I've asked here before but got no answer. Truck blows smoke like a blown NASCAR engine occasionally when pulling heavy load....pull over, cool off and resume driving. Its as if it never happened. All fluid levels are in range and truck drives fine minus load. My last f350 5.4 did same thing at about 200k miles.
My local ford dealer tells me I'm the only guy on earth this
Has happened to. I've had same exact thing happen in 2 different trucks

 

In the good old days auto transmissions had a vacuum modulator on the trans. Essentially a rubber diaphragm with vacuum on one side and tranny fluid on the other. If the rubber developed a pin hole the symptom would be billowing white smoke under load. Was actually fairly common back in the day. Not sure if those year Fords still had something similar. It would have to come from somewhere that vacuum and tranny fluid are close. Do any vacuum lines run anywhere near your tranny?

 

That vacuum system was last used in 1996. There are no vacuum lines anywhere near the transmission.

Why do you think it's ATF making the smoke?

 

mainly because it appears to be atf that leaks out after shutting truck down. any of the times it has happened, i don't find a lowered engine oil level.
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i wasn't there when it happened yesterday but the driver said the water temp went way up as he pulled over and shut it down. i don't remember ever running hot associated with the smoking
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thanks for responses guys

 

Could be coolant.

 

So, ATF is leaking out when the transmission is hot and getting on the exhaust?

I guess I'd start with putting a bigger cooler on the transmission.

 

Yes but its more like pressure blowing off than a leak because its sudden and spectacular but seems to fix itself when it cools down. I'm very surprised that others have not experienced that. Thanks for responses

 

The 4R100 is known for losing fluid when it gets too hot. Replacing the trans cooler with a 6.0L factory cooler is a popular bolt in modification.

 

My 2011 6.2 f350 was blowing atf out the back as well. Turns out there was a crack in the gasket for the pan. Only once the tranny got up to temp. Looked like a cloud you'd kick up while it was raining hard coming behind me. Except it was sunny and dry. I can say though that there were 0 squeaks out of the rear end after that .