White Smoke

[GB4000]

Now that the temp is dropping I'll prob change my oil and winterize my truck. Just curious on what the best way to reduce white smoke from my exhaust is. I will prob drop in some Lucas Treatment then after that not sure. Any advice?

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

white smoke? you mean steam? you cant reduce it...and why would you want to?

 

[pacodiablo]

The white smoke you see on start up in cold temps is just condensation. It's normal and there isn't anything you can do about it.

If you get white smoke all the time, you are burning coolant and no additive is going to fix that.

 

[Killroy]

wow, white smoke... if it smells like fuel... it's cause your truck in in open loop and is trying to heat the engine up faster (or you have some bad sensors somewhere)... if it smells like burnt oil then you have bad lifter seals, and you could replace those kinda easily if you got yourself a haynes manual. Paco also made a good point, if the smoke smells sweet like syrup... then it probably is a coolant leak into your cylinders... but you'd know that because your oil would be all milky looking. go see a mech if that is the case.

guys who answered... I don't think someone who knows how to drive would think condensate is smoke... he's grown up knowing his breath does the same thing when it gets cold out... take him at his word and diagnose his problem as if it is smoke not condensate.

 

[90rangersuper]

guys who answered... I don't think someone who knows how to drive would think condensate is smoke... he's grown up knowing his breath does the same thing when it gets cold out... take him at his word and diagnose his problem as if it is smoke not condensate.

going to this above, my truck does the same thing when i start it up in the morning, its cold and she blows out white smoke, that goes away after i drive it a bit, my rear exhaust piece it always tilted upward allowing water in when it rains, i know my truck uses no coolent, no burning oil and she starts up and runs fine, even -20. If it does do it all the time and its fairly warm outside i would look at the coolent for white smoke, blue smoke is oil and black smoke it excessive fuel not being burnt off.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

if it smells like fuel...

excess fuel produces black smoke

if it smells like burnt oil then you have bad lifter seals,

oil in the chambers produces blue smoke. and oil can get into the chambers by several other ways aside from valve seals.

then it probably is a coolant leak into your cylinders... but you'd know that because your oil would be all milky looking. go see a mech if that is the case.

a blown head gasket or cracked head will not always dump coolant into the oil. sometimes it will just burn antifreeze.

guys who answered... I don't think someone who knows how to drive would think condensate is smoke...

the fact that he stated that its a winter problem lead me (and it would seem several others) to believe that it just started during the colder weather...making it quite possible that hes talking about water vapor and not burning antifreeze.

 

[Will]

White smoke can be produced from fuel--if it's not actually burning it ends up in the exhaust as steam and it comes out white. If it is under load and there is too much fuel, it's black.

If you make a lot of short trips and never heat the exhaust up it could have a lot of water in the muffler. This happened on my motorhome when I would start it and let it run for 15 minutes and put it through the gears to keep the seals wet. You had to drive it for a bit to clear the water out with the mufflers being so far south of the engine.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

When winter really gets in full swing I have seen the steam even after things get warmed up. It isn't as thick but just a wift, kind of like your breath in cold air.

My truck is up to operating temp in this picture last January, and now that we are getting cooler mornings (high 30's to low 40's) most vehicles around have steam about like that until it gets warmed up.

 

[GB4000]

Turns out I have a small leak in my hose so I really wasn't getting too much coolant circulating. Thanks for all the responses I appreciate the help and yes I do know that it wasn't just condensation... And now you all prob understand what I was talking about.