white smoke

[imthehink]

My jeep smokes sometimes when it's ideling and the smoke is white. I don't see any smoke when I'm driving. My coolant level is fine, and it drives fine with no power loss, so I don't think it is the head gasket. Also, is there something I could test to see if the head gasket is bad? If anyone could help that would be great. thanks

[RangerRick]

There is a tester made for this with a chemical that will change color when exhaust gasses are present in your radiator fluid. Any automotive shop should have the tester & it takes less than 30 seconds to test after the vehicle is warmed up. It shouldn't cost you very much to have this test done.
The kit I have is made by UNIVERSAL of Portland OR. called simply enough, a "block tester". A turkey baster type of bulb is used to draw fumes or mist from the radiator into the tools test chaber through an airator stone. The fluind will almost immediately change colors if there is any sign of cracked block, head or head gasket leak. If fluid changes colors, it's a dead giveaway you have a problem.
If this jeep were a 4 cylinder, check for a light almond color milkshake like residue under the oil filler cap. A common failure on 2.5L 4 cyl engines are the cylinder head between the middle two cylinders. These will crack at the water jacket into the valve cover area or exhaust valve stem/port area & may leak so slowly at first that you don't notice it but over time it gets worse until the crack is big enough to cause a substantial loss of coolant & continual overheating. This crack problem is much less common on 6 cyl 4.0L engines but it can happen between the first or last two cylinders.

Hope this info helps you......


Rick OllllllO

[imthehink]

thanks