Hi guys maybe you can help. I'm driving at 77 f250 with a 6.6L 400 2wd. The driver side tail pipe on the newly put in dual exhaust is smoking like crazy when i drive. there is an oily residue on that tailpipe and nothing on the other one. just changed the oil and it holds 6 qts and only about 3 came out. what could it be? i heard that fuel mixture in the carb causes white smoke but also that it could be a head gasket (gulp) any ideas what it is and any fixes (preferrably cheap)?

ps. the tranny keeps slipping out of drive mostly when i am turning? the selector rod thing had to be moved so i think its that any other ideas?

 

If it's smoking white on only one side, it sounds almost definitively like a bad head gasket. The general rule is: Blue smoke = oil, Black smoke = fuel, White smoke = coolant. The worse possibility is a crack in the block, but it sounds to me like head gasket.

Better get that changed out before you get enough coolant into the oil to cause damage. I'd drain the oil to see how much water is in it....it might come out milky brown in consistency if you've run the engine recently.

 

Could be valves, head gasket, piston rings, or block. Is oil getting in your coolant? Is it leaving spots on the driveway?

 

Whit smoke is fairly indicative of transmission fluid or brake fluid being burned.
Check the brake fluid level as well as the level in the automatic transmission. The vacuum line from the vacuum modulator could be wet inside indicating a bad vacuum modulator.
Pull the small vacuum line to see if it has trans fluid inside, and do the same for the hose that attaches to the brake booster.
While this would cause all cylinders to smoke, it is entirely possible to have the vacuum source so close to one side of the manifold, that you are getting one cylinder to receive the fluid and create this symptom.
Head gasket sounds plausible, but dont rule out the other two sources of fluid.

 

i changed the tranny modulator because I found some fluid in the vacuum line.....still smoking like crazy.....head gasket? if it was wouldn't the coolant level be low....its at a normal level......all other fluids are fine

 

I'd keep a close eye on your coolant levels, as it only takes a little water to make steam, and that's most likely what you've got coming out your tail pipe.

As for brake fluid?....I guess it's theoretically possible for brake fluid to come out of a bad master cylinder and leak into a bad booster, which could suck in through the vacuum line into the engine, but we're talking a catastrophic failure of your braking system for that to happen...so, that's seriously unlikely. Tranny fluid has the slightest of possibilities of making it to the combustion chamber, but it would have to make it through a bad modulator, up the vacuum line, and into the engine. It's a possibility,albeit slight, so I'd check your vacuum line to the modulator to see if you have fluid in it. Bad valves will allow smoke to pass more easily, but they don't cause smoke. Piston rings could be a culprit of smoke, but that would mean that oil is passing into the combustion chamber, and if that's so, your smoke would have a blue hue to it...not white. The oily residue could be from the coolant, as ethylene glycol coolants do have a lubricating quality to them to reduce corrosion in your cooling system. Another indicator is that if the white smoke coming out the tailpipe has a slightly sick-sweet smell to it, it's most likely coolant.

Regardless, of the fluids a truck has (brake, tranny, engine oil, gear oil, coolant/water, gas, and wiper fluid) only three of them usually end up in the combustion chamber to be able to come out the tail pipe....engine oil, gas, and coolant/water. Of those three, when burned, only coolant/water will generally burn white. Fuel will burn black, and oil will burn bluish in color (but can sometimes be mistaken for white). So, while piston rings can't be completely ruled out, I'd say you've got one bank that's burning coolant somehow, and it'd be either the head gasket which is the cheapest fix, cracked head, cracked water jacket on the intake, or cracked block. If you do a compression check on the side of the engine that's smoking, I'm willing to bet that you have compression bleedoff on one of your cylinders, which will scream head gasket.

Finally, as you said you're losing oil, but can't account for it....as much as I'd hate to think it, that's suggesting a possible cracked block. The reason for this is that you say you haven't lost much coolant, but it's possible that the oil is mixing with the coolant and replacing lost volume...that would explain the oily residue, and the white smoke. The only difficulty in this is that your coolant would become milky and foamy, which you haven't said is the case. I still say it sounds like the beginning of a head gasket on the way out, but that's just me.

 

all good points, but its difficult to tell the true color of smoke from inside the cab, and oil often burns very whitish in color. I am just pointing out that its a bit premature to narrow it down to headgasket or block without checking out a few details first.

I'm with you though that he needs to drain the coolant check it out. if there is oil in it then that narrows it down.

 

drained the coolant today and ran a cleaner through it and as i was backflushing it with fresh water it was still smoking the same amount as before this leads me to believe its not the coolant burning up....when i drained it there was no oil in the coolant either which seems to point away from the head gasket.....my guess is it's oil getting past....i'm gonna do a compression check and see what that has to say

 

did a dry compression test and got between 140 and 120 for all cylinders but the d/s closest to the front of the vehicle got 90 the first time and could barely hold any pressure the second time and maxed at 40.....there was also oil on the spark plug....so i figured out what fluid.....now what part of the engine is it.....is it too late to put an additive in the oil to fix the problem?

 

my 76 f150 4x4 with a 360 puts out some white smoke.

when i warm it up theres clouds of course.
but when its already warmed up and goin down the road i press the gas and white smoke comes out a little bit. but i think its my valves because i had a header leak and didnt fix it for awhile.. haha dangg

 

yeah too late for an additive. Its either a valve or ring not sealing, a cracked head, or a headgasket, most likely. Put a capful of oil in there and test that cyl again, see if the # goes up. If it does, your rings aren't sealing.... beyond that I don't have too much guidance.