When I start my 2005 Cheverolet Equinox white smoke pours out the tail pipe. Once I have gone 2 or 3 miles it calms downs. I have checked the oil and it is fine. The check engine light is on sometimes and sometimes it isn't. This just started.

its a GEO POPPER.
"no oil up on crank case"

no idea what that means.??????
yes PCV valve. do clog.

white smoke at end if tail pipe.
you didnt say where,?

white smoke has 2 reasons.(tail end)
Steam and oil.
steam goes away fast and looks just like moms tea pot. and smells sweet, like the antifreeze in engine. (rad cap off ,sniff sniff, cold engine)

oil burning, smoke is very very slow to go away.
and smells like , blush burned oil.
if not sure what burn oil looks like or smells like
take out the dip stick on a hot engine
let it drip to the hot exhaust manifold there.
now you know. and is a key diagnostic skill.


no oil seen on dip stick end?, you mean that?
well you need to keep that from happening,
doing weekly service, and for sure old cars.
26 years old.

low oil invites blowing up a good engine.
for sure.
if it did that smoke is oil
if it did 10x worse, both .

my wild guess is you meant to say
I didnt see oil leaking on top of engine.
right?

if the engine backwires to the air cleaner
you forgot to replace the cam belt every 60k miles
the pcv will also be clogged, on cars not getting proper service, super colon.
if the PCV clogs,engine may leak oil bad.

this engine btw is a G10 3 cylinder.
with TBI injection.
we can talk TBI all day, owned one.

white smoke can come from many places
exhaust manifold, leaks of oil can land there
engine can back fire to air cleaner making smoke.
tail end.
steam is much worse. ill not delve in to that yet/.

Start by getting the codes from the computer. Once you have that, then start tackling the problem. White smoke is usually burning coolant. This is typical of a bad gasket (lower intake or head gasket) If it's cold you will see a little bit of smoke. Does it idle poorly or have a hard time accelerating?

-Piston ring, valve stem seal

Mai Lor

White smoke is coolant getting into the engine cylinder and sounds like a gasket blew!

WHITE smoke? Or BLUE smoke? White smoke is usually caused by burning antifreeze (possible blown head gasket). Engine oil burning causes a bluish colored smoke.

Changing the oil two months ago means absolutely nothing to me. I have customers that travel 6000 miles or more in a month. Oil consumption is measured in volume over miles, not volume over months. It is normal for most 4 cylinder engines to use a little less than 1/2 quart in 1000 miles (even more than that for 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder engines).

changing the pcv valve is the cheapest. Does it smoke when you first start and no more? If so you have bad valve quides. If not the possibly cracked oil ring on piston or just worn out. How many miles?

If there is no loss of Coolant, which is a sign of Head gasket failure to the combustion area, which generates white smoke, I would recommend after 4000 miles of your mileage alone, a complete Service of Engine Oil and filter, AIR filter and Fuel filter.
An inexpensive way to find a recurring combustion problem, At 60k miles, the Spark plugs should still be good, but pull them anyway, just to confirm.
Regards,DT

white smoke is a sign of coolant in the combustion chamber, coupled with the oilleakage points me to the head gasket

THE TICKING NOISE IS VALVE LIFTERS.MOST OF THE TIME WHEN ENGINE OIL GETS DIRTY NEEDS OIL CHANGE.DIRT GETS IN LIFTERS THEN CAUSES THEM TO BE NOISEY.IF LIFTERS STAY NOISEY ALL THE TIME.THEY OR WORN AND NEED REPLACING.ITS NORMAL FOR CAR TO SMOKE A LITTLE WHITE SMOKE IN MORNING ON START UP.LONG AS IT DONT KEEP SMOKING IF SO.YOU HAVE HEAD GASKET LEAKING.

You need a belt and water pump. Hope everything works out for her. Good luck!!!