White smoke from drivers side (2016 Gt)

[sloww5.0_]

noticed today there was some white smoke coming out of my hood while driving. pulled over to take a look at it and couldn't pinpoint any source. just a subtle white smoke around the break fluid reservoir area. it honestly really looked like it was coming from nowhere. i couldnt see smoke coming from a specific location but above the break fluid reservoir was just smoke floating. this happens intermittently, i have noticed it two or three times now but its not something i experience every time i drive the car.

oil and coolant levels seem to be fine. no bubbling in coolant reservoir or white smoke out the tail pipes and no leaks left on my drive way. confused what this could be.

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[Torched10]

noticed today there was some white smoke coming out of my hood while driving. pulled over to take a look at it and couldn't pinpoint any source. just a subtle white smoke around the break fluid reservoir area. it honestly really looked like it was coming from nowhere. i couldnt see smoke coming from a specific location but above the break fluid reservoir was just smoke floating. this happens intermittently, i have noticed it two or three times now but its not something i experience every time i drive the car.

oil and coolant levels seem to be fine. confused what this could be.
[/QUOTE

noticed today there was some white smoke coming out of my hood while driving. pulled over to take a look at it and couldn't pinpoint any source. just a subtle white smoke around the break fluid reservoir area. it honestly really looked like it was coming from nowhere. i couldnt see smoke coming from a specific location but above the break fluid reservoir was just smoke floating. this happens intermittently, i have noticed it two or three times now but its not something i experience every time i drive the car.

oil and coolant levels seem to be fine. confused what this could be.

White smoke generally is water.heres a link I found in Google search
https://rislone.com/blog/engine-oil/how-to-diagnose-and-stop-smoke-in-your-exhaust/#:~:text=White smoke usually means coolant,serious damage to your engine.

It can just be coolant leak onto engine too
Heres hiwvto repair


https://barsgroup.com/shop/head-gas...mulated for those difficult head gasket leaks.


Good luck

 

[Timbuck]

I had similar when I Put my sleeved engine back together. It was the rear corner of the valve cover , leaking and dripping the occasional drip on the headers. Just enough to create a puff of smoke and not enough to see it.

 

[Torched10]

I had similar when I Put my sleeved engine back together. It was the rear corner of the valve cover , leaking and dripping the occasional drip on the headers. Just enough to create a puff of smoke and not enough to see it.

Tim wouldn't that be oil which usually is gray.i guess it's fine line between white and Grey when its small cloud but you'd think oil woukd smell different than coolant

 

[17MagMetal]

I had similar when I Put my sleeved engine back together. It was the rear corner of the valve cover , leaking and dripping the occasional drip on the headers. Just enough to create a puff of smoke and not enough to see it.

scary, surprised we haven’t widely heard about this starting a fire.

 

[horsepower addiction]

Any chance you just drove over some water and it was steam. Is it still doing it?

 

[Skye]

With the engine cold so you can easily move around and touch things...

1. With the hood open, stand over the brake fluid reservoir, look down and around. Check for any telltale stains of something leaking. You might also smell something.

2. If you have to, raise the car on the Driver's side, enough to get a good look underneath. Do same: look for staining of any kind, damp area, or something of the sort.

3. I couldn't tell if you have a manual transmission. If you do, check the line connecting from the master cylinder area to the trans; these have been known to loosen and leak.

Could be difficult to locate because it's just starting. Might also be temperature sensitive.

Edit,

BTW:

1. Any mods on the car?

2. Miles/KMs?

3. Any recent maintenance?

 

[Diegosuave]

I had a similar issue on my ‘16 mustang GT and found out it was the oil dripping to the headers due to a cracked valve cover gasket seal.

 

[sk47]

Hello; This is a long shot but something I have seen rarely over the last 50+ years. While I can understand thinking white "smoke" might be steam there are clues to determine this. Steam acts like steam and not so much like smoke.
The other is the smell of hot antifreeze which usually is very distinctive. That said i have not been around the stuff used in a 2016 Mustang. The newer cars surprise me often. But unless Ford has a very different antifreeze mix it ought to smell like all other antifreezes.

There have been odd ways rain water gets into and out of cars. Test drove a 2011 Ford Crown Vic last year. I could hear water sloshing around in the dash area. Did not think the water was inside the car exactly. Figured it was in the cowl area just in front of the windshield. That is a common area for fresh air to be pulled in thru the vents. Also often holds the wiper assembly. That area almost surely has a drain that sometimes gets stopped up. If water is holding in the area some may be leaking out at some other point and dripping onto the hoy exhaust. Again, determine if it truly is steam. Maybe hold a mirror in it to see if it condenses.

Old story - Friend had a VW Rabbit back in the late 1980's. Would not start. Found water in the engine when we removed a spark plug. Figured it was a bad head gasket. Could have saved a lot of unneeded work if a bit more thinking was done at that point. Pulled the head. Head gasket was good and then finally realized it was water and not antifreeze. Traced a rubber hose from the carburetor back to that cowl area. It was clogged up with leaves. Water had run to the air cleaner dripped into the carb and into the engine. Still do not understand why such an arrangement was done.

Back to my odd and rare idea. Power brakes use engine vacuum on most cars. A hose connects from the intake manifold to the big vacuum booster. Booster has a diaphragm that if it leaks can suck brake fluid into the engine and makes white smoke out the exhaust. If the smoke is truly smoke might be brake fluid dripping onto the hot exhaust assuming it is not coming from the exhaust. Just a WAG to be sure.

 

[Cobra Jet]

Pull plugs and read them…. You’ll learn from the plugs what it may be….

The valve cover leaks is well known and was only on the 15-17’s due to Ford (for whatever reason) not using ALL available securing locations on the valve covers…
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/valve-cover-leak.131014/#post-3062776

 

[Sean22]

Had the exact same thing on that side of the engine of my '16 GT. White smoke but couldn't quite see where it came from. Ended up being a leaky valve cover. Fixed under warranty

 

[TonyT930]

noticed today there was some white smoke coming out of my hood while driving. pulled over to take a look at it and couldn't pinpoint any source. just a subtle white smoke around the break fluid reservoir area. it honestly really looked like it was coming from nowhere. i couldnt see smoke coming from a specific location but above the break fluid reservoir was just smoke floating. this happens intermittently, i have noticed it two or three times now but its not something i experience every time i drive the car.

oil and coolant levels seem to be fine. no bubbling in coolant reservoir or white smoke out the tail pipes and no leaks left on my drive way. confused what this could be.

Make sure your oil filter is tight. Was the oil changed recently? Any chance there is some residual oil from that dripping on something hot?

 

[sloww5.0_]

Make sure your oil filter is tight. Was the oil changed recently? Any chance there is some residual oil from that dripping on something hot?

oil changed about 4000 miles ago.

did just find a random piece of what seemed like a small piece of rubber or really melted wire tape in that area, hoping that was what caused it. seemed to only happen after driving for a while. leads me to believe this could be possible.

 

[TonyT930]

oil changed about 4000 miles ago.

did just find a random piece of what seemed like a small piece of rubber or really melted wire tape in that area, hoping that was what caused it. seemed to only happen after driving for a while. leads me to believe this could be possible.

Yes, sounds very reasonable indeed. Fingers crossed!!

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