Smoke on start-up, Wafting smoke, not billowing. Options

[HectortheRican]

So, I just drove from Ft. Worth to Albuquerque yesterday (~620 miles) without a hiccup. I get in my car today to run an errand and I notice smoke wafting from under my hood. It smelled like cinnamon and since my radiator has cracked on me before, I jumped out of my seat to have a look. The radiator looks fine - no spraying and no cracks from what I can tell, and I heard a sizzle right after I opened my hood, like a drop of liquid vaporizing on hot metal. Right now, I'm thinking that it's probably just a worn line leaking coolant onto my header, where it vaporizes, creating the slight smoke that I saw. However, the errand wasn't terribly important and it's way too cold here (22 deg F right now) to investigate further today.

Any other opinions?

[KAOS]

First off; Happy Birthday!!

Nextly; can you verify that its on STARTUP that you see smoke, or has the car reached operating temperature first??

This post has been edited by KAOS: Jan 13, 2013 - 7:59 PM

[HectortheRican]

First off; Happy Birthday!!

Nextly; can you verify that its on STARTUP that you see smoke, or has the car reached operating temperature first??

Thanks, man! It was start-up. If it's what I think, the motor was running long enough for the downpipe to get hot enough to vaporize the coolant. I was warming up the motor and it had been on for roughly a minute when I smelled the sweet smoke.

This post has been edited by HectortheRican: Jan 14, 2013 - 3:52 PM