Exhaust Smoking Very Concerning

[SupaSwope]

So I have had the truck for a while now. I know there was some type of oil leak down the back end of the pan, rather that's the pan or the seal is irrelevant at the moment. But my concern is this smoking come from the exhaust right under that pan, right next to the 02 sensor.

Lately it has gotten worse to the point it is always smoking and I can smell it often. I went under today and cleaned it pretty good. The top of the exhaust and the back of the pan and the front of the bell housing. I clean it pretty good but not perfect.

So I started it up and the exhaust is still smoking. There is no visible oil dripping or even running. It's coming from the exhaust itself. Now there is a cover shield over the exhaust itself that has some holes in it. Is it possible that the oil is between the two sheets of metal and smoking off? Or is this a part of the exhaust that needs to be replaced. I don't want to have a fire break out and lose my truck.

If that part of the exhaust has a name I would love to know it. and maybe replace it but I don't know if its just a part of the pipe and not anything in particular. I am going to link some videos.

 

[lobo411]

Have you tried torquing the valve cover bolts?

 

[SupaSwope]

how does that effect the exhaust? no I haven't.

 

[lobo411]

Oil splashes around the rocker arms, and if the valve covers aren't correctly torqued down (they can loosen by themselves sometimes), the oil can migrate past the gasket, down the rear block, and drip down onto the exhaust manifold near the trans bell.

 

[koda2000]

Leaking valve cover gaskets can cause oil to run down the back of the engine and drip on the catalytic converter. As the converter is very hot the oil will smoke and stink. It could also be the rear main seal that's leaking. Both leaks are pretty common on the 5.0L engine.

Trying to clean up the oil will not help your situation. Even after cleaning (and fixing the problem) the converter will smoke a stink for quite a while and you can't get to the oil that's under the converter's heat shield.

 

[SupaSwope]

Yeah that oil is between the heat shield and the converter, guess I'll just have to smoke it out.

 

[J_C]

They make a UV dye you can put in oil, then get a UV flashlight and see where the oil is leaking. No point worrying about the oil smoking till you find and fix the leak, though a ghetto way to buy you some time would be to strap a piece of bent metal over the exhaust area as a splash guard to divert the oil away from it. I mean buy HVAC sheeting or duct piece from a hardware store if you don't have scrap sheet metal (from a roofing project or something) lying about, but depending on the leak rate it's not so great to have it dripping onto the roadway either.

 

[SupaSwope]

It stopped smoking after it burned whatever else was on. No sign of any oil, hell... I mean not even have any leaks.