wrote:

> white smoke, if it is truly white, is caused by *water* - so say the
> experts.

I'm sure that "expert" opinion comes as a big shock to the people who
fly old airplanes with radial engines- which emit MASSIVE clouds of very
white smoke on startup. Especially since they are AIR COOLED engines!

Examples:

http://www.silverstatenews.com/newss...s/Image029.jpg
http://www.airrace.de/video/CriticalMassStart.wmv

Sounds like you need better experts. Yes, in water-cooled engines a
sudden cloud of white out the exhaust can certainly be due to water from
a blown head gasket.

White smoke can also be a result of heavy oil contamination, and that's
always what causes it on air-cooled engine. It happens in those aircraft
radials because about 1/3 of the cylinders are "upside down" and tend to
fill with oil leaking past the rings after the engine is shut down. It
happens in lawnmowers because they've either been over-filled or tipped
so that the crankcase breather spits a big slug of oil into the carburetor.