Huge Plume of Blue Smoke Billowed out When Starting Engine

87708 Views 271 Replies 69 Participants Last post by truncus76, 6 mo ago

Foveator

Discussion Starter · Aug 5, 2018 (Edited)

After the first few days of driving the car and with less than 200 miles on it, I drove into my driveway and went into the house. After about 5 minutes, I got back in the car and started it to drive away. I was immediately engulfed by a huge cloud of blue smoke that I presumed came billowing from the exhaust. I immediately realized that this was MUCH more smoke (it was as if I had just started a finicky cold diesel engine) than ANY car should ever give off. It was more smoke than any other car I have ever seen give off unless it was on fire. I immediately got out of the car (still leaving it running as I didn't think to push the button to stop it) fearing it might be on fire. When I looked toward the back of the car, I could hardly see it through the smoke. Looking at it from 10 feet away, it appeared that the smoke was coming from under the car. I never saw a flame. It looked like when you put a large pile of dry leaves on a fire. It starts to smoke A LOT, then the flames erupt and the smoke disappears.

Within about 30 seconds, the smoking subsided and stopped. The car never made an unusual noise. I didn't have any dealer applied undercoating applied as I though that might have caught fire. Then I considered that the turbo might still have had hot oil that got shot into the engine or exhaust system. This did happen after having driven the car for 30 minutes, shutting it off and restarting it 5 minutes later. (I have keyless start so no manual gas was applied.) I have no idea what caused the event. I'll bring it up to the dealer when I see him next (although they don't want to see us for 6,000 miles).

So here's a heads up for any of you new Ascent owners. Normally, there is NO sign of exhaust upon startup. If it looks like a large pile of leaves just got lit under your car when you start it, you will have just joined the club. I would recommend to get away from the car.

See less See more

Reactions: 3

1 - 20 of 272 Posts

Trey T

· #2 · Aug 6, 2018

It's an inherited problem on flat/boxer engines, particularly on Porsches with improper functioning air/oil separator at cold start. People on here said that these engine do not have air/oil separator but rather use a simple check valve(s) called PCV (common device on non-boxer engine). Worst, if the piston rings are allowing oil to seep thru when the engine is at rest, you'll have smoke at cold start. If you're handy, you should do some inspection on the PCV to rule out the problem.

I don't believe it's the turbo unless the seals are shot already.

If the problem persist and gets worst, you should take it to the dealer. At this time, you should call your dealer and report it.

Foveator

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 6, 2018

I'm not taking any chances. I won't park this car in my garage. I won't even park it near the house right now. It's about 10' away from the house. If there's a 1 in 1,000 chance that the car will start burning up or explode (it does have a 19+ gallon gas tank), I'm not going there.

On the plus side, when I contacted my dealer, Reynolds Subaru here in Connecticut, they sent someone immediately to PICK UP the Ascent where I work and left me with an Outback loaner. That's a class act.

BTW, this was not a cold start. The engine had been running for at least half an hour, then turned off for about 5 minutes, then turned on again when this happened.

Reactions: 1

marmonduke

· #4 · Aug 6, 2018

Please keep us posted, definitely should not be happening.

Reactions: 1

Ey31

· #5 · Aug 6, 2018

Foveator said:
After the first few days of driving the car and with less than 200 miles on it, I drove into my driveway and went into the house. After about 5 minutes, I got back in the car and started it to drive away. I was immediately engulfed by a huge cloud of blue smoke that I presumed came billowing from the exhaust. I immediately realized that this was MUCH more smoke (it was as if I had just started a finicky cold diesel engine) than ANY car should ever give off. It was more smoke than any other car I have ever seen give off unless it was on fire. I immediately got out of the car (still leaving it running as I didn't think to push the button to stop it) fearing it might be on fire. When I looked toward the back of the car, I could hardly see it through the smoke. Looking at it from 10 feet away, it appeared that the smoke was coming from under the car. I never saw a flame. It looked like when you put a large pile of dry leaves on a fire. It starts to smoke A LOT, then the flames erupt and the smoke disappears.

Within about 30 seconds, the smoking subsided and stopped. The car never made an unusual noise. I didn't have any dealer applied undercoating applied as I though that might have caught fire. Then I considered that the turbo might still have had hot oil that got shot into the engine or exhaust system. This did happen after having driven the car for 30 minutes, shutting it off and restarting it 5 minutes later. (I have keyless start so no manual gas was applied.) I have no idea what caused the event. I'll bring it up to the dealer when I see him next (although they don't want to see us for 6,000 miles).

So here's a heads up for any of you new Ascent owners. Normally, there is NO sign of exhaust upon startup. If it looks like a large pile of leaves just got lit under your car when you start it, you will have just joined the club. I would recommend to get away from the car.

ours didn't have any smoke but had a weird burning smell after driving it home on the first day. It hasn't smelled like that since then. Good luck with whatever you find, hopefully it's nothing major.

Trey T

· #6 · Aug 6, 2018

Ey31 said:
ours didn't have any smoke but had a weird burning smell after driving it home on the first day. It hasn't smelled like that since then. Good luck with whatever you find, hopefully it's nothing major.

A decent mechanic can tell you if there's oil leaking or not. If it smells, it more than likely that it's dripping onto the exhaust.

Carl Abrams

· #7 · Aug 6, 2018

Ey31 said:
ours didn't have any smoke but had a weird burning smell after driving it home on the first day. It hasn't smelled like that since then. Good luck with whatever you find, hopefully it's nothing major.

