[f2000sa]

A friend told me that he saw white smoke coming out the rear of my Honda Odyssey EX-L 2011 every few moments. I did have automatic temperature control turned on. The inside temperature was about the same, or higher than that of outside. Is this normal?

 

[vthehonda]

Was it a smoke or was it a steam that you can see for the first few minutes after a cold start? I doubt your new Honda burns oil.

 

[stpierrewm]

A friend told me that he saw white smoke coming out the rear of my Honda Odyssey EX-L 2011 every few moments. I did have automatic temperature control turned on. The inside temperature was about the same, or higher than that of outside. Is this normal?

Does your friend know anything about cars? Chances are that it was merely some condensation vaporizing as your engine was warm. This happens quite often on colder days, and you should not read into it. If you see thick, puffy, white smoke (as opposed to wispy clouds of steam) then you should worry. But I doubt that's the problem.

 

[Shazzam]

Was it while you were driving after the engine was warmed up, or just on start up. If on start up, it is nothing to worry about. If it is after the engine is at normal operating temperature, it could be a bad head gasket allowing coolant into the combustion chamber. I doubt that is happening though.

 

[f2000sa]

It happened during normal operation. A friend followed me on the highway. He saw the white smoke frequently. I may have my dealer check on it.

 

[Shazzam]

Oh oh ....

 

[dvpatel]

It happened during normal operation. A friend followed me on the highway. He saw the white smoke frequently. I may have my dealer check on it.

Was this after the car had been driven 15 - 20 minutes? Initially, when the car is cold, it would do this. Its only a problem if it continues to do it after a few miles. Also, if you really are burning oil, you should see residue on the rear bumper and portions of the tail gate too. How do those two items look?

 

[Shazzam]

Oil burns blue. Coolant burns white.

 

[dvpatel]

True. Not sure if coolant alone will leave a residue. I still think the OP's friend saw this while the car was cold.

 

[cajunvan]

Did you elect a new Pope?

 

[f2000sa]

Not very cool weather. about 60 degree F. I set my temp inside to 74. It was a 20 miles drive. He saw this every while the whole trip. I have not checked the pipe yet, and will report back.

 

[stpierrewm]

Not very cool weather. about 60 degree F. I set my temp inside to 74. It was a 20 miles drive. He saw this every while the whole trip. I have not checked the pipe yet, and will report back.

60 degrees is definitely cool enough for water vapor to appear like this.

 

[flexdmc]

Noticed this as well on my new TE.
Had driven for 2 hours and parked for about 20 mins at a friends house and when the wife started the van saw whitish plume of smoke. Definitely had more of an opaque color than steam.

 

[stpierrewm]

Check the TSB section. There was one where a software update cured engines that were burning oil.

 

[PhilZJ]

Not sure how software can fix oil burning. I can see how it would fix a rich mixture issue But that would be black smoke. Like said earlier oil smoke is blue.

One thing I thought about is that the ody has that rear AC condensation runoff area right by the tail pipe. Could water from there be hitting the tailpipe and be creating a white steam or enough splatter at speed to make it look like steam/white smoke?

 

[stpierrewm]

Not sure how software can fix oil burning. I can see how it would fix a rich mixture issue But that would be black smoke. Like said earlier oil smoke is blue.

I was asking myself the same thing, but the TSB claims to resolve an engine oil consumption issue by altering the operation of the VSA system.