06 WRX white smoke...WTF?
 

Ok, so for those of you who don't know, my car is a 2006 WRX, running Cobb Stage 2, full catless exhaust, everything else is stock in the engine bay. All fluid changes are done religiously...and I just drained and replaced the coolant.

So, I drove home from UNR about a 3-4 mile drive for me and when I pulled into my garage, I had white smoke coming from the front area of my hood, a good noticeable amount but not billowing clouds). I shut the car off and popped the hood, it was coming from under the ram air scoop in the front of the engine and out the very center of the hood.

There are no visible leaks anywhere on the car. I pulled off the ram air scoop and looked beneath it and didn't find the source. I then pulled off the alternator cover to check the belts...nothing. I have no idea where or what could be causing this. In sporadic occasions with the vents on the car does smell like something may be getting hot...I always assumed it was just the clutch, from riding it a little too much.

Otherwise the car runs fine, APV2 doesn't show anything out of the ordinary (temp levels) and (assuming the clutch is the culprit) I have put the car in 5th gear going about 30 and put my foot down and there was no slipping, so I assume the clutch is in okay condition.

Any advice would be helpful, anything to look for or check? Thanks guys.

White smoke it typically from water/antifreeze. Do you smell the sweet smell of coolant under the hood?

It doesn't really smell like coolant smoke...IDK, its not very sweet, it smells more like if you were to ride the clutch for a while with the hint of burning rubber...

A trash bag or something on your headers/downpipe?

Header/ Turbo - up/downpipe bolts tight? Loose header bolts melt the undertray.

Heater/coolant hoses OK?

If you just did the coolant, my guess is that's related.

Could be just some coolant spilling from the radiator drain plug on the headers? Check to make sure that the plug isn't under or over tightened.

I don't think me just doing the coolant has to do with it. The smell has been around for a while but I will get under it and check everything after it cools down.

Well, I waited for the car to cool, and I checked every coolant line I could reach, bottom of the turbo and all. I looked for any drips or spills and couldn't find anything. All fluids were normal...just a little bit down on oil but nothing out of the ordinary. I went for a drive and the car ran great, AP shows good temps and everything looked normal.

Its seems to do it when its warm outside and I won't notice the smell unless I am sitting stopped. Which usually makes me think its the clutch because I just used it to come to a stop...downshifting. IDK any other ideas?

I imagine that smoke would only come out of your scoop, not the front of the car if this were your issue, but the inlet pipe>turbo hose clamp loosened on my car and this allowed blowby to drip out of the inlet pipe onto the hot turbo. It made a lot of smoke bellow out of the scoop, but once I identified the problem, it was an easy fix (tighten the loose clamp).