Hello everyone, I am new to the site and new to Fords. My 1st truck was a '98 GMC Sonoma 2.2L, nothing but engine issues. Then I got a '01 Silverado V6. Nothing but engine issues. So I'm tired of dumping money into Chevy/GMC only to fix one issue to have have another pop up. So I sold the Silverado and purchased a 1998 Ford F150 4.6L V8 a few weeks ago. Loving it already compared to the GMC/Chevy's Ive owned.

The issue I have (which I was informed of when I bought the truck) is that when I start it up, the truck shoots out white smoke. Sometimes its a larger cloud, sometimes its a small cloud. After driving it it stops smoking. But you can still smell it burning rich. I do not have a blown head. I know that for sure. I was told it has a bad valve gasket that leaks into the exhaust?? I know my way around a motor to get by but not enough to solve this issue on my own . I do have a check engine light. It gives me the P0403. Would the EGR cause it to smoke?

Any and all advice/insight is greatly appreciated

 

No.

Is the "smoke" best characterized as blue (oil), white (coolant or moisture), or gray/black (fuel)? The color of the cloud will tell you what to look for.

 

I would say its a light blueish-white. More light blueish than white.

 

I just went through this with my 2000 F150, 4.6. The weird thing on mine was that it was intermittent. Sometimes it would smoke, other times not, no matter how long it had been setting.


My first thought was valve guides, but I would have thought it would happen every single time it was restarted after several hours setting if that were the case. I read that someone had gone through this and replacing the PCV valve cured it. I was suspicious of this, but since it's only $5 and two minutes work, I replaced the PCV valve. The very first time after replacing it, the smoke pattern was different, but then ever since then I have not seen smoke.


Might be worth a try. The PCV valve is a maintenance item anyway, so $5 and two minutes might be worth a try.


Hope this helps and BTW, welcome to the forum.

 

Thanks I'll def give this a shot. Worst case I'm in the same spot.

It doesn't smoke every start. But seems to do so more so in the AM after sitting all night.

 

If replacing the PCV valve, do yourself a favor and use a Motorcraft part. Some of the aftermarket ones are really hit or miss.