Change History

While driving my 2003 daily driver base model with 80k miles at a slowish highway speed, I noticed white smoke in my rearview mirror. Sure enough, it was me. I pulled over and there was smoke billowing out of my tail pipe (later when much less smoke, it seemed to be only from the driver's side portion of the exhaust system). I waited a while and it seemed to stop. In a possible moment of stupidity, I started it up to get to a safer "pull over" spot about 50 yards down the busy road. Apart from now much more billowing, the car drove fine for that 50 yards. Once safely to the side, I called a tow truck and had it towed to my house where I could try and sort out what to do. The smoke continued to waft out of the tail pipe for the 20 minutes or so that I waited for a tow. It decreased gradually, but for a while there, I worried that I could be on the verge of an engine compartment fire. Didn't happen though. It's now resting in my driveway. Oil level is fine, no puddles on the ground. Coolant level and temperature normal. Dipstick for oil looks fine with no odd color or texture. Didn't notice any odd noises or behavior other than the very large amount of smoke. Electrical system works fine, no warning lights at all. I'm going to open the engine compartment and poke around (check the air filter & other simple things). Will tow it to a repair place bright and early tomorrow. Anyone have suggestions for other things to check before handing it over to a shop? I don't have a code reader, but there was no CEL. I'm rather petrified...

Forgot to add, when the smoke was intense, it may not have been only coming from the tailpipe. I opened the rear trunk and could see it coming into the trunk from the little corner area by the passenger side tail light. More soon after I open the engine compartment.

While driving my 2003 daily driver base model with 80k miles at a slowish highway speed, I noticed white smoke in my rearview mirror. Sure enough, it was me. I pulled over and there was smoke billowing out of my tail pipe (later when much less smoke, it seemed to be only from the driver's side portion of the exhaust system). I waited a while and it seemed to stop. In a possible moment of stupidity, I started it up to get to a safer "pull over" spot about 50 yards down the busy road. Apart from now much more billowing, the car drove fine for that 50 yards. Once safely to the side, I called a tow truck and had it towed to my house where I could try and sort out what to do. The smoke continued to waft out of the tail pipe for the 20 minutes or so that I waited for a tow. It decreased gradually, but for a while there, I worried that I could be on the verge of an engine compartment fire. Didn't happen though. It's now resting in my driveway. Oil level is fine, no puddles on the ground. Coolant level and temperature normal. Dipstick for oil doesn't looks fine with no odd color or texture. Didn't notice any odd noises or behavior other than the very large amount of smoke. Electrical system works fine, no warning lights at all. I'm going to open the engine compartment and poke around (check the air filter & other simple things). Will tow it to a repair place bright and early tomorrow. Anyone have suggestions for other things to check before handing it over to a shop? I don't have a code reader, but there was no CEL. I'm rather petrified...

While driving my 2003 daily driver base model with 80k miles at a slowish highway speed, I noticed white smoke in my rearview mirror. Sure enough, it was me. I pulled over and there was smoke billowing out of my tail pipe (later when much less smoke, it seemed to be only from the driver's side portion of the exhaust system). I waited a while and it seemed to stop. In a possible moment of stupidity, I started it up to get to a safer "pull over" spot about 50 yards down the busy road. Apart from now much more billowing, the car drove fine for that 50 yards. Once safely to the side, I called a tow truck and had it towed to my house where I could try and sort out what to do. The smoke continued to waft out of the tail pipe for the 20 minutes or so that I waited for a tow. It decreased gradually, but for a while there, I worried that I could be on the verge of an engine compartment fire. Didn't happen though. It's now resting in my driveway. Oil level is fine, no puddles on the ground. Coolant level and temperature normal. Dipstick for oil doesn't looks fine with no odd color or texture. Didn't notice any odd noises or behavior other than the very large amount of smoke. Electrical system works fine, no warning lights at all. I'm going to open the engine compartment and poke around (check the air filter & other simple things). Will tow it to a repair place bright and early tomorrow. Anyone have suggestions for other things to check before handing it over to a shop? I don't have a code reader, but there was no CEL. I'm rather petrified...