Smoke from tailpipe

Bad excuse. Three of my top students were girls, and the guys had a real lot of respect for them. There are just as many guys today who are clueless about the machines they trust to get them back home.

White smoke is a sign of burning engine coolant. You will observe you need to add coolant periodically. The cause is almost always a leaking cylinder head gasket, but it is possible to have cracked cylinder head. There are two tests to confirm this. The first is perform a chemical test at the radiator with the engine running. Air is drawn through a glass cylinder with two chambers partially-filled with a special dark blue liquid. If combustion gases are present, the liquid will turn bright yellow. This test takes just a few minutes. It's much less expensive to have your mechanic do it than it is to buy the tester and fluid.

If that test comes up negative, you can add a small bottle of dark purple dye to the coolant, then search a day later with a black light. The dye will show up as a bright yellow stain that you can follow back to the source. If the head gasket is leaking, you will find the dye inside the tail pipe. Auto parts stores will have the dye for the fluid being tested, and those that rent or borrow tools should have a black light.

I was a teacher too.

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