When I started my car yesterday it sounded like it had rocks in the engine and white smoke was coming out of the exhaust. What the hell? Oil is at the correct level and the car had not been run in 6 days. I had the sound without the smoke one other time.

 

White smoke is usually associated with water.
Knocking can be casued by many things....a miss, fouled plug, timing, bad gas, etc.....

 

That doesn't sound good at only 10,500 miles now does it?

 

Well has it happened again? How much white smoke was there? A little bit I wouldnt worry about. Also, how long did the "rock" sound last for? On starts after not having been run for a while my car makes a strange rattle for around half a second. I asked dealer and we compared it to a new 05 coupe and the service managers 04 coupe. All of the cars made the smae sound. They told me it is just due to the fact that the oil settles down in the pan and the engine rattles before it circulates fully. This maybe what you heard.

 

White smoke is ok, unless its alot.

 

That sounds like what mine did for about a second and there wasn't billowing smoke but there was a good bit. It sounds like hellish engine wear if you ask me.

 

my car made that funny sound at start up this morning... its happened before... but i figure if something was wrong... that it would do it all the time

 

I don't know what the sound is, but when I see white smoke coming from the exhaust I think head gasket failure. I had one in an old Supra Turbo... I dread that smoke...

Essentially, for white smoke you're burning coolant. For coolant to get into the combustion chamber usually means head gasket. Take it to the dealer and drop it into their hands.

Good luck,


Rick

 

This is where I am very happy to have 2 years left on my warranty!

 

Head gasket failure would either make consistent white smoke, or he'd either be losing coolant, or having oil inside his radiator and coolant reservoir, or have frothy oil and the car running hot/Overheating... OR any combination of all of those symptoms.

What kind of oil do you use?.... Synthetic or Dino?

 

Head gasket failure would either make consistent white smoke, or he'd either be losing coolant, or having oil inside his radiator and coolant reservoir, or have frothy oil and the car running hot/Overheating... OR any combination of all of those symptoms.

What kind of oil do you use?.... Synthetic or Dino?

If you hadn't driven your car in a while... there may have been a little oxidation starting to build up on one of the engine pulleys or on an idler pulley or idler pulley bearing(not sure if our cars have fully sealed bearings in any idler pulleys that may exist in our engine). Once the engine turned a bit, the rust could have worn off of the bearing and then ran smoothly. This happens a lot with people who do offroading in 4x4's and do deep water-crossings such as small streams and huge puddles, because tons of water gets into those bearings and makes them sound like rocks in a tin can.

Even if it's not specificly a pulley bearing there's a good chance that it is somehow related to some exposed metal becoming oxidized and then wearing off with friction as the moving parts began to turn.

Was it very humid out or rainy when you parked your car or during the time that it sat for 6 days?

 

I use dino and it is fresh and at the right level. 6 days prior to starting the car I started it briefly to pull it back into the garage after a wash.

 

Did you spray inside your engine bay?

A wash of the cars exterior alone(not spraying the engine bay) probably wouldn't be enough water exposure to get a significant amount of moisture into the engine bay unless you explicitly sprayed inside the engine bay with the hose to clean it(nothing really wrong with this.. so they say, I just personally don't feel comfortable doing it on my car).

Were you using a powerwasher? That might put enough force to get water into the bay.

 

No water in the bay.

 

freakin car made the funny sound again this morning... god i hope nothing is wrong