At start up and idle my truck is putting out a lot of white smoke. It has been doing it in the mornings at cold start ups. In the mornings when it is cold sitting in the truck in park, not hitting the gas just letting it idle it will smoke. I have been noticing a little of a burning or hot smell from under the hood but nothing to serious. The smell may be normal becuase it is very mild. The truck has not been overheating though. Yesterday when i got home i popped the hood to take a look and a small amount of white smoke was coming from the engine on the passenger side. The smoke from the engine is not very noticeable and you can't see it when the hood is closed and can barely see it with the hood up. The truck is a 1999 f150 5.4l 4x4.

I have had a few problems with this truck since i bought it...starting to think maybe it was not well taken care of. But hopefully once i get this problem fixed the truck will be good.

Thanks for all help,

TJ

 

White smoke is usually condensation or anti-freeze. I would have the cooant system pressure tested to check for a leak.

 

omg, i think i may just have to get rid of this truck....

The overdrive light is now flashing, what does this mean? I know it's not good and that it is a code but i don't know what. The smoking isn't visible in normal weather only really cold mornings. I have kept my eye on the coolant lvl and it hasn't dropped any over the past 2 weeks or so.

But anyways now i have another serious problem with the o/d light. What should i do? What is wrong with truck? The light was flashing, it started about 30 minutes of normal driving. It may be related to this...i did wash the truck about an hour earlier. I cut the truck off and when i started it back up the light went off.

I really hope someone can help. I am at a serious loss here i think, i have only had the truck for a month and so many things are going wrong with it. I don't know what to do...maybe i should just get rid of it idk. Hopefully, someone can help with this problem, thank you very much lxman. I'll keep a watch on the coolant level.

 

also tranny has a bit of a clunk/hard shift from 1st to 2nd. But it has been that way and it isn't bad so i didn't really worry about it before.

 

Wow do you ever got a lot of problems unfortunatly i cant help i have no idea eithe how many miles are on er

 

83k miles...will try to have codes read at autozone tommorow, not sure that i can however. Yea dustin i believe my luck pretty much sucks with this truck...

 

Well I have seen defective cylinder heads leak coolant some 4.6's. There could be just enough leaking into the combustion chamber when cold to show up in the exhaust. Also could be leaking externally at the head causing your steam/smell. It's not really really common but I do think I remember seeing it on 4.6's and possibly 5.4's as well. The O/D light as you said needs to have the code scanned as a start. Transmissions problems are rare on these trucks at your mileage unless they are abused but you never know.

 

i have only had the truck for 2k miles 78f100 and i have taken care of the tranny but the past owner not sure....hopefully everything will turn out ok. I'm not sure if the light will come back on or not but hopefully not.

 

Ok, the light came back on. I didn't get a chance to get the codes read today becuase i had a lot of stuff going on. The whole part about the exhaust smoking...not worrying about it anymore, pretty sure it was just a little water. It only did it really bad one morning. This morning barely any smoke was coming out of the pipes and it was white and very very mild, hard to see even. So i'll just let the exhaust go. It is fine i think. But as for the light...if this thread dies i'll make another with an appropriate title. The light doesn't flash when the truck is in park and doesn't flash until i hit about 45 or above...i think it does that when i hit 3rd gear. Now what puzzles me is, the tranny is no longer shifting hard going from 1st to 2nd...it has a hard shift when downshifting from 1st to 2nd.

I'll try to have the codes read soon but idk when becuase i have a full week. Soon i am taking it in to the ford place also to have things done like oil change, cruise recall(if they will still do it..Idk), trans fluid change, coolant change (maybe), air filter (doin that one myself lol), wiper blades (also doing myself lol), and anything else they say needs to be done. Hopefully the trans fluid will help with the shifting and maybe something i listed will get that annoying light off. The truck is running strong just that light is annoying.

 

The cruise recall will be done no matter how long it's been as it's a safety recall. The other stuff your doing are all good starts and should be done anyways for sure. Good luck and hope it works out.

 

im in the same boat as you. bouth the truck at 79k and have had nothing but problems with it the last 5k miles. just got it out of the shop and hour ago with another 400$ worth of work

 

oooh tough luck c_cort....thanks 78f100rustbucket, may make a new thread for the overdrive light becuase the coolant is not leaking i will have it checked by a shop just incase. But i think i'll just make another thread for the o/d light flash and the tranny thing. but replies are still welcome hear until i do.

thanks,
TJ