Cooling If you go through a car wash, you’ll often see steam coming out from the front of your vehicle, especially on a cool day. No worries — it’s the water that sprayed onto the hot radiator. What you don’t want is steam while you’re driving, indicating a coolant hose that’s split or come off. Pull over and shut off the engine. If you can’t fix it right there, have your vehicle towed to a shop. Running without coolant can potentially cause severe engine damage. Exhaust First thing in the morning, you usually get white smoke from the tailpipe, especially if it’s cold outside. That’s normal — it’s condensation in the exhaust that turned to steam. But if you see it long after the engine’s fully warmed up, it could be an internal coolant leak, and that needs repair.