I just bought a 08 with the 6.4, 97k on the clock. Had it one day and towed my boat 230 miles near the end of the trip running 70 mph the truck shuttered and blew out alot of white blue smoke. I didn't notice any thing on the dash display. On the way home Sunday the exhuast cleaning message came on and stayed on for about 20 miles. But no difference in the way the truck was running ( no shutter). Later it did the shutter again with the smoke lasted a few seconds and was fine the rest of the way home. The boat and trailer weigh about 7k. I pulled on the highway just in drive. When we got around the lake and the ramp I used the tow haul mode.
Any ideas?
Thanks

 

Sounds like moisture in the CAC. It's the front most radiator. In humid or rainey weather moisture will accumulate in the CAC. When you call for power the turbo sucks the water out of the CAC and causes the shudder and white smoke. If you still have a ford warranty try this. On this forum look up the CAC/white smoke/shudder threads. There is a ford message addressing this issue. Find it, print it out, and take the truck in and tell them your truck is doing this. If you don't have warranty drive for a while in the humid or rainey weather and then pull the rubber hose off the bottom of the CAC. If you find water pooled it the hose that;s probably your problem. In your write up you don't say you were trying to accelerate when it happened which is usually when it happens. But at 70 if you were pulling a hill it might have spooled up enough to suck up the water. The fix is to replace the CAC. You may finds it's already been replaced. Mine and many others were replaced but the problem is not completely corrected. If that's the case you can buy an after market from either Spearco or Banks. They are pricey but do correct the problem., Good luck

 

I wonder what they really did to the CAC to 'fix' the problem because all that condensate has to go somewhere if not re-evaporate inside.

I wonder if it's easy to install a **** valve somewhere so condensate can be drained out periodically or allowed to leak/drip out by itself instead of being pushed through the engine...

 

Yes, there is a mod at the beginning of this forum from a fellow who did just that.

 

Thanks
I will be checking this out and will follow up here.

 

Called the local dealers service advisor today to ask if my truck has had the CAC changed already. Gave him the vin. His answer no nothing has been done to my truck, bring it in he will take care of it. Wait who's paying for the repair. Well sir you will have to, the truck out of waranty. I tell him about the 2 SB I have found online and the truck is under 100k and less than 5 years old. Well hold on he comes back and tells me if I agree to a diagnosis fee up front they my cover the problem if that is what they find.

 

Hope it works out for you. What I wonder about is how somebody could drive the truck for 4 or more years and 97 thousand miles and not notice that it fell on it's face every time it rained or got humid.

 

What I wonder is why some trucks/cac's have the issue and some like mine never have. I drive in just as humid conditions/driving rain/blizzard conditions and never an issue.

so what makes the issue appear/disappear? I always though full use of the throttle perhaps was the key.

 

I would say that's right. If you never put the truck under a strain it wouldn't show up. At least mine wouldn't have. I guess if you don't suck it out the water would dry up over time. OP did not mention an acceleration but he was running at 70 MPH. The rest of the evidence was so clearly a CAC/water problem that I figure it must occur when encountering an upgrade. Of course there is always the possibility it's something else.

So, Mayor, I would suggest that before you spend any hard earned money you should verify the problem by taking the bottom CAC hose off and verifying that there is water in it.

 

I was pulling my boat fully loaded gear and gas about 8k lbs. It may have been on a up hill grade, I just don't remember. But it sure got my attention.
Should I check the hose or let the dealer do it? If so it is in the front when I open the hood?

 

It depends what the dealer said or your check book. If the dealer wants to charge a fee to trouble shoot no matter what it is I guess you might as well let them do it. But if he is saying there is no charge for the trouble shooting if it's the CAC then i would pull the hose and check for accumlated water. But then I have a shop and tools. If your short of tools or long on cash let then trouble shoot it anyway. But if you have tools and don't mind saving a couple bucks the CAC is the front most radiator on the truck. Look on the bottom and you will see a hose connecting two tubes. It's about 3.5 inches in diameter. I would drive the truck gently in hot or rainy weather, then let it cool and then pull one end off the hose. If it has water in it you can be pretty sure that is the source of the white smoke and shuddering. If it's dry you've exceeded my skill level. But post it on here and somebody will be able to help.

 

Not short on the tools. I could not resist. Yes it has water in it. Just got the clamp loose started working the hose off water poured out.

 

OK,case closed. I moved this morning and was towing in cruise. I was thinking about your situation when I started up a not very steep grade. As the truck pulled the grade in 5th gear the boost did get over to 30 lbs or so. I think had I had water there it would have sucked out and done the white smoke shudder. So, case closed. I just printed the bulliten from this forum, wrote "my truck does this" on it and gave it to the Service Advisor. They took it from there. But I was still in the 3/36 warranty period so I don't know how it will work out for you. I do think you have identified the problem. Good luck.

 

It's at the local dealer. The service advisior did not sound optimistic. But said he would try to get it taken care of. I'l report back tomorrow.

 

The truck has been at the dealer for 2 full days. Not even a call to let me know what they have found or not found. Just glad I don't need it right now.