white smoke out the exhaust. already searched.

[OldscratchGGF]

2004 D2. 73k miles.

White smoke out the exhaust on start up. Burns off in 10-15 seconds. Been tracking it for the past year (that's roughly 8k miles). Hasn't changed one bit. No other signs of blown head gasket or slipped liner that i've read countless posts about on here. No noticeable coolant loss, no oil in the coolant, no coolant in the oil, no overheating, no rough idle, no codes, no power loss.

any ideas?

 

[mbrummal]

does it smell like coolant or is it oil?

 

[OldscratchGGF]

smells like coolant. sometimes the engine bay smells like coolant. again, in an entire year, no noticeable coolant loss, haven't had to top it off or anything. Still full up.

 

[KyleT]

if it isnt losing it then it should be fine. might just be residual moisture burning off in the exhaust.

coolant smell in the engine bay could be the throttle body heater. they drip ever so slowly right on the manifold.

 

[OldscratchGGF]

already replaced the throttle body heater at 63k miles

 

[jmonsrvr]

your head gasket probably has a really small leak into one of your cylinders, causing the vapors in the exhaust. Also the coolant smell after driving combined with the white vapor exhaust is a pretty good sign you have a gasket leak. This is typical.
When you check the coolant are you checking at operating temp? or when the engine is cold?? for example in the morning. Check it when its cold.

I had the exact same symptoms a bit ago. Exactly the same, except i would lose a tiny bit of coolant over the span of about 5 months (the coolant level would go from covering the internal plastic tower meter to just under the top of it). I noticed white exhaust that smelled like coolant in the morning, after driving the engine bay would have a faint coolant smell to it that I could smell hear and there. Truck drove great, but it was the headgasket. Denial is your worst enemy.

 

[OldscratchGGF]

I was thinking something along those lines, jmonsrvr. Definitely not in denial, not my first Rover rodeo, I knew full well going into this car what I was digging myself into. The first year I owned my 1995 D90 I dropped $11k just keeping it running. Head gasket on this 04 is best case scenario as far as I was concerned.

 

[K-rover]

After I took the driveshafts off, I turned the truck on to get the T-case back in gear. I noticed a big cloud of smoke coming from the exhaust. Never noticed that before.. I let the truck idle, it seemed to get less and less but even at operating temp it never went away completely. I revd the motor up and couldnt see anymore smoke, until it went back to idle..

The engine bay has a coolant smell sometimes, and I noticed that my drivers side valve cover is seeping oil at the gasket.
The oil level is full
I have to top off the coolant every couple months.

I had the head gasket rebuilt exactly 2 years ago.. basically the warranty just expired! Oh and no codes and it idles pretty smooth.

All signs point to head gasket right?