Mild smoke from engine hood...need help!

vramani · 06-05-2010, 07:54 PM

Hey guys, so I just purchased an 06 G coupe 6mt recently with a cold air intake. I took it on a small cruise for about 10 min today. When i put the car back on my drive way, I could see there was some very mild smoke seeping thru the side gps of the hood (where hood meets fenders) as well as some mild very mild smoke thru the front grill. The engine does not have any modifications on it, just an injen cold air intake. Is this something common for cars with intakes/G35 coupes. I am a first time owner so any input would help greatly. Thanks

Revo · 06-05-2010, 07:56 PM

No that's definitely not a good sign...

vramani · 06-05-2010, 08:42 PM

well ive been doing a little more research on this subject and it turns out that G35 enignes (VQ35) are prone to producing a decent amount of engine heat. So this could be the smoke that I noticed coming thru the front grill. I want to revoke my previous statement of the smoke coming thru the sides of the hood. I saw the mild smoke only by the grill and headlight area. Any other input from you guys is still much appreciated. I am going to go ahead and take the car to a mechanic just to be safe.

**thatguy** · 06-05-2010, 08:58 PM

the place you bought it from could have cleaned under the hood with something and it is still burning off

vramani · 06-05-2010, 09:19 PM

Unfortunately, I have to eliminate that idea because the car was bought private party. The guy did take very good care of the car. He had all the oil change records(synthetic) as well as maintenance papers for tire rotation/installation and new brake pad installation. I just opened the hood and felt the engine (by hand). It seemed to be pretty hot still after being shut off for more than an hr. The CAI was also hot like the engine, but I am not sure if its just the metal heating up or if the CAI is not supplying enough cold air to the engine..

vramani · 06-05-2010, 09:20 PM

The only thing that makes me believe that it is not an engine overheating problem is that the temperature gauge inside the car has never gone past the mid level. Is this ok to assume? Ive driven the car for over an hour straight before and have never seen the engine temp level go above the middle mark

**thatguy** · 06-05-2010, 09:34 PM

the CAI isn't causing any problems, I'd bet.

everthing is squeezed in pretty tight and shrouded quite a bit. it wouldn't surprise me for it to stay warm for quite a while.

**Gilley** · 06-06-2010, 06:39 AM

The CAI isn't going to supply air to cool the engine. And since it is metal, it will heat up from the engine heat.

I take it you didn't open the hood to see from where the smoke was coming? Did you drive through a puddle of water before stopping?

vramani · 06-06-2010, 10:22 AM

Well as soon as i noticed the mild smoke coming from the grill, put the car in my garage and opened it to see where the source of the smoke was. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate it and I just assumed it was the heat being dissipated from the engine. The thing that worries me the most is the fact that the engine temp gauge in the car never went above the half way mark. Also, I did not drive thru a puddle.

**GZire** · 06-07-2010, 02:42 AM

Smoke for sure? No potential for it to be coolant? Temp gauge could be bad too.

I dunno man, it's kinda hard to tell if you can't even find where this "smoke" is coming from.

vramani · 06-07-2010, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GZire

Smoke for sure? No potential for it to be coolant? Temp gauge could be bad too.

I dunno man, it's kinda hard to tell if you can't even find where this "smoke" is coming from.

Well i checked the coolant level and it was exactly halfway between the MAX and MIN line on the tank. I will go ahead and top it off to the MAX line today to see if that helps. Also I dont think i mentioned this previously, but the car does use synthetic oil. Is there anything that could occur with this type of oil usage?

**GZire** · 06-07-2010, 11:39 AM

Anything in the radiator overflow bottle?

Synthetic shouldn't really be an issue.

Unless your headgasket is busted I can't see how smoke would be getting out in the engine compartment. You'd also probably see smoke in the exhaust if that was the case.

ben's G35 · 06-07-2010, 07:47 PM

I Say Just Trade The Car

whitecpv35 · 06-15-2010, 03:37 AM

It's just cleaner residue.... Don't worry about it unless it happens after a few hundred miles of driving. Then start checking things. CAI, might be a poorly connected vacuum line...