Knocking my engine started knocking and white smoke was coming from under the hood any ideas?

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

It is actually steam. The head gasket has failed and the knock is either the pistons trying to compress liquid or the oil has been thinned out from the coolant.

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/.

Sorry absolutely no idea with my head under the bonnet -hood- Now has the opil been changed regular like every 5/6000 miles if its gungy and old then chances are you have knocked a big end out or two ,best advice is to trade it in quick whilst it still runs

Sounds like you have blown a head gasket. Do not run the engine like this or you will seize it up . anti freeze will freeze the pistons and you will need a new engine. Hope you have not ruined it now.
White smoke is a sign of water in the piston area.

The smoke under hood means that u need replace gasket between exhaust pipe and engine but smoke and knocking is not very good, it looks like your engine pistons has cracks and u r loosing oil by smoke time to time, i'd buy used engine from crashed car with less miles on it

Loud knocking is a sign of internal engine damage-probably a loose piston rod from bad crankshaft bearings. It means rebuild time for the engine-major overhaul required. Cheaper to find a used engine.

didnt state color of smoke if blue smoke burning oil internal damage to engine and with knock could be rod--bent/stuck valve [blown engine ] white continuous smoke burning coolant usually a blown head gasket but add knock engine damaged

white smoke usualy tells about a leakage in the cooling. check that. dont forgett to refill. get it repaired or DIY. attention: could be really hot.

if it smells like fuel, a fuel line is broken. then dont drive any more since it can catch fire.

if the smoke is not white, go to the repair shop instantly.