Blowing white smoke

[h0llyw00d]

My truck is blowing white smoke especially when at a red light, then it will start to idle rough after about 1 minute at a red light like its gonna shut off. Also when i let go off the gas sometimes quickly to hit the brakes it will stall. Also the transmission will not shift unless i start in overdrive then put it into 2and then in to overdrive after i get up in speed. I have to manually shift. I also have a ticking lifter. What could be causing the smoke and other problems.

 

[KillerB74]

White smoke is usually a sign of antifreeze entering the combustion chamber, so a head gasket or cracked head could be the problem. Is your coolant level going down? This could cause your idling and stalling problems as well. Depending on how long the truck has been doing this the engine may need just a gasket or new head or a complete rebuild.

A ticking lifter could be caused by it being worn out, low oil pressure or some type of contamination in it (dirt etc.). Does the ticking go away when its warm or is it continuous. An oil additive may flush it out, but probably needs a new lifter (I would replace them all while I had it apart).

The transmission I'm no expert on, but based on the history of the automatic it may be on its way out and require a rebuild or a re-manufactured/used one.