04 3.0 x-type 57,500mls.
Friend riding behind me noticed small intermittent puffs of smoke coming from drivers side exh pipe. Anybody want to be the bearer of bad news? Thanks...could use all the advise I can get.
PS...always run premium fuel

 

i'm the kind of guy who see the glass half full, dude don't worry i hope it's not a big deal ,i can't say i know whats wrong but i wish it's a small thing 2 fix so relax

 

thanks Meemo

 

White puffs of smoke usually indicate your head gasket may be leaking and you are getting coolant into the combustion chamber.

 

What seems odd to me, is that the white smoke is allegedly only coming out of the left side exhaust outlet...I'm saying this because, the exhaust manifolds of the engine are joined together at a common collector (one pipe) before heading back to the rear and then it splits off again to the left and right side exhaust outlets...After saying that, I would expect to see white smoke out both of the outlets.

As Chris said about coolant in the engine leaking past the Head gaskets..Check the level of your coolant expansion tank..Should be near the top....If it is at normal full level, then all this might be, is just condensation vapor (Steam) trapped in the exhaust resonator on that side burning off.

 

smoke is grey in color and I just got call from tire shop that is doing oil change as well, that oil level was slightly down. From what I read cyl #'s 1-3 are tied to drivers side exhause.....but then again, I have never worked on this car. I was thinking possible cylinder issue??? seal, gasket??

 

Laurie, are you seeing black smoke, blue smoke, or white smoke? Does the white smoke only happen when the motor is cold?

Black smoke indicates the motor running rich. Could be a bad fuel injector or a something else along those lines.

Blue smoke indicates that oil is being burned. That could be from bad rings, bad valve seals, head gasket issues, etc. It could be something as silly as a bad PCV valve.

White smoke when the engine is hot is a sign of water getting into the combustion chamber. Could be a bad head gasket, could be a cracked head, could be a cracked block. Almost always this results in major engine work. If the engine is cold, then this is normal and don't worry about it unless it continues when the engine gets warm.

This is just a start. Tell us what color the smoke is and we can go from there.

 

if the smoke only comes when you apply full throttle and dissapated it could be a film of oil getting by the piston rings and burning off. if the engine was cold there could be condensation on thta side of the exhaust

 

damn it took awhile^^^ ill relate a story. My neighbor brought her xtype over for me to look at 1 day cause it was puttering and blowing white smoke(water vapor) out when hot. Actually he husband noticed it following her 1 day. I look at it and started reving it up in park and just watched the water blowing out the mufflers. I pulled down my drive at more an angle and did it again, this time alot more water and vapor came out. I went in the garge, got my drill and opened up the "drains" in the mufflers to let out the condensation that collects. Basicly her mufflers were full to the tip level. Her gas pedal never sees the carpet, she drives short distances and the muffler drains plugged which over time just let them become collectors of water. Try this first

 

Dude, Brutal, u just explained to me, what was wrong with my car, where are the drain plugs located, my freinds always say when i floor it a **** load of water comes out.

 

Or if you drive harder, you won't have to worry about cleaning out your muffler drains.