Hello all, I just bought a very used 1999 F-250 Super Duty V10 with 173K on the clock. The previous owner told me that it oil smokes when first started for the day and goes away, which is true.


I brought it home Monday evening, Tuesday afternoon I started it at lunch time and it smoked quite a bit, I only let it run for about 2 minutes. That evening when I came home from work I started it up and it smoked so I thought it was just valve stem seals and it would clear up. I revved it up a few times to about 2000 RPM and it would put out a lot of smoke, I let it idle for about another 10 minutes and it was still smoking.


I haven't driven it on the street again since I haven't gotten license for it.


I read that the V10s PCV system can cause smoking, especially if there is a problem with the PCV valve. I pulled the PCV valve yesterday when it was running and it still smoked just as bad. I turned off the engine and inspected the PCV valve. It looked like it has recently been replaced and when I shook it the inside rattled and wasn't gummed up or sticking at all. Is there anything else I need to check in the PCV system?


I also read where some people said their V10 smoked more with synthetic oil. I doubt someone would have put synthetic in this old work truck, but I guess anything is possible. I am going to change the oil and put conventional in it and see if that makes any difference.


I read where someone said to put Sea Foam in the engine oil because it might have a stuck ring and drive it for a few hundred miles.


I was thinking valve stem seals, but seems odd that I ran it for 10-15 minutes yesterday and the oil smoking never went away. Also can anyone tell me why it smokes like crazy at idle when cold, but will only smoke for about the first 1/4 mile when driving it and it never smokes again until it sits.


Please advise on what I can do or inspect before I pull the heads and do the valve seals or find a junkyard engine for it.


Thanks!

 

My best guess is that after driving a little ways it gets the CAT hot enough to burn the excess oil and no more blue smoke, idling for any period of time probably won't heat the CAT up enough to do this.

 

I could see what you are saying making sense, but this thing was smoking A LOT- my girlfriend took the picture when I was revving it. Is it even possible for a cat to burn that much oil once it's up to temp and can the cat get up to temp in 1/4 mile under light acceleration?

Thanks for the reply!

 

That's a mosquito screen! No malaria for you!
It sounds like the previous owner wasn't honest.

 

When we picked it up the other night it smoked for about the first 1/4 to 1/2 mile and didn't smoke the rest of the way home on a 45 minute drive. My brother was following behind and said it only smoked that first little bit. I need to get tags and insurance on it so I can drive it around more this weekend and see what it does.

 

Whoever talked you into buying that thing outta be friggin' ashamed of themself! Oh wait that was me! Sorry Bro, we'll get it sorted eventually & you'll have a strong heavy duty truck!

 

Is it losing any anti-freeze? That smoke going by the picture looks awfully white and I think if it was smoking that bad from oil you'd already be a quart low on oil just from the little bit you've driven it.

 

You might be onto something here. I checked the overflow/radiator fill and the level was where it was the other day when I checked it when we test drove it. I started it up and put my hand in front of the exhaust outlet, there was some water/condensation, but I would think that is normal, anyway I smelled my hand and it didn't smell like anything. I held it at 2K RPM for a few seconds, let the smoke cloud up and walked into it smelling it a few times and it didn't smell like oil burning at all. It didn't really have much of a smell to it besides regular exhaust smell and a little fuel; it has a dead miss in a cylinder, which will be one of the next things I look into, but that would probably explain the fuel smell.


Any thoughts or things to check next?

 

So, I keep thinking about this being a coolant leak. I was thinking that it could be a bad intake or intake gasket. Is there anyway to check for that or do I just need to go ahead and do a leak down test on it?

 

If it doesn't smell like oil, I would assume that it is coolant.

 

That is more or less so what I'm leaning towards, just need to figure out what the next step is to find out where it's getting into the cylinders from. I just got tags and insurance on it today, I'm going to drive it around a bit this weekend and see if I can figure anything else out.

 

The old lady and I took the truck out tonight. It smoked an embarrassing amount for the first 1/2 to 3/4 mile we drove it and then quit smoking shortly thereafter. We drove it for about 10-15 mins around town, stopped at a gas station to check out the beer selection, came back out, fired it up and no smoke whatsoever. We then cruised around town for about 20 more mins, stopped at Home Depot for about 20 mins, went back out, fired it up and no smoke. Drove it down the highway, stopped at another store for about 20 mins, came back out fired it up, no smoke.

 

This is only a guess but I'm thinking you possibly have a very slow antifreeze leak possibly in the lower intake manifold.... I've dealt with completely shot intake manifold gaskets, blown Head gaskets and cracked heads with smoke like this all the time but the symptoms you're describing I haven't experienced. Like I said it's only my best guess.

 

I think it's a good guess. I was also thinking it could be something like you said such as a cracked manifold, bad gasket, etc. Is there anyway to tell what it could be or is it just going to be trial and error? I'm thinking pull the intake, give it a good visual inspection and replace the gaskets before I go pulling the heads to see if it's a head gasket. Any recommendations?


Also are these earlier V10s known for having any intake problems or anything that I should zero in on while inspecting?


thanks for your help and everyone else that his commented so far

 

I called one of the local parts houses looking for intake gaskets. He said he needed the manufacture date. My truck doesn't have a sticker on the door or cab, possibly from an earlier accident repair. The parts guy told me to call Ford, give them the last 8 of my VIN and they can tell me the build date. I called Ford and the parts guy there said they can only do that on '05 and newer, but he said mine would take the later gasket set since it's a '99 it would be built after July '98. Does anyone know if that is correct so I can make sure I get the correct gaskets?