White smoke? i have an 2001 beetle..it just started blowing white smoke excessively out of the tail pipe, shortly after the check engine light came on. it's got 120,000 miles, any suggestions?

White smoke from the tail pipe is moisture/water turned to steam.It comes from the air drawn into the engine and/or coolant in the engine.If you see excessive white smoke and your coolant level is dropping,you are most likely steaming coolant.Oil burning usually comes out as blue smoke.

Where is the white smoke coming from? Under hood? Out tail pipe? If excessive white smoke from tail pipe, suspect a head gasket failure which in turn will fill the cooling system with exhaust pressure forcing the coolant to come out of the reservoir and resulting in an overheating problem

White smoke:

White smoke is caused by raw, un-burnt fuel passing into the exhaust stream. Common causes include:
·Incorrect fuel injection timing
·Defective fuel injectors
·Low cylinder compression

Low cylinder compression may be caused by leaking valves, sticking piston rings, ring wear, cylinder wear, or cylinder glaze. When white smoke occurs at cold start and then disappears as the engine warms up, the most common causes are fouling deposits around piston rings and/or cylinder glazing.
Continuous evidence of white smoke indicates a mechanical defect, or incorrect fuel timing.

White smoke means you are burning water or coolant. Check your coolant system, if it is low you may have a head gasket issue

You must have a leaking engine cylinder head gasket. Have a local shop confirm this for you as it is a very expensive repair.

Hello white smoke is usually engine antifreeze,Blue smoke oil burning,Black smoke car running to rich on gas,gas is not burning properly.

If it is a constant smoke and or alot, your head gasket is blown. stop driving it if you want to save this engine. also engines with really high miles don't like head jobs, remanned heads can blow out the rings on the pistons and that leads to an engine rebuild. If your car has really high miles , you would be better off replacing the engine

sounds like a blown head gasket letting coolant get injected into the engine and getting burned with the fuel. a head gasket replacement should help

White smoke continuously blowing out from the tail pipe ? If it is only at the cold position it is normal, if it is always coming out it means oil consumed & compression is week. spark plug frequently needed ? If plug frequently shorted u need to overhaul or need to add oil treatment for increase viscosity.

Hello!
There are two differnt reasons for black and white smoke coming from the tail pipe.
Black smoke means fuel runs rich (car getting to much gas). Check fuel pressure/air filter.
In some cases the white smoke means car is burning oil or transmittion fluid. Have tem checked/replaced.
If you can feel a smelly smoke it can be catalytic converter.
In a worsest scenario if car blowing white smoke it can be engine coolant is getting into an engine cylinder from a bad head gasket ,or a warped/cracked head. So you need to keep your eye on coolant level and check your engine for overheat. Also might be good to check your oil for traces of coolant (on a dipstick it would be a milky substance mixture of oil and coolant).
Good Luck