What is the cause of white smoke until the engine gets run some?Truck is 97 F-150 4.2.Really puffs it out good until i run it a 2-3 miles.Gotta be in the fuel mixture right?

 

Might be a leaky head gasket. Water in the cylinders can cause white exhaust.

 

It is called "steam" or water vapor. Steam is always present but as the engine and exhaust system warms up it comes out in a "superheated" form that dissipates in the air so you don't see it. You will also see water drip out of the tailpipe and weep holes in the muffler.

Fuel = Carbon (C) and Hydrogen (H)
Air = Oxygen (O2), Nitrogen (N2), Carbon Dioxide (CO2 -the Greenhouse gas)

Add spark

Exhaust with combustion byproducts = CO2 + H2O (water/steam) + N2 + NOx (Nitrous Oxides -smog) + some unburned hydrocarbon fuel that is supposed to be burned up in the catalytic converter along with the NOx.

Of course everyone has followed behind a car with a "sour" malfunctioning converter (Stinky).

Tailpipes last longer nowadays due to the converter removing some of the Benzoic acid that ate up the older vehicle's pipes.

This question gets asked several times each year when the weather turns cold...


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