Exhaust Smoke and Smell

[Skyline-Tweak]

Okay, so I've been sanding my car and preparing it for paint and figured I would run the car since it sits in the garage and it's been almost a week. So I start the vehicle and found smoke coming out of the exhaust. It's been 20° here so I didn't think anything of it but then there's this smell. I'm not burning anything. Oil isn't milky or low and whenever I open my thermostat, coolant is filled to the top still. I wouldn't know what to compare the smell to either. Any ideas? Thank you in advance.

 

[RallyEclipse98]

A sweet smell means coolant. I've had a blown head gasket before where the oil wasn't milky.

 

[Skyline-Tweak]

I thought it would be coolant but it doesn't have a sweet smell and my coolant is filled to the top and I used this stuff called K-Seal that seals HG leaks too. I've seen water in the tip of the tail pipe when running. Could it be mold in the pipe? What would I compare mold smell to?

 

[Colt4G63 also]

You're burning fuel mixed with air. That explains the smoke/steam. Then combine that smell with the sanding, and you get the smell that doesn't really smell like when you normally inhale exhaust fumes. Simple!
The water you see is normal condensation and H2O produced by the combustion process.

 

[Skyline-Tweak]

So I really shouldn't worry about it? It's such a weird smell and there's really nothing to compare it to that I can think of. To me it's concerning. Maybe it is the exhaust manifold burning primer and paint dust cause the bay did get kinda dusty. I remember opening the coolant cap while it was running and it over flowed out the thermostat so I know it's full. It's a really strong sent but if it's nothing, then I'm not gonna waste my time on it.

 

[RallyEclipse98]

When I did the head gasket on my 2g, it was smoking and smelling so bad after initial startup. Smoke coming out of engine bay like crazy. Turns out it was just the PB blaster burning off the exhaust manifold and downpipe .

If you used any fluid to loosen the bolts, it's probably just burning off.