Alot of White smoke

[Coast]

Hey all, i'm fairly new here. I have a question... I have a 91 xlt. Recently swampped the intake. No damage done except i now have a LARGE amount of white smoke comming out my exaust when she does a cold start. There are little puffs when she is warm. Is this something i can fix or is the engine hooped???
There is no oil in the water or vice versa. Recently changed the water pump and rad. Please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

 

[hijinks]

Hmm.. white smoke.. I forgot what color gas is but could it be burning too much gas? I know I had problems with white smoke from my radiator and when my brake line blew up but that wasn't coming from the exaust

 

[Coast]

I have a feeling it has something to do with fuel/air mix. How do i know if a sensor is toast?

 

[hijinks]

run a code tester on it. If a sensor is gone you should see the check engine like is on. if you don't have a code tester take it to autozone.. they'll run it for free.

 

[96_explorer.com]

gas

Yep... white smore means your buring to much gas and not enough oil. Check your oil mixture and check the oil pump. also is the white smoke only when you start it up from the cold or all day long driving it??

 

[Coast]

sometimes all day long. Not like cold start but still see the smoke. Cold start is soo bad you cannot see around the truck

 

[hijinks]

ya your burning too much gas. Check your oil pump. Thats probably your problem

 

[96_explorer.com]

Yea.. check the oil pump.. make sure its getting the right pressure on the oil / pump. also maybe,,, just maybe your injectors might be going out and not setting right.

 

[SteveVB]

what are you all talking about?

White smoke is usually water- where it comes from? Pull the plugs and take a look, do a compression test, also check the intake manifold for leaks. could be a bad head gasket or craxcked heads, or a loose intake. Take the time to do some checking. How much water were you in?

Explorer 96, and HiJinks Extra gas would be black smoke, oil problems would be blue smoke, I have no idea what the oil pump has to do with fuel problems, since you seemed to think the smoke was from fuel problems. Come on guys.. basic stuff.

 

[Coast]

i went through water about door deep but went through fast. Water came up over my windsheild then the engine died (when i was out of the water). Took out my plugs and turned it over a few times but no water came out. When i took off my intake tube, there was a little water down the intake and my air filter was soaked. does any of this help? i will check as you said... but cracked heads would lead to water in the oil. Bad head gasket i would be blowing blue.

 

[oceanworker]

Start simple. White smoke usualy indicates a fuel/air ratio imbalance, namely too much fuel (unburned). First check your air cleaner, filter, the entire air intake system to make sure the engine isn't starved for air.
Can also indicates burning of water in the cylinders. Are you losing any water/glycol? If you are, it could be a bad head gasket.
If the condition happens when the engine is cold or hot can give clues. If ok when cold, but not when hot can indicate air-trottle valve not opening correctly.
Check all these and let us know.

 

[JR 91Sport]

Wha??

A cracked head does not always equal water in the oil. Anyhow easy way to tell type of smoke: Smell it. If the smoke smells like hot/burnt maple syrup then you have coolant leaking into the cylinders somewhere (assuming your running antifreeze in your system as you should instead of just water). If the smoke burns your eyes then your running rich and most likely you have a sensor out of wack. And of course oil consumption smells just like that: burnt oil.

From the sounds of it you did not get water into your engine since it did not spit any out of the plug holes (at least I hope you did not). Did you check the MAS sensor for water??


I have to agree with SteveVB, never heard of white smoke from an incorrect air/fuel ratio? Lean burn does not cause smoke and rich burn produces black not white smoke.

JR

 

[Coast]

No. there was no water in the cylinders and none that spit out the plug holes. What is the MAS sensor? where is it located?

 

[TPLYNCH]

The MAS is located right after the airbox. You should see some wires running to it. White smoke is also a symptom of Tranny Fluid being burned. There is a vaccum valve that goes bad that allows tranny fluid into the engine. Read up on it at the following site - Dead Link Removed

The problem may not even be related to your swamping the engine.....

 

[JR 91Sport]

Very good point TPLYNCH, never thought of the tranny fluid prob. It's been a while since I've heard of that failure, guess I've been driving standards too long.

Coast, let us know the cause when you figure it out.

JR

 

[Lemondrop]

White smoke is either auto tranny fluid or water . White smoke on start is normal . Exhaust systems draw air and moisture in when they cool off . The moisture condenses in the pipes/ muffler . When you start up the engine the heat in the pipes causes the water to boil off . If white smoke is still pumping after the engine is warmed up and it's not cold outside , either the tranny fluid is getting in or water/ antifreeze . Also make sure it's coming out the exhaust and not from under the hood itself . The heater control valves like to leak antifreeze on explorers . Could br dripping on the exhaust . Check for tranny fluid and water first . Also if the "Check Engine" light isnt on I wouldnt go chasing down sensor problems . The MAS could have gotten dirty from the splash so cleaning it couldnt hurt , but I doubt it causing any problems .

 

[edgl]

white smoke

SteveV8 is right, white smoke is water vapor, or it could be ATF. Only in diesel engines will there be white smoke if the fuel is lean. Lean mixtures will show nothing, while a rich mixture will be black smoke and oil is blue.

 

[Coast]

I have a 5 speed so it wont be the tranny. I'll look into the valve and sensor. I'll keep you all updated. Thank you all for the ideas!!!

 

[SteveVB]

Coast,

To bad you dont have the automatic, I forgot all about the modulator, and its an easy fix.

I think a compression test should be next, and also pressurize the cooling system and see if the cooling system is holding pressure. Hows your temp gauge look, is it the same as before?

I agree that pulling codes and looking for sensor problems is a waste of time at this point. It wouldnt hurt to pull the codes, but they may not be the problem, but results of the problem. Check the cause.
Good luck

 

[oceanworker]

Sorry about the mistatement in my previous reply. I forgot that white smoke indicating a lean mixture is only evident in diesel engines. Thanks EDGL.
I just reread your first message COAST on this problem. You say you recently replaced your water pump and radiator. Did your engine overheat? What caused you to replace them. Was it a catastrophic failure of one of these components? Did you lose much coolant when your engine was still running?
If so you most likely have a cracked head. Hope this isn't the case. Let us know.