White smoke coming from exhaust intermittently/ Low coolant and Oil.

HANSONSKYLER

MEMBER
2003 JEEP LIBERTY
3.7L
V6
4WD
AUTOMATIC
181,000 MILES

I notice from time to time that I have white smoke coming from my exhaust. I also noticed that I lose oil and coolant faster than I should. My Jeep does not over heat, and it runs fine, but this is still alarming for me. There are no puddles or any leaks of any kind under it either. To me, this seems like a head gasket. Would a pressure test identify the issue?

Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 AT 1:17 PM

3 Replies

WRENCHTECH

MECHANIC
20,761 POSTS

You shouldn't be losing any coolant at all. The white smoke is likely steam from coolant being burned in the combustion chamber, likely due to a blown head gasket or cracked head.

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Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 AT 1:40 PM

HANSONSKYLER

MEMBER
4 POSTS

So, should I compression test each cylinder? And if I do that and everything comes back ok, you're saying its most likely a cracked head? Also, is it weird that it runs, and drives fine other than the smoke/steam coming from the exhaust?

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Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 AT 1:47 PM

WRENCHTECH

MECHANIC
20,761 POSTS

There are a number of ways to look for a blown head gasket. The compression test may or may not show anything. Another way is to remove all the spark plugs and pressure test the cooling system ad keep it under pressure for about 30 minutes and then crank the engine with the plugs still out and see if any of the plug holes spit out any coolant. A cylinder leakdown test would be another test that could be run.

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Tuesday, October 7th, 2014 AT 3:23 PM