White smoke like I was James Bond!

[BigBrownTriz]

So after passing emissions for the last time (yea) I'm driving to work and after 15 minutes of driving I see a huge puff of smoke in the mirror. It was white and just sat there for 30 seconds or so. No change in how the truck was driving, but every so often when I step on the gas, poof. It doesn't seem to happen until the truck is totally warmed up. I didn't see any ATF in the modulator vac line but after checking the tranny is now shifting kind of weird. Are these related, or the typical fix one thing something else breaks. Any help would be appreciated.
On a side note I did blow a huge cloud of smoke right into the window of a totally riced out civic with some little punk driving!

[Kenall]

white smoke is coolant being burned.

[gsmikie]

check the vac line at the vac modulator on the trans and see if it is wet with trans fluid if it is change the modulator

[illegalFSJ]

Watch your coolant level and condition of your oil. You may have a blown head gasket. If the oil is full of coolant, or your coolant level is dropping, but with no evidence of leakage, and you still have white smoke out the tailpipe - I'd be looking at replacing a head gasket.

[BigBrownTriz]

How bad is changing the head gasket?

[illegalFSJ]

How bad is changing the head gasket? That depends on if your talking about doing it yourself or paying someone else to do it. If you have a shop do it, you're looking at at least $500 repair bill, possibly quite a bit higher.
If you want to do it your self - do both sides at once. Remove valve covers, remove intake, remove exhaust manifolds, remove valve train, remove heads. Send heads to machine shop to have them magnafluxed and reconditioned. Clean the block surface. Re-install heads with fresh gaskets, torquing the bolts to specifications and using a non-hardening sealer on #7 driver's side bolt. Install intake with fresh gasket and RTV sealer on the corners, and around the water ports, torquing everything to specs. Re-install exhaust manifolds, valve covers and the A/C and P/S pump that you had to get out of the way to get the heads off.
Drive away happy. smile.gif

[jackz4000]

I once had that happen to me in a Ford Crown Vic. I was driving on an interstate at 65 and suddenly I heard a noise and looked out the rear view mirror and I was leaving a huge billowing trail of white smoke. This continues for 3 miles and I got off the exit and parked. Smoke like a huge James Bond smoke machine. I called a tow truck. He came. I started her up and no white smoke. I drove home 200 miles with no problem. Took it to a local shop. they checked it out and said it was fine and I drove it for 2 more years. Never happened again.

[Green Giant]

I vote for the blown head gasket. A very small amount of coolant leaking into a cylinder will cause alot of white smoke. I drove about 50 miles with a blown head gasket before the temp gauge started to go up. Parked it, had it towed home, pulled accesories, valve covers, intake, cleaned and replaced same. Drove another 2 years until I sold it. Didn't have heads worked, just checked for warping with a straight edge, and never had trouble with the rest of the time I owned it. just get a manual and follow the instructions.

[Chevelleguy]

Did the smoke linger and blow away or did it just evaporate. Oil smoke may look white in your mirror but steem from coolant evaporates. Don't overlook a possible intake gasket leak from a coolant passage.

[greasyjeep]

If you have a th400, could be the transducer (the little canister that sits on the left side of the tranny just above the pan.

I've had a similar problem with the same symtoms and that is where I eventually traced it back to.

Good luck.

Josh