Why did my Ford F150 just start blowing white smoke? Had an oil change 2 days ago and a new muffler system installed last month. Thanks

Asked by GuruGYLY May 26, 2017 at 06:20 PM about the 1995 Ford F-150

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Some guy told me to get it off the road!!! How embarrassing.

9 Answers

14,105

White smoke means that u blew ur Head gasket! The car overheated sometime....maybe ur thermostat (simple item) to a water pump (more complicated)....and that pressure blew the head gasket allowing the antifreeze and oil to mix....and coming out white.

26 people found this helpful.
14,105

One thing u need to know.....u can replace and repair the Head gasket (my friend does it $800). ....but within 1-2-3 years u will still need to replace that engine. The mixture of oil and anti freeze is corrosive to all ur internal parts. Suggest u sell and get something now ....rather than nothing later.

13 people found this helpful.
14,105

Be honest and tell the buyer that the head gasket blew.....u can go to AutoZone....and they have several sealers for blown head gaskets.....check it out and put one in now....before someone else calls u out

10 people found this helpful.
157,395

I'm not sure where to begin......Blown head gaskets do not always put coolant into the oil. Antifreeze when mixed with oil will not necessarily ruin an engine. The white smoke is caused by the engine mixing the coolant with hot combustion gasses thus boiling it off into a white smoke. Don't believe everything you read here......

35 people found this helpful.
14,105

Smoke is definitely a cause of concern and may hint of a number of problems that are happening underneath the hood of the car. You know how much you should be concerned the more you know about the emissions of smoke. Sometimes it is just a question of how long the smoke is emitting. Cars on a cold morning in the winter are going to generate a white vapor. This ordinarily goes away once the car engine is warm. If the white smoke still keeps coming out after the engine is nice and warm something may be wrong. There may be problems with the engine block, and coolant may be leaking in to the engine because of a leak in the head gasket. Blue is a color of trouble with the oil. Whether it is light or dark, that indigo shade suggests that oil is burning. The oil is possibly leaking into combustion chambers and that signals very definite problems with the engine. The darker the smoke is the more serious the problems grows. A gray color is a red warning light of possible transmission fluid burning. Thick, black smoke suggests that the engine is being flooded with gasoline. The white smoke is serious if there appears to be a cracked cylinder head or an engine block that is showing fissures. The black smoke may show there is a return fuel line which is obstructed. Fuel injectors and sensors might also be damaged. A final problem which can be diagnosed from black smoke is problem with the air filter.

18 people found this helpful.
59,025

If any coolant gets into the oil just drain cooling system and then do a engine oil & filter change and do not fill the coolant system until you are done with the upper engine gasket replacement and do not run it until after repaired and be sure to remove the lower radiator hose from engine to allow all the coolant out after it drains out you can reinstall the hose, and pull the thermostat to test it or just replace it, and I would look at the water pump and at least replace that gasket if its fine. Also if you have plenty of miles on it have the heads rebuilt and pressure tested and resurfaced and clean up the mounting surfaces well. Its fully fixable sounds like its just a gasket and unless this happened a few years ago and you let the coolant mix with the oil (which is unconfirmed) and sit all this time or continued to drive it if coolant is in oil (which may happen while not running too) until the mains (bearings) wear out, otherwise if none of that happened then the internal surfaces are fine. This is fairly expensive so if your doing it yourself the study up on it and get a repair manual or you will be back begging for help.

6 people found this helpful.
520

I just got a truck from CarGurus web site, three days in, 3.5 ecoboost, it is blowing white smoke, might have been doing it all along, I just noticed it. takes around ten miles to clear out, after it sits, it does it all over again. Dealership where I got it, has 250,000 mile power train warranty, looks like I am about to find out.

8 people found this helpful.
100

I have a 2012 F150 w/ ecoboost, only owner and has about 55K now. I turned it on last night and immediate felt something was wrong. No loud banging but definitely something wrong. The engine was shaking more than usual and there was a smell I couldn't recognize. I drove it around the block at no more than 5-10MPH to check and got the engine light. I turned it back on today and same thing but I now see white smoke, but it is intermittent white smoke. The truck is due for an oil change ( 3months) , its darker, but it reads it still full. Any idea what could be wrong?

10 people found this helpful.
20

What was the issue with your truck? I’m having the same issue that you were having

2 people found this helpful.

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