Lots of white smoke out tailpipe

davemsc

Member
:
mazda protege5
Hey guys,

Picked up a used 2013 mazda 3 gs-sky 6 speed with 93,000KM on it.
Within a week, I noticed lots of white smoke out the tailpipe on startup (see video - that was from sitting overnight), and even after the engine is warm (driving on highway for an hour), it still will give me enough to see in my rearview when idling, but not to the same level as the video.

Does this look normal? (please follow link on next post.)

The coolant was slightly below MIN when I bought it, and the oil was a bit low as well, but still within the range.

MAZDA said it was a bit excessive, so they did a gas test on the coolant to detect any combustion gases - it came back NEGATIVE.
They pulled the plugs and the tech said they seemed to be blacker than he would have though (he said carbon) so they ran some crazy fuel injector stuff through the engine. They couldn't really say why it was smoking so much.

Thanks everyone!
Dave
 
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What was the temperature at start up when this video was made? If too much moisture in the air is present it can smoke a bit , but when engine worms up it can clear up.
Condensation can form in cylinders as well when car is parked in high humidity and cools after a drive as hot parts attract moisture. Now when car started this moisture is being blown out of the tail pipe as shown in the video and smoke up until engine clears the chambers.
It seems normal amount of smoke to me at start up. Nothing to worry about.
 
What was the temperature at start up when this video was made? If too much moisture in the air is present it can smoke a bit , but when engine worms up it can clear up.
Condensation can form in cylinders as well when car is parked in high humidity and cools after a drive as hot parts attract moisture. Now when car started this moisture is being blown out of the tail pipe as shown in the video and smoke up until engine clears the chambers.
It seems normal amount of smoke to me at start up. Nothing to worry about.

Temp was probably 11 or 12 degrees celcius. I've only had the car since halloween so I don't know what it does in warmer temps.
Every morning I get that much smoke, and I can see it float down the driveway a fair bit. I bellows out like in the vid for about 25 seconds, then slows down, but never really stops.

Any other car I've ever owned doesn't come close to this, hence my concern. I have a 2009 mitsubishi outlander and started it the same day after it sat overnight like the mazda and pretty much no smoke at all.

What bugs me is that I'll quite a bit of smoke after it only sits for a few hours as well.
 
How does the oil look like? Any blurry, sludge on dipstick or oil cap? PCV works fine?
May be need service in form of tune up?
Mitsu obviously won't have this issue as their problem is moisture in blue relays not in the engine lol.
Temp was probably 11 or 12 degrees celcius. I've only had the car since halloween so I don't know what it does in warmer temps.
Every morning I get that much smoke, and I can see it float down the driveway a fair bit. I bellows out like in the vid for about 25 seconds, then slows down, but never really stops.

Any other car I've ever owned doesn't come close to this, hence my concern. I have a 2009 mitsubishi outlander and started it the same day after it sat overnight like the mazda and pretty much no smoke at all.

What bugs me is that I'll quite a bit of smoke after it only sits for a few hours as well.
 
Oil looks good. Not milkshake like or anything.

No idea if the PCV works...I'm almost a NOOB with car stuff.

Anyway, I'm really trying to pay attnetion to other sky activ engines out there. I can't help but think the video I posted is not normal for sky activ mazda 3s.
 
I agree that 12 degrees C (53.6F) is not cold enough to cause that much vapor. Get another opinion and if possible, ask the previous owner if he or she (who may claim ignorance) noticed the same thing.
 
I agree that 12 degrees C (53.6F) is not cold enough to cause that much vapor. Get another opinion and if possible, ask the previous owner if he or she (who may claim ignorance) noticed the same thing.

I got it at a chrysler dealership. It was a trade in. So I have no clue who had it.

mazda is trying to say it is a touch excessive, but more or less ok. So I have to go to a different mazda dealership. There is still powertrain left on it as well as an extended warranty, but in order to get it fixed they have to think it isn't normal! And I don't have the prior maintenance history of the vehicle for the last year (before then it was maintained by mazda, then it stopped)

It seems to drive fine, but it does idle a touch rough. Mazda says there is no coolant entering the combustion chamber, based on the mixing of coolant gas with that blue liquid - it didn't turn color , therefore no detection of combustion gases.
 
If anyone else wants to take a video of their exhaust on start up after sitting overnight (sky activ engine), that would be a great help!
 
In the meantime, keep a watch on your coolant level. If coolant is getting pulled into the combustion chambers, the level will drop.
 
In the meantime, keep a watch on your coolant level. If coolant is getting pulled into the combustion chambers, the level will drop.

So far the coolant seems to have stayed the same. If the leak is extremely tiny, I'm not going to see a drop in the coolant tank in a few days.

I'm also going to watch my oil level in case it's oil getting in the combustion chamber. Maybe valve seals or piston rings? It does appear to be white smoke - not gray or blue.
What troubles me is that even after a half hour run on the highway, I'll idle at a stop sign and the smoke is there (not nearly as much as the video, but there), so it can't be just condensation build up can it?
 
there is definitely liquid in your exhaust i saw some dribble out before it started to smoke in the video, i noticed your car was also covered in moisture in the video as well, that leads me to believe its water condensation issues and may clear up when it dries up some or warms up more only other reason i could see for that would be a bad head gasket or cooling jacket that is seeping coolant into the combustion chamber. i would get a second opinion.
 
I would say head gasket if coolant is low, won't always reflect in crankcase, white smoke, low coolant, dead giveaway.
 
I believe the extra smoke is actually excess condensation that results from the unique cold start settings of the Skyactiv engines. If you notice the engine has a louder sound at cold startup for the first 20-30 seconds. The excessive smoke will show at the same time. My 16 Mazda 6, 16 CX-9, and 18 Mazda 3 l do this as well.
 
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