Hello all. I have an 05 suburban with just over 180,000 miles on it. This past summer I noticed a couple of times where I had a plume of white smoke come from the tailpipe when I started the truck. I had no problems again until recently, only after being on a 2 hour road trip and letting the truck sit for an hour or so. This has happened twice now after this same trip. I'm beginning to wonder if it's time to just trade it in for a newer model. I have a laundry list of other issues right now too but this is going to be the most costly repair I'm sure. Any thoughts?

 

White smoke is coolant getting into the combustion chamber. Most likely culprit is a bad head gasket. Worst case is a cracked head or cracked block.

 

Thanks, I was afraid of that. I've been thinking more about it and remembered that it was 2 quarts low on oil at the last oil change too, that has never happened. It also seems to be a little more sluggish and getting worse gas mileage also. I'm thinking it's definitely time to get rid of it.

 

Depending on the general over-all condition of the vehicle, a $2500 repair bill for a couple more years of service is still a better deal then 4 or 5 years of $10,000+ a year payments for a new vehicle.