Coolant in my exhaust

My mechanic recently replaced the valve cover Gaskets. He had to remove throttlebody Portion of manifold along with the valve covers During the job. Now when I start the motor tons of white smoke coming from exhaust mechanic thinks it’s due to vacuum leak causing coolant to get into exhaust. Any help would be appreciated.

 

White smoke with a coolant smell seems like head gasket to me

 

I thought the same thing too, but no coolant in oil pan when checking dipstick.

 

Coolant is a 100% closed system so if it's leaking anywhere, it's a problem. It's not uncommon to have some residual coolant after repair that dries in the exhaust that can smoke briefly on startup when it mixes with condensation but that should be very temporary. You shouldn't be seeing it after a few days and a hundred miles.

Head gasket leaks can be any mix of oil passages, coolant passages, the combustion chamber, and external leaks... no coolant in oil doesn't mean it's not leaking into the combustion chamber. You can check the coolant for hydrocarbons to verify that kind of leak.

 

So replacing valve cover, gaskets along with manifold gaskets Pictured below can Cause problem… engine was running fine with no coolant in exhaust

 

No, valve cover and most intake manifold gaskets won't cause that, I saw head gasket without coffee yet so went that direction. Sounds like you have a second issue unrelated to what they did.

 

Thanks for the help. Is there anyone else that has any ideas on what can be causing this issue after replacing golf cover gaskets??

 

Typically a vacuum leak will not cause white smoke, Elevated idle, Yes.. How does the vacuum look at idle? Has that been checked ?

Check the link for a quick/cheap test if a leak down and compression test have not been performed to try and narrow down your issue

$38 Block Tester BT-500 Head Gasket Combustion Leak Test Kit - Made in USA

https://www.amazon.com/Block-Tester-BT-500-Combustion-Leak/dp/B06VVBSFTF

 

OK, thanks for the scoop…. vehicle won’t idle on its own and will putter out if not applying gas…. when applying gas tons of white smoke from exhaust pipe, along with antifreeze dripping from exhaust pipe…

 

There are 2 coolant lines and a vacuum line connected to throttle body. When I removed mine, I was sure to not mix them when re-installing. Any chance they were mixed up?

 

thanks for the scoop…. I think you might’ve nailed it….going to check into it tomorrow.

OK you called it….. The coolant and vacuum lines were switched out…. Thanks a lot for the Advice Definitely appreciate it….

 

This is one reason why I prefer ONLY using TOYOTA preformed OEM hoses.

People use cheap generic hose and bend it around and get things switched.

The TOYOTA OEM molded hoses can NOT be confused. They go very directly exactly where they need to.

 

Well done

 

Time for a new mechanic.

 

Well, he wasn’t wrong……

It was vacuum related.

 

But he did it lol...