Two bit

Think I got some white smoke comin outa my pipe, what are some causes? Im goin for a check up, at a local lexus dealer, but I wanna just highlight things I think are already wrong

Pheonix

If it's just at start-up it's nothing more than condensation in the exhaust. If it's after the engine is warm, you've most likekly blown a head gasket. If you're a super lucky person, maybe an intake manifold gasket is leaking coolant into the intake manifold.

Get a compression / leakdown test done to find out. Record the readings for every sparkplug.

Two bit

Sadly, don't know how to do that nor have the necessary tools :-\

What are some side affects of what happens with blown head gaskets or intake manifolds and are there any visible ways to check?

I had noticed I lost some power, seems to be putting strain on the engine atleast

3000

For blown head gaskets, you usually get a lot of white smoke (literally looks like a cloud). Depends on how bad the gasket is blown, your engine will shake like crazy, maybe some coolant running out of the exhuast pipe. And then if the internals is saturated with enough coolant, the car cannot start or crank.

Pheonix

Generally very little to begin with. Just margionally reduced power. The coolant gets passed the piston rings into the crankcase in the case of white smoke on a blown headgasket.

In that case, you'll sieze the engine from no oil eventually.

Two bit

Damn, thanks for tellin me, any way of telling this other than the white smoke? Because I have noticed a significant power loss, and I feel it's straining the tranny a bit, gets jumpy sometimes

Pheonix

compression / leakdown test.

Two bit

ok, I just checked out my oil, thats ok so I don't have to worry much but it seizing...that woulda sucked alot, not I just wait till my appointment comes up...hopefully i'll get a real nice loaner, maybe a new GS or something haha

kook

a while back, my car had that problem. The car shook heavily, died out, excessive smoke out the muffler (like a burnout at a drag race). Had a crack in the engine, blown gasket, shot cylinders, bad thermostat. Ive been living in another state, but over these months the car has been repaired and good to go.

Two bit

Hopefully it's none of the above!