date:         Thu, 12 Jun 1997 11:50:57 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David.Rodenhiser@East.Sun.COM (David Rodenhiser)
Subject:      Re: water in my exhaust..

> As I recall from my limited experience, white smoke usually means that
> there is water leaking into the block, black smoke means oil.

In general:

White smoke = coolant/water  ie. cracked head or block, leaking head gasket
A little white smoke after startup (especially when the air is cold and/or
damp) is normal as long as it goes away after the car warms up.

Black smoke = running too rich - fuel injection/carburator problems - sometimes
caused by something wrong with computer/emission controls (failed O2 sensor).
You can often smell an unburned gasoline odor when the car is idling.

Blue smoke = burning oil ie. rings/pistons/cylinders worn, leaking valve guides.
Can also be caused by an oil leak - if oil is leaking on to something very hot
like the exhaust system it can burn there (it is usually pretty obvious when
this is the case as the smoke will come out of the engine compartment itself,
instead of out of the exhaust pipe).  Another symptom of burning oil is that
a gas engine will often smell like a diesel.

The question to the original poster is:  did the water droplets stop coming
out after the car warmed up?

Dave