This past weekend I drove down to Phoenix, AZ from Farmington, NM. Approx 450 miles. Stopped in Flagstaff for a couple hrs on the way down, and my truck then developed a problem. Truck cooled down some in the 2 hrs, but blew white smoke for a couple miles when accelerating then cleared up. Wasn't very cold, so not b/c of that. Drove all the way to Pheonix, no problems, all fluid levels fine. Truck sat for rest of night and Saturday. For Sunday, drove over to the Cardinals game, truck did the same white smoke for a couple miles, and same for return to hotel from game.

Get loaded up Monday morning, check fluids and i find my Degas bottle is almost empty! Was between 70-80 so I put 2 bottles of water in it and we take off back for NM. Same white smoke as before.

Now for the change, I get up this morning, expecting the Degas bottle to be empty and white smoke on start up. Check and the fluid level is fine, and no white smoke on start up. BUT now it blows black smoke from any stop, or when moving and I accelerate hard before it down shifts.

I thought maybe the EGR Cooler was the problem but am now confused. Would the change in Altitude (1,000 to 5,500 feet) do this?

Kind of looking for what to look for to have done when I take it to the dealership, but a change in symptoms has me baffled at what to tell them as well. Thanks for the help.

 

Your thought about the EGR cooler is right, what you described is pointing to that - as far as the white smoke, and coolant loss.
Now the black smoke is a thinker. It is unburnt fuel for sure, I'm wondering if you had it before - but you didn't keep eye on the mirror - and now because you were expecting white smoke, you noticed it. OR.
Now this is only a theory, I might be wrong:
The white smoke is actually steam, from burning coolant/water. If you've had a beginning stage turbo vane sticking - but they still could move kind of free, the steam/water could "help" the vanes produce a little more soot on them, so now they are sticking some, and that could be the cause of the black smoke. It would be really rare for this to happen "overnight" though, but who knows.
By the way, the EGR cooler can't heal itself, and even though it doesn't show right now, I would be ready for the EGR cooler replace or delete.

 

I did notice a bit of black smoke before, but it was only happening at WOT condition from a dead stop. If the dealership doesn't mention it, I will suggest cleaning the turbo vanes, still have the powertrain warranty going for me. Thanks for the ideas. Anything else I should be looking for?

 

My guess on the black smoke is that moisture in the intake charge is causing some of the old built-up soot in the intake to break loose and go through the combustion chamber.

 

Well, I got my truck back today. It was the EGR cooler which was leaking. They replaced it, the oil cooler, EGR valve with updated one, updated the trubo tube, re-progamed pcm, changed oil and did a coolant flush. Head Gaskets checked out ok.

Only dissapointment that I have is that they didn't call me before doing any of the work, as they didn't put synthetic oil in it when they changed the oil