incompleet fuel burn
 

driving home tonight 50 miles at -22*F driving easy curse control set at 55mph no load heater cranked full blast the whole way home i had a solid thick trail of white smoke coming out of the tail pipe the whole way, my temp gauge would not get into the normal range. i got back into town and pulled up to the shop to run in and grab something. never shut the truck off, when i was backing out i looked at the smoke in the headlights and it had an blush tint. i think i smelled a little fuel but that could have just been the bottle of power service behind the seat of the truck. anyway to make a long story short is it possible that the white smoke is unburnt fuel from the truck not building up enough heat or more likely just steam from moisture.

my truck does kinda the same thing but only with loads or if you bog the engine down really bad mine will blow the white smoke with a empty trailer on it and even bogging it down a little it starts to black smoke

-22*f ?? i dont even think my truck would run in that weather. its a florida truck. its used to 70*f weather. im sure -22*f has a lot to do with white smoke. heck i would have a trail of white smoke comming out of me at those temps.

in winter i always get lots of white smoke on start up but iv never had a ton of white smoke coming out after 50 miles on the interstate.

Is your coolant level low?
Keep an eye on the level.

Bill

Ive heard of white smoke after warm up after a long down hill coast or something but not with eh pedal in it on the highway. I agree with MADVAN on the coolant. Anyother drivabillty problems?

live2wheel; where in FL are you?

I believe it will be a head or head gasket.

Bill

ouch! that even hurt me.

no other drive ability problems, coolant level is good just checked it. i did not check my millage but it did seem to be going threw a little more fuel for driving with the cruse set at 55, but that could be cause my front hubs are locked in. hard to say becouse i did not acualy check my millage but i burned right around a half tank for just shy of 100 mile round trip.

White smoke:
Caused by unburned fuel passing through the engine. Some white smoke is normal on cold start-ups.
Excessive white smoke could be an indication of inoperative glow plugs, loose injectors, low compression from worn rings or bent connecting rods, or coolant leak into the cylinders--head gasket or injector well sleeves.
Can also be an eroded block from lack of SCA maint.

Blue or blue/white smoke:
Caused by insufficient fuel or oil consumption. Normal when engine is cold or idling for extended periods.
Excessive smoke could be caused by air in the fuel, contaminated fuel, loose or plugged injectors, worn or leaking injector o-rings, thermostat stuck open, oil consumption, or plugged crankcase. Also PCM inputs such as MAP or ICP sensors.

Hate bad news, but this is it.
I would like to be wrong on this one.
Edited to add blue, blue/white smoke.

Bill

Are you burning any oil is the level full? like madvan said it could be injector o-rings or thermostat stuck open mine would do the same thing at temps similar till I changed the thermostat now it only does it till it,s warm.

Exhaust does funnythings at 22 below. We dont see those kinds of temps here often but when we do I have seen those trails like you discribe from every diesel powered rig. You are right in that it smells diffferent at that temp too. Nothing to wory about, it gets better,, when it warms up out.

i don't know if it will help you but i checked my fuel filter and it was really nasty so cleaned it and put it back in and the truck ran much better

Never dealt with those air temps. Thinking its possible.
Like how water changes 3 states with temp.
Its only source of ignition is heat from the compressed air.

Bill

at 7 above today i did not have this problem, anyone think an winter front would help this or is there just not much you can do in them temps