My truck smokes on cold starts and I'm wondering if this is normal or if I have an issue. It only happens when I start it in the morning and it will only smoke for maybe 20 seconds or so. After I drive it for a little bit there is no smoke at all and then for the rest of the day there is no smoke when I start it. The link below is a video of what I'm talking about. The smoke actually shows up better in the video then with the naked eye. I would expect something like this in the winter when it gets really cold, but right now it's only dropping to maybe 65 at night.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

had something similar last year on mine, not real sure what it was but after it happened a few times I haven't noticed it since

 

Probably leaky valve stem seals. They allow a bit of oil from the valve stem to get in the combustion chamber after shutdown, but the oil burns off quickly after startup. Not a big deal unless it gets excessive.

 

are you sure its smoke and not just steam/moisture?

It is common to get more moisture on a cold start, especially on a cold morning.

Your video is too close to tell if its smoke or moisture.
Does it hang in the air or does it quickly dissipate? Is it white or is it blue?

 

Evaporation

 

It doesn't really hang in the air at all, and looks white not blue. It's been raining a ton here this Spring/Summer so after looking online I thought maybe it was just evaporation but wanted to get more opinions. I think if I took the video at a wider angle it would be hard to see. Without the darker background it's hard to notice.

 

Hold your hand an inch from the tailpipe and have someone start it for you. See what condenses on your hand and smell it. You will definitely be able to tell the difference between condensation, oil, and excess fuel.

 

All signs point to moisture. Not a big deal, as long as it isn't coming from your radiator.

But if it was from the radiator you should smell it.

Most likely its just normal moisture.
Keep an eye on your coolant levels to make sure they aren't dropping.

 

If it's coolant, it will smell different than condensation.

 

I held my hand in front of the exhaust this morning. There wasn't any water or oil residue on my hand after it was done smoking, my hand just smelled like exhaust. How would I tell the difference between condensation and excess fuel?

 

Oh, and thanks for all the help/ideas so far. I appreciate it.

 

Excess fuel will smell like gasoline or sulfur. If there was some moisture on your hand that didn't smell like antifreeze, it's just condensation.

 

Looked like condensation after I watched the video. Rich mixture will smell like gasoline and is usually black smoke, oil is blue, and water condensation is white.