Most (okay, all!) new cars have that weird burning smell. Typically you notice it on the test drive, especially if your salesman ends up popping the hood for you when you get back to the dealership. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've smelled it, and it's perfectly normal. It's literally a case of the car actually getting hot for the very first time. You ought to smell the cars that have come from Japan, because they spray them with something before they get on the boat that ends up stinking pretty nasty for a very short time.

Once a car has about 30 miles on it, the smell is gone.

Reactions: 5

traildogck

· #8 · Aug 6, 2018

Carl Abrams said:
Most (okay, all!) new cars have that weird burning smell. Typically you notice it on the test drive, especially if your salesman ends up popping the hood for you when you get back to the dealership. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've smelled it, and it's perfectly normal.

I completely agree, especially a turbo car. Exhaust gas temps can be anywhere for 500 to 1300 deg F.

Blue/White smoke out the tale pipe is something else. I do agree with comment on the oil separator vs PCV system. All motors also need to break in. I am keeping tuned to these would-be-alarming threads. To see if folks are just alarmists, or if there are issues with some vehicles.

Reactions: 1

Karpediem

· #9 · Aug 7, 2018

Any chance you were parked on a driveway that had a steep angle? When I was looking into getting a Durango, some people had this same issue on start-up if it parked on a inclined driveway.

Foveator

Discussion Starter · #10 · Aug 8, 2018

Nope. Driveway is almost flat.

Audria Newbold

· #11 · Aug 29, 2018

Experienced the same issue today

Our car is only a month old with 1100 miles on it and I experienced the thick smoke out of my tailpipes today. I've already dropped it off at the dealership to have it looked at, and will follow up with what they find, in case anyone experiences the same issue.

MAGNUMB

· #12 · Aug 29, 2018

Audria Newbold said:
Our car is only a month old with 1100 miles on it and I experienced the thick smoke out of my tailpipes today. I've already dropped it off at the dealership to have it looked at, and will follow up with what they find, in case anyone experiences the same issue.

Maybe loose turbo bolts? Is your VIN in the 6,000s?

Sparkland

· #13 · Aug 29, 2018

Audria Newbold said:
Our car is only a month old with 1100 miles on it and I experienced the thick smoke out of my tailpipes today. I've already dropped it off at the dealership to have it looked at, and will follow up with what they find, in case anyone experiences the same issue.

Smoke out of the tailpipes upon initial start up is absolutely normal for a turbo engine. The high exhaust temps and condensation will cause that. Both of our vehicles, STI and WRX do that. It's good to have the dealer confirm that there is no problem though.

Foveator

Discussion Starter · #14 · Aug 30, 2018 (Edited)

Audria Newbold said:
Our car is only a month old with 1100 miles on it and I experienced the thick smoke out of my tailpipes today. I've already dropped it off at the dealership to have it looked at, and will follow up with what they find, in case anyone experiences the same issue.

Can you tell us the circumstances? Was it at at cold start? While the engine was running? Was the engine warm? How long did it last? What color was the smoke? Were you concerned while it was happening? Had you been parked on an incline? In my case, it was as smoky as a cold diesel semi truck trying to start that was badly out of tune and hadn't been started in months.

My dealer (and Subaru technicians) have looked at my Ascent, but were unable to duplicate the event.

traildogck

· #15 · Aug 30, 2018

It depends if it is condensation, or oil. The 1st is nothing, the second is a cause for concern.

sharp859

· #16 · Aug 30, 2018

It happened to me other day, and it was not a cold start, I started it after 30 mins of drive and parked for few hours. No issues while driving or what so ever but mixed MPG am getting 13-15, not happy at all.

traildogck

· #17 · Aug 30, 2018

My tuned XTs get 13 to 15mpg. All urban. No smoke tho.

Guvnor

· #18 · Dec 10, 2018

I’ve had my Ascent blow white/blue smoke on two startups (2,300 miles now). They both happened on warm starts after sitting for 10-15 minutes.

Was never overly concerned as I also own an air cooled 911 where Smokey starts are fairly common after sitting for longer periods of time(2-3 weeks in my case). I thought it was a horizontally opposed thing but watching this thread closely to see how things develop.

WebSnyper

· #19 · Dec 10, 2018

Audria Newbold said:
Our car is only a month old with 1100 miles on it and I experienced the thick smoke out of my tailpipes today. I've already dropped it off at the dealership to have it looked at, and will follow up with what they find, in case anyone experiences the same issue.

So much for that promise...
Last Activity: 08-29-2018 04:44 PM

OP, what happened with yours?

Lopaka

· #20 · Apr 23, 2019

I'm sitting and waiting for a tow truck to come and pick up my 2 month old Ascent with 4000 miles on it. I took it to the dealership last week for its first oil change and drove it through the weekend with no problem. Yesterday morning, however, when I started the car (cold engine), I got a thick white stinky exhaust that lasted about 30 seconds and then cleared up. It happened again at lunch time (after the car had been sitting for 5 hours) but wasn't as dense. This morning, it was even worse and very smelly. Lunch time today, I thought something was on fire......this time it didn't dissipate and definitely had a burning smell to it. I even drew a crowd in the parking lot of my office. I shut off the car and and am hence waiting for the two truck.....

1 - 20 of 272 Posts