White smoke from my '04 Mountie!! WTF?!

[EricMandy]

Ok. Here’s the deal. I purchased an ’04 Mercury Mountaineer V8 AWD back in April. It was still under warranty when we bought it (just barley). It has run great, and besides some AC issues (fixed under warranty) it has been a good truck. It now has 40k on it. Anyway, my wife and I are currently on our first long family trip and yesterday I noticed that when I floored it to pass someone on the interstate, I saw some white smoke. It did not smoke until after I let off of the accelerator. It did this for about 3-4 seconds. I thought to myself, surely not, so I did it again and it smoked again, but only after I let off of the accelerator. When we stopped, I put my finger in the exhaust pipe to check for oil residue. There was none, just your typical black carbon build up. There isn’t any on the rear bumper either. The oil is always a little low between oil changes, but I thought that it was probably due to using the MC synthetic blend oil. I don’t smell burnt oil and it does not run badly either. Another thought I had was maybe it's burning coolant, possibly from a bad head gasket. Any thoughts or suggestions would be very helpful!!! I shudder to think about making 36 more payments on a POS. The 4.6 has always seemed to be a very dependable motor. It has also been around for over 10 years now, so it seems that all bugs would be worked out by now. Thanks in advance!

 

[Dan Whitaker]

If it was a head gasket it would be doing it all the time. Plus you would notice a very sweet smell.

Oil burns blue so it is not the prblem either

I would say it is probably unburnt fuel (runnung rich) since it is doing this after letting off the gas.
It could be that the air filter is not letting enough air in under de-acceleration causing the fuel not to burn completely. It could aslo be your IAC.

Did your CEL or SEL come on?

 

[EricMandy]

If it was a head gasket it would be doing it all the time. Plus you would notice a very sweet smell.

Oil burns blue so it is not the prblem either

I would say it is probably unburnt fuel (runnung rich) since it is doing this after letting off the gas.
It could be that the air filter is not letting enough air in under de-acceleration causing the fuel not to burn completely. It could aslo be your IAC.

Did your CEL or SEL come on?

No lights. But I did put a KKM on my truck recently. What is an SEL light? Sorry, new to forum lingo. CEL= Check Engine Light? IAC= Idle Air Control?

Thanks for the quick response. I am still on the road!

 

[Dan Whitaker]

SEL=service engine light. Some new mfgs call them SEL now as opposed to CEL.

I would not think your KKM is the problem unless it's letting more air in under acceleration than your stock fiter & the computer is adjusting to let mor fuel than it burn under de-celeration.

I hate computers on cars for this reason. Give me back my carb & distributor and toss the computer in the trash

 

[EricMandy]

I hear ya! I have a useless timing light in my tool box right now! I might bring it by the stealership for some peace of mind. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[MountaineerGreen]

My friends Goat does the same thing under heavy acceleration. We haven't been able to figure out what causes it, but it hasn't had any adverse effects as of yet. Could it be something to do with the cats?

 

[EricMandy]

My friends Goat does the same thing under heavy acceleration. We haven't been able to figure out what causes it, but it hasn't had any adverse effects as of yet. Could it be something to do with the cats?

What year is his? Is it a V8 also?

I did recently switch to premium gas since the prices went down. Took care of my pinging issue!

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Well it is a Dodge 3.9 v-6 1998 model. I just noticed that it had the white smoke when he took off under full throttle. I dont have any idea.....

 

[Dan Whitaker]

mountaineergree, do you mean RAM. Goat to me = GTO

 

[MountaineerGreen]

mountaineergree, do you mean RAM. Goat to me = GTO

Well all Dodges are goats to me. Especially his v6 pooch of a truck! It has earned the nickname around here.