Smoke Coming up from Car

Hi:

I've been trying to figure out what's going on with a Mercury Sable 89
car...where after driving it for a while smoke had started to emmit
from the back of the car.

It either looks like it came from the gas line (where you put in the
gas)...or the exhaust pipe...after I looked under the car I didn't see
anything that looked like it would cause it to occure...but before this
happened the car had a chugging sound.

I did recently put fuel injector cleaning in the car but I had it
filled up like it was supposed to...another thing is that after it
starts up ...the car's engine stops if it's not iddled high enough.

What could be wrong & what could I possibly do about it.

Thanks in advanced for any response or direction.

MC

On 21 Nov 2005 10:19:19 -0800, wrote:

>Hi:
>
>I've been trying to figure out what's going on with a Mercury Sable 89
>car...where after driving it for a while smoke had started to emmit
>from the back of the car.
>
>It either looks like it came from the gas line (where you put in the
>gas)...or the exhaust pipe...after I looked under the car I didn't see
>anything that looked like it would cause it to occure...but before this
>happened the car had a chugging sound.
>
>I did recently put fuel injector cleaning in the car but I had it
>filled up like it was supposed to...another thing is that after it
>starts up ...the car's engine stops if it's not iddled high enough.
>
>What could be wrong & what could I possibly do about it.
>
>Thanks in advanced for any response or direction.
>
>MC

That *white smoke* coming out your tailpipe is coolant ( mix of
antifreeze and water ). It means, simply, you've breached the seal
the head gasket(s) are supposed to maintain, and coolant is getting
into your combustion chambers.

Check your oil dipstick for signs of fluid other than oil, and check
your overflow coolant tank for fluid other than coolant ( oil ).

This is about $800 to have someone else do the work. If you do it
yourself, you can save about $700 of that, but it is not a job for a
novice.

Joe