White smoke from exhaust when accelerating

[Fgb]

Hi all,

I have recently purchased a '06 Honda Accord I-CTDI 2.2 Diesel (now has 113,000 mile on).

I've noticed when accelerating on the motorway that white smoke comes from the exhaust. This only happens when the car is pulling and not when I push the clutch and rev.

I've checked the oil- its black but not contaminated. I've just checked the engine coolant and its half way between min and max. I'm doing a 300 mile round trip tomorrow and friday so will be able to check again on Friday evening.

Does this problem sound serious??

 

[vile]

I'm not an expert on this but white smoke us normaly water in the exhaust or a leaking head gaskit

 

[Jon_G]

It's only really serious if either the coolant level or engine oil level are dropping. It could be the change in climate, but normal if it happens in the long term.

White smoke on a diesel can be raw, unburnt fuel (not black, as you might expect), so can be confused with water vapour.

 

[shab_the_man]

I have yet to top up my coolant in the 7 years i have had the car. I have changed the coolant and never encountered a loss. Always at max. Does this happen when the car is cold?

 

[Jon_G]

abnormal, not normal in my earlier post!

 

[Fgb]

I've just taken it to a garage who've done a test on the engine coolant to see if its the head gasket is going (they took the coolant cap off, put some blue liquid in a tube, put it over the coolant hole and put bubbles through it while the engine was running). The liquid stayed blue so the head gasket is fine. The garage then got the diagnostics computer out and there where no temporary or permanent fault codes. We then took it for a spin and couldn't see any smoke -typical!

All this said the engine oil level was down to the minimum level on the dip stick where as it was at full 4 weeks (1500 miles) ago.

 

[euroal]

Have you checked for oil leaks ect and did they check the level after driving it ?? in which case it wouldn't be on full as its all round the engine,

I wouldn't worry to be honest not many diesel out there that dont smoke abit lol