Sending smoke signals...out the tail pipe! fix?

[iamgobono]

Hey...
Got my 97 Explorer with the 4.0 6cyl. It it smoking real bad!
What is the best thing to do to help it, without a rebuild? I need this thing to last a while...
It idles fine, sometimes runs rough on acceleration, but going down the road, seems to go fine? I guess plugs will be where I start?
Thanks,
Bo

 

[GETMYBELTSON]

Hey...
Got my 97 Explorer with the 4.0 6cyl. It it smoking real bad!
What is the best thing to do to help it, without a rebuild? I need this thing to last a while...
It idles fine, sometimes runs rough on acceleration, but going down the road, seems to go fine? I guess plugs will be where I start?
Thanks,
Bo

Without a rebuild?

Buy a new engine.

Spark plugs will not help a smoking engine. Engines do not work this way.

 

[colintrax]

How many miles, maintance history, and color of smoke would be some good info.
Maybe a video of the engine revving/ smoking would help

 

[iamgobono]

She has 165k miles. The smoke is a white smoke... I guess it is oil seeping past the rings, but Im not sure?
I don't know the service history, I just bought it at an auction.
I just cant afford a new engine... Any recommendations?
Thanks!

 

[GETMYBELTSON]

She has 165k miles. The smoke is a white smoke... I guess it is oil seeping past the rings, but Im not sure?
I don't know the service history, I just bought it at an auction.
I just cant afford a new engine... Any recommendations?
Thanks!

If you suspect your car is burning oil, the first thing you should do is (duh) check your oil levels. If they go down, you are obviously burning or leaking oil. Next thing to do is to search google for 'white smoke tailpipe' which will reveal that white smoke is caused by burning antifreeze (unless it doesn't create smoke when its warm out, which is also revealed in the first google result).

No offense, but the next logical step is to take it to a mechanic so he can determine what actually needs to be fixed because someone who doesn't know the least about car internals is not going to be able to diagnose this. In any case its an internal engine problem (rings, valve seals if its burning oil and the smoke is actually blueish not white - head gasket if its burning coolant) and its not something you can fix with cheap and easy solutions.

 

[colintrax]

Do a compression and leak down test. That should help determine if its valves, piston/rings, ect.
Check the oil level, it might be burning oil, but only burning excess oil, so check the level, as well as if its going down. Check the coolant to make sure its staying up. Good luck, 165k miles arnt to bad, so as long as the motor has had oil changes, internally it should be ok, but the compression/leak down test will tell us for sure.