Will a coolant leak cause white smoke?

Asked by Guru6N22R Mar 25, 2020 at 09:32 PM about the 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT had a oil leak I replace
the valve gasket no more oil leak now I'm seeing clean
coolant on the ground under my driver side and if I
accelerate a lot you hear fluids moving bubbling sound like
dripping then a nice bit of white smoke with a pretty
unique smell comes out of the tailpipe sometimes the
temperature go up a little bit a level back out why the puff
of smoke is coming out of the exhaust I'm not exactly sure
what to do

2 Answers

50

Yes a coolant leak can definitely cause while smoke and a bad smell. This happens when the leaking coolant drips onto a hot part of the engine (ex. The exhaust manifold) The sounds you are hearing when you are accelerating are coming from your heater core. How the heater works is there are pipes (like a mini radiator) that carry coolant The blower blows air by these pipes (mini radiator) into your cabin. If there is a leak in the cooling system, this may introduce air bubbles into your cooling system. When this air rushes through the heater core you can hear that gurgling noise. What you want to do is make sure you aren’t running low on coolant (you don’t want your engine to overheat) and then get under the car and check for where the coolant leak is coming from. It may be leaking from the radiator, or the radiator hoses. Or from the engine itself.

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40,000

Burning coolant will be white. White smoke coming out of the tailpipe, means you are also burning the coolant. This usually indicates a leaky head gasket.

4 people found this helpful.

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