Hello folks, made an account just for this.

So i have a 2002 camry LE 4 cylinder, it has about 173000 miles on it. It belonged to my dad and I bought it off him in June. My dad has always been religious about getting it serviced so it's not like the car is on its last legs or anything. I've driven the car myself probably for 40-50k of those miles while I was living with him, and occasionally when he goes on vacation. The car would always run smooth and other than worn brakes was in tip top condition for a car with its age and mileage.

Anyway, I went to get my oil changed on the 5th. Got out and the car felt zippy and all that good stuff. One week later, I'm parking at home after running errands. As I pull into the spot I notice some faint white smoke coming from under the hood. I pop the hood and see the smoke coming from behind the radiator. No real one spot that the smoke is coming from, but emanating from the middle, behind the radiator up towards the top. I checked the coolant reservoir as my girlfriends old car used to go through periodic overheating due to her never taking care of it, and I'd usually fill it up and make sure the radiator was full and that would be that.

So the reservoir is basically bone dry, I add coolant to the line and I check the radiator. The coolant in the radiator is filled to the top when I go to fill it. I take the car out later that night and it's still smoking slightly.
The smoke doesn't start until the car's been running for about 10 minutes or so, which I'm guessing is how long it takes for the underhood components to warm up enough to vaporize the liquids in there. The temperature gauge is always smack dab in the middle while I'm driving and the car is smoking. The smoke is white and there's not a ton of it.

Monday I check the reservoir tank and it's empty again, I refill it and there's still smoke after 10 minutes. Luckily, I work 10 minutes away so I'm just getting to work/home when the smoke starts. I'm planning on taking it in to a radiator specialist on Saturday morning but curious what the community thinks it might be. I'm totally car ignorant so a self repair is kind of out of the question. I also don't want to go to someone who is going to hose me so I thought I'd get some thoughts from you guys before I take it somewhere.

Thanks for your time, guys. I'm going through some unexpected costs already and I hope some of your advice will keep this new cost

 

The smoke is most likely evaporating coolant. If coolant it will smell sweet, not like oil or gas.

Check the following for leaks:
All coolant hoses including those hidden behind items on the engine.
Upper and lower plastic radiator tanks which can crack.
Area around intake manifold, as this engine is prone to head bolt threads in the block pulling resulting in a coolant leak.
The water pump can also leak, this is located on the passengers side of the engine.

If the leak is coolant and this bad suggest finding the leak and fixing before driving too far as it may get worse quickly. Carry enough water to refill if none is available.