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Someone please help me quickly, travelling through country back roads and drove into a ditch full of water managed to not get stuck but I accelerated heavily and now white warm smoke is coming out from the hood near the fan. is it okay to drive it after waiting for a little while. What could be the cause of this?? Help I'm a girl and alone
How cool. We now have instant roadside assistance without the pricey premiums :D
Probably just got water on the exhaust manifold or between the cooling fins on the radiator. Did it quit steaming shortly after?
Yes it stopped steaming but if I start it it starts steaming again, Im going to wait a few minutes then just go, at least if it's just water on the exhaust manifold it doesn't sound that serious? thanks so much for your response
You're welcome. The only thing you need to worry about in that situation is if water got in the intake. The engine would try to compress the water and bend the connecting rods. If it still runs ok but just steams it should evaporate and be fine. You might watch the temp gauge just to make sure you didn't damage anything and have a coolant leak. Happy motoring. :)
White smoke is steam. Steam is made by water hitting very high temperature metal, in this case. Nothing to worry about. It should stop in minutes.
However, I would watch your alternator, as many auto manufacturers put them low on the engine and water can get into them. If you see anything different on your gauges or some lite (battery or check engine) comes on, then get to a mechanic double quick, before your car leaves you stranded exactly where you don't want to be stranded.
Good luck.
Your engine is a very warm thing. You drove through water and probably just got a lot of water on it everywhere and it's just evaporating.
Just check your gauge just in case you might have blown a gasket