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white exhaust- Head Gasket leaking? Prius gen 2.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by bmheades, Nov 27, 2024 at 9:48 PM.

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  1. bmheades

    bmheades New Member

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    2008 Prius (gen 2). NEED HELP confirming a Head Gasket leak

    A few days ago, the car started releasing lots of white smoke and CAT is making rattle sounds.

    Usually white smoke means bad head gasket, right?

    So, I used one of those liquid head gasket tester kits but the color stayed blue even after thermostat opened (checked if the liquid was fake, but it turned yellow when exposed to co2 from breath).
    But a couple rising bubbles were noticeable.

    Temps also stayed normal (barely topping at 190F on a 45min highway drive). The oil was not milky either. But the white smoke kept coming out it never stopped EVEN AFTER long drives, so it is not from condensation. No codes on my reader either.

    It got me wondering if it is even a head gasket leak. If anyone is familiar with gen 2s having head gasket problems, or making lots of white smoke, please share your wisdom.

    It is 2008 Prius with 140k miles.

    I tried to post vids but it is not allowing me since my acc is not old enough
     
    #1 bmheades, Nov 27, 2024 at 9:48 PM
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Maybe a hoe somewhere is allowing coolant to be sucked into the intake I don't know how where or why this would happen on a generation too but if that is a possible thing to happen it could be like a vacuum line somewhere but somehow gotten cooler something is busted and cooling is getting to the vacuum It is a stretch mind you and then if that was the case suppose you drain all the cooling out or make it very low so that it's not recirculating which is easy to do in these cars are you still pouring out white smoke You shouldn't be running the engine without any coolant for a minute or two is not going to hurt a thing stretching up beyond that type of thing not such a good idea but the water should burn or the coolant should burn off very quickly. Of course taking the spark plugs out and smelling the ends of them will give you an idea also The one NZ generally is not known for this kind of behavior
     
    #2 Tombukt2, Nov 28, 2024 at 12:50 PM
  3. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Hello and welcome to PriusChat!

    "White smoke" out the tailpipe can be coolant, oil, or fuel.

    Coolant into the combustion chamber is usually caused by a head gasket fault. Gasket problems are VERY rare on Gen2.

    Typical symptoms would be: coolant loss, misfire - esp on cold startup, engine over heat and loss of heater function (cold air).

    Is the coolant level in the radiator going down? I use a special pump (replaces the radiator cap) to pressurize the cooling system to 13 psi. Leave it overnight. Next day pull the spark plugs and look in the cylinders for coolant with a videoscope.

    Large amounts of oil will make smoke. The only way I have seen that is from a mechanical failure like a hole in a piston. That type of fault would cause loss of compression and likely a misfire (and codes).

    Is oil level staying up? Might need to do a compression test?

    A really bad fuel injector can dump a bunch of gas into the cylinder, and that can smoke. What do short and long term fuel trim numbers look like on your scantool?

    I might pull the spark plugs and see what they look like. Oil or fuel on one plug would narrow things down.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #3 mr_guy_mann, Nov 28, 2024 at 12:57 PM
    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller likes this.
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