sonic44

My check engine light has come on, and I have white smoke coming from under my hood when I drive. I'm trying to diagnose this and fix it. My mechanic had my car for a whole day and told me he needed more time to find out what it is.


My car is a 2002 chevy impala, and the smoke only comes after about 10 minutes of driving, and only lasts for about five minutes. When I open my hood, it seems the smoke is coming from the right side of my engine, maybe underneath, but it's hard to tell. The smoke has a kind of sweet smell. So far, the car is still running fine.


Any ideas?

sledge.impy

Pressure test the cooling system. ?

Make a video if you can.

Is this your first year in the cold weather?

Which code is it?

oldchevy

You probably have a small coolant leak. The smoke starts after 10 minutes because it takes a while for the engine to get hot enough to burn off what ever it is. After a few minutes it is all burned away and therefore the smoke stops. Are you loosing coolant? Look for a small leak from a hose or possibly a gasket.

sonic44

You guys are right. I believe I'm leaking coolant. I started the engine and let my car warm up while I searched under the hood(wasn't able to get a pressure checker), I noticed liquid dripping from a hose that connects to the engine. I'm trying to attach a picture.

sonic44

where the arrow is pointing is where it's leaking from.

sledge.impy

Is that hose connected to a plastic piece?

Try tightening the clamp on the hose slightly. I'd be concerned if that was connected to plastic though, as that could be broke and it would make it worse.

sonic44

No plastic piece, just the rubber hose is attached directly to the metal. I tightened it but it's still leaking. I will try to tighten it better here in a minute, by loosening it all the way and pushing it further onto the better and tightening it again.

sledge.impy

Hopefully the car has cooled down.

You might introduce air or lose coolant in the cooling system. I'm not familiar with bleeding procedures on these cars. If the car overheats after this, you have an air blockage and need to properly bleed the cooling system.


You probably need to replace the hose if this doesn't work.

oldchevy

Don't mess with it. Replace it. It is not worth the damage that could be caused if the engine overheats. The hose would be much cheaper to replace than to do engine work!