White smoke under heavy acceleration

Hey guys,
Tear me apart if this has been asked but I couldn’t find this question.
My 2008 4.7L with 335,000kms likes to spit out white smoke under hard acceleration (basically only when foot is to the floor). Doesn’t smell like coolant but I’m assuming it is. Truck is bone stock and is up to date on fluids and timing belt. Coolant level hasn’t dropped noticeably since the spring of 2020 and theres no cooling in the oil or visa-versa. I did get code: P011B in the summer but is was only on 30 degree C plus days and went away on its own. I’m assuming I’m going to need a headgasket given the age and mileage but I’m not an expert and have mostly been a WRX guy my whole life so I thought I would ask and maybe help someone else too. Thanks and cheers everyone!

 

May sound like a weird question, but did you happen to smell the white smoke? IME if the exhaust is white and smells like a rotten pumpkin, you have coolant burning. Head gasket is a prime suspect.

 

Gray or white smoke? How much smoke?

 

azimuth:
Ive smelt it and it just smells like normal gasoline exhaust, nothing out of the ordinary smell wise. I figure head gasket but didn’t know if there was something I’m missing.

skylinekin: I would say its white, I’ll post a pic. A normal amount until 95% throttle then you can’t see the guy behind you from the smokescreen. This pic is just revving to full throttle in the garage, it’s worse under load.

 

I think white smoke for a normally asperated engine meant you re running rich. You could tell by smelling exhaust gasses. There would be a faint or sometimes strong gas smell. No idea about fuel injection, though it seems like it would be the same, or similar. That shows how long it s been since I worked on an engine. Of course it may be difficult to smell exhaust gasses during heavy acceleration

 

Question, have you checked your air filter. Pull it out and blow air through it with an air compressor, if you have one. Make sure it is clean and not clogged. simple easy check before getting too deep into anything else.

 

Any chance you overfilled oil last change? My Subaru WRX STI poured white smoke one time and I was terrified it was blown cyl4 which was common on my model year... turns out I just grossly overfilled the motor oil.

 

Agree, inspecting spark plugs will usually identify cylinder/s effected as first process of elimination.

 

White smoke is going to be coolant or water vapor.
Blue smoke is going to be oil.
Black smoke is going to be excess fuel.

Sounds like you are burning coolant. As suggested above by P-Factor, remove your spark plugs and google images of spark plugs with a head gasket leak. They will be steam cleaned where the others will not be.

 

Please spend $35 to at least test for this before pulling the engine apart.

$38 Block Tester BT-500 Head Gasket Combustion Leak Test Kit - Made in USA

https://www.amazon.com/Block-Tester...lant+exhaust+gas+tester&qid=1609780261&sr=8-3

 

Hey guy thanks for all your replies.
You guys helped me decide that it probably was head gasket. As the truck is a high mileage vehicle I didn’t really want to spend $1000 cad on a head gasket so I just went the cheap route and used a head gasket sealer. I got some k-seal off Amazon, followed the instructions and took it out for a drive. The white smoke is completely gone. 100% gone. Its a cold day and thats usually when its most visible from the cab and there was nothing even under 100% throttle. I hope it doesn't kill my nice new water pump and I also can’t speak to the longevity of the product but I was just shocked how noticeable the difference was. I also don't think I would recommend this for a new truck because I don’t know if it will damage the engine in the long term. I wanted to get Steel Sealer but I couldn't get any for less than $150 without shipping and I also can’t let the engine cool with pure water in it right now (winter in Canada) and I didn’t want to crack anything.
Thanks again guys,
CG

 

Glad it fixed the problem and that you know what the issue is.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but watch your "fix" carefully. These solutions are usually only temporary. A hydrolocked motor may be more expensive to replace then a head gasket.

 

@Gto7419
Thanks for your concern. I’m a mechanical engineer so I have the resources to monitor how the seal holds. Its also just a work/cottage truck anyway so I’m not too worried about it if the gasket fails.✌