Engine guys inside please... Weird smoke...
Engine guys inside please... Weird smoke... On the way home today, my truck started smoking -- a little a first and then great gouts of white smoke. Well, I thought I must've blown the head gasket or lifted a head, or something... Here's the weird part: No water in the oil, no oil in the water, no decrease in oil or water level... I started it back up and ran it a little and the temp stayed dead on 178* (normal op temp for me). So I drove it a little...
Still no mixed fluids, no decrease in levels, no extra noises, no increase in any temps (hell even the iats stayed 10 over ambient!), but as it drove, the engine roughened up like it was developing a miss, and eventually got really rough.
The white smoke would stop and be replaced by a little blue smoke, then more white, then a little blue, etc. Finally it stopped altogether (although was still running rough), until I was about 2 blocks from home, and voila, more white smoke, followed by blue, then nothing again.
At home I checked the oil and water again: nothing. Checked the tranny fluid: nothing. I looked all around the heads, no signs of leaking oil or water, no outward sign of a lifted head, nothing. Engine compartment is totally dry as is the air intake tube up by the TB. The fluids don't even smell funny...
I haven't pulled the plugs yet, but I'm already stumped anyway... :sigh:
Any idea what the hell could be going on now?
Oh -- oil pressure ranged from 40 to the big has mark below 40 on the stock gauge. I had the wrong logging profile on the laptop and didn't think to change it to see the actual oil pressure.
Also -- no codes, nothing amiss in either scanner (HPT and megasquirt). Nada...
Still no mixed fluids, no decrease in levels, no extra noises, no increase in any temps (hell even the iats stayed 10 over ambient!), but as it drove, the engine roughened up like it was developing a miss, and eventually got really rough.
The white smoke would stop and be replaced by a little blue smoke, then more white, then a little blue, etc. Finally it stopped altogether (although was still running rough), until I was about 2 blocks from home, and voila, more white smoke, followed by blue, then nothing again.
At home I checked the oil and water again: nothing. Checked the tranny fluid: nothing. I looked all around the heads, no signs of leaking oil or water, no outward sign of a lifted head, nothing. Engine compartment is totally dry as is the air intake tube up by the TB. The fluids don't even smell funny...
I haven't pulled the plugs yet, but I'm already stumped anyway... :sigh:
Any idea what the hell could be going on now?
Oh -- oil pressure ranged from 40 to the big has mark below 40 on the stock gauge. I had the wrong logging profile on the laptop and didn't think to change it to see the actual oil pressure.
Also -- no codes, nothing amiss in either scanner (HPT and megasquirt). Nada...
I'm assuming you're talking about tailpipe smoke.
It still could be a little coolant getting into the combustion chamber(s), maybe not enough for you to notice a decrease in coolant level. I would pressure check the cooling system and see if it holds pressure. You could also have the cooling system "block-checked" to see if there are any combustion gasses in the cooling system. This is an easy test, and you can actually buy a kit to do it pretty cheaply (but it's probably cheaper to have a shop do it). White smoke out the tailpipe is definitely water or coolant. The only other thing I can think of that would give you white smoke would be water in the exhaust system, from condensation or being in a deep puddle. But if you're getting a lot of it, and it doesn't get better, it's probably coolant.
One other thing to keep in mind is that water (and coolant) tend to "clean" a cylinder. If the engine's been running with water coming in for a while, the inside of that cylinder will appear cleaner than the others. So, if you pull the plugs and find one that's cleaner than the others, you've probably found the cylinder with the leak.
It still could be a little coolant getting into the combustion chamber(s), maybe not enough for you to notice a decrease in coolant level. I would pressure check the cooling system and see if it holds pressure. You could also have the cooling system "block-checked" to see if there are any combustion gasses in the cooling system. This is an easy test, and you can actually buy a kit to do it pretty cheaply (but it's probably cheaper to have a shop do it). White smoke out the tailpipe is definitely water or coolant. The only other thing I can think of that would give you white smoke would be water in the exhaust system, from condensation or being in a deep puddle. But if you're getting a lot of it, and it doesn't get better, it's probably coolant.
One other thing to keep in mind is that water (and coolant) tend to "clean" a cylinder. If the engine's been running with water coming in for a while, the inside of that cylinder will appear cleaner than the others. So, if you pull the plugs and find one that's cleaner than the others, you've probably found the cylinder with the leak.
Thanks!! That's good info to know.
I think I found the problem, though, and (big sigh of relief) it appears to be minor. I found some tranny fluid on and around the vacuum check valve -- looks like I was sucking some tranny fluid through the intake. Probably nerfed the vacuum pump in the tranny, but probably didn't hurt anything in the engine.
I spoke with Chuck Johnson at Finish Line Transmissions (my tranny builder) and he said tranny fluid smokes white like coolant / water and the white smoke / blue smoke thing is exactly what he'd expect for burning trans fluid.
I think I found the problem, though, and (big sigh of relief) it appears to be minor. I found some tranny fluid on and around the vacuum check valve -- looks like I was sucking some tranny fluid through the intake. Probably nerfed the vacuum pump in the tranny, but probably didn't hurt anything in the engine.
I spoke with Chuck Johnson at Finish Line Transmissions (my tranny builder) and he said tranny fluid smokes white like coolant / water and the white smoke / blue smoke thing is exactly what he'd expect for burning trans fluid.
