Occasional white smoke from exhaust under hard acceleration

[Evan]

Bought an AWD GT1 with 4400 miles on it about a month ago, last week I drove it hard for the first time and noticed a bit of white smoke that lingered in the rear view mirror. I tried hard accelerating again to see if it would keep doing it and had nothing.
I seem to be able to make it happen once a day or so after a bit of normal driving.
Its not very much smoke and if I continue hard acceleration it seems to smoke for about 2-3 seconds before clearing up.
Does this happen to anyone else and should I get the dealer to check it out?

 

[Revvdmedia]

I've noticed this on all turbo cars I've owned and numerous others I have driven and seen driven. I believe most manufacturers (and I've logged this on mine) run rather rich fuel mixtures at wide open throttle, this normally results in "smoke."

 

[DaJackson]

I've noticed this on all turbo cars I've owned and numerous others I have driven and seen driven. I believe most manufacturers (and I've logged this on mine) run rather rich fuel mixtures at wide open throttle, this normally results in "smoke."

Rich fuel mixture does not produce white smoke. That would be black smoke.

Automedics » WHAT DOES THE SMOKE FROM MY EXHAUST MEAN?

White smoke is either perfectly normal or means your engine is going to blow up. All depends if it’s thin white like water vapor or thick white from coolant.

 

[Revvdmedia]

Rich fuel mixture does not produce white smoke. That would be black smoke.

Automedics » WHAT DOES THE SMOKE FROM MY EXHAUST MEAN?

White smoke is either perfectly normal or means your engine is going to blow up. All depends if it’s thin white like water vapor or thick white from coolant.

You are 100% correct. I was thinking these instances might fall in line with what "looks" white when you're in the driver's seat looking in the rear view mirror. I've typically found the exhaust to be more of a "grey" than a thick black. The only time I've had black was on the old Cobalt SS turbo when doing no-lift shifts, with pops and bangs to boot.

 

[washguy]

Evan Sorry to hear this....do you smell any coolant type smells along with the white smoke? Wash

 

[mldavis2]

Most likely steam -- water in the exhaust system before the car gets thoroughly warmed up. All turbo engines do it. The fact that it only did it first time is an indicator of moisture, not coolant.

 

[robz32]

Agree. It was probably condensation left in the exhaust or debris/dirt that accumulates on the cats from regular driving.

 

[Capital AL]

More than likely it is just water vapor/water droplets. This happens under hard acceleration in my Mercedes quite often and I immediately checked and the exhaust tips were wet and it did not smell like anything and likely was only water.