When starting my 2000 Ford F150 (4.6 Liter V8 2wd) a large white cloud of smoke appears from the exhaust pipe. After that initial white cloud of smoke everything is fine. I have brought the truck to the local ford dealer and an independent garage and got the same response: “as long as it is not smoking all the time its fine” I am not sure if I should trust this answer. I have been monitoring the coolant levels to see maybe if it is the head gasket but I am not losing any fluid.
fficeffice" /><O></O>
Some additional history that may or may not be of assistance. The truck has 125,000 miles on it. It was my daily driver from 2003 through 2006. Since 2006 I have been using is sporadically on weekends. I am estimating that since I stopped using it as a daily driver I put 4 to 7 thousand miles on it a year. Could this initial white cloud of smoke be caused from the truck only being used on weekends?

 

It is probably just condensation that has formed in the exhaust that is being burned off.

 

Does the smoke have any odor to it? If it smells like oil it may be a valve seal problem.

 

I have the valve seal problem and its more of a blue puff than white. I think condinsation as well.

 

Yes it does have an odor to it. Is this something I should have repaired? Even though the two places I have brought the truck tell me not to worry about it.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

What does it smell like?

Doesn't sound too awful bad to me so far.

 

Could be a blown headgasket. If the oil looks milky, you've got a blown headgasket.

 

Did the shops you took it to tell what the cause of the smoke smoke was and why there was no need to worry? You have to find out what the cause is before the need to repair can be determined. Knowing if it has an odor and if so does it smell like coolant or oil would help. If it is a coolant problem it should be addressed before it causes engine damage.

 

check your injectors.......
hook up a mechanical fuel gague on the pressure side of your injectors
start up the truck look at pressures
then turn off the truck
on the pressure side of the system it should retain the pressure it it dosent then you have a bad injector.

is there a check engine light on?

 

you know what now that i think about it that wont work with the fuel gague
im used to trouble shooting diesel's
but my guess would be an injector