2001 Lightning 50k miles. When accelerating hard, the L stumbles, loses power and huge puff of white smoke comes from the tail pipes. It happened several years ago, thought it was oil being sucked into intake via PCV system under full boost. I had the dealer check it out, nothing was wrong. I checked the PCV system, no oil, and the intake TB, no oil. Now, the truck "pops" under when starting up and under light load, occasionally sounds of detonation "marbles under the hood" under light load. I ran two injector cleaners through the system.

What is the problem? Did the oil coat the intercooler and now the air charge is to hot under boost?

Any mods for oil air seperator on PCV system available?

Need help before taking it to a ford dealer for expensive service check...what about running one of those intake cleaning systems which forces solvent through the system under vacuum?

My lightning is completely stock, except for K and N panel filter. NO CHIP, PULLEYS, EXHAUST ETC. Also, now the L seems sluggish under full boost with slight evidence of detonation under boost. (NEW INFO)

This is my wife's truck, so she really never gets on it like I do while driving it on the weekends. She picked it while shopping for a car at the Ford dealer!

Any good shops with good reputation in Tampa area?

thanks
Miguel

 

My old 82 Datsun had the puff of white smoke on startup. It was a tiny hole in the head gasket that let water/antifreeze into one of the cylinders and the white smoke was the burn off on start.

 

I think if it was oil you would be seeing black smoke not white. White smoke (steam) usually means water.

 

My 01 L with the 30,000 Blows bad white smoke at startup and spits oil for about 3 minutes. The tailpipes fill up with a river of oil and water. After it clears out it is fine. I check the oil before each time out and never see a difference. Maybee it is becuase I only drive it once a month if that.

 

Are you running a tune from a hand held?? when i used to have a superchip hand held tuner i would fully accellerate and get light colored smoke and a bad electrical burning smell. I only had settings tuned to medium. Once i tuned it back to stock it was fine.

if you want an oil serperator REM makes a nice one for the Lightning, there link is currently down though for the oil seperator.

http://www.razorsedgemotorsports.com go to Lightning/misc/oilseperator

here is an ebay vendor who sells them also. Mine fills up about every two months so id say it was a good $40-50 investment.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Oil-S...44006290QQrdZ1

 

Your problem sounds a little more serious. What mods do you have? White smoke can be burning oil, havent you ever been behind someone with white smoke coming from the exhaust, the smell of burned oil will nearly choke you.

It could be anything like a bad spring, worn valve guide or rings not seating anymore from excessive detonation. It really is hard to say but i would bet big money that its more than a fuel system problem. I hope it works out for you.

 

Why would it only blow smoke and collect oil in the tails at startup and then clear out after minutes. I do get a smell when driving it from under the hood like electrical burn or oil burning off something. I am running a custom sct tune with a million other mods to the truck including a new bottom end 145 miles old. I had the same prob before all this work was done.

 

I wouldn't take it to the dealer, your problem is something any decent technician can diagnose if he has the right equipment.

White smoke is usually a sign of coolant burning. Have it tested for combustion products in the cooling system. If positive, it indicates either a blown head gasket or a pinhole leak in a head or the intake manifold.

Another test you can run yourself is to let it sit overnight. Remove all sparkplugs then crank it over and see if you get a water spray out of one or more cylinders. If it is a very small amount it might be hard to see or find. It helps to stuff a paper towel in each spark plug well before cranking, then even if it blows them out you can check each one for coolant. Then if one is wet, at least you know where to look for the leak.

 

Run a compression test on all 8 cylinders, then compare the results.

The oil and water from exhaust on start up maybe just carbon mixed with water, common on a cold engine espcially in damp weather.
The black liquid mixed with water settled in the pipes.

 

"2001 Lightning 50k miles. When accelerating hard, the L stumbles, loses power and huge puff of white smoke comes from the tail pipes. It happened several years ago, thought it was oil being sucked into intake via PCV system under full boost. I had the dealer check it out, nothing was wrong. I checked the PCV system, no oil, and the intake TB, no oil. Now, the truck "pops" under when starting up and under light load, occasionally sounds of detonation "marbles under the hood" under light load. I ran two injector cleaners through the system"

Am I missing something? Tampa Lightning posted that his puff of white smoke was during acceleration and sometimes a sound like detonation.

SVTLIGHTING posted that his had white smoke upon starting the vehicle.

This sounds like 2 different situations, sometimes mine will get moisture in the exhaust and when it is started after sitting overnight, especially on a humid or rainy night, the exhaust hits the moisture and creates a light (white) foggy mist for a couple minutes. I think thats totally different from laying into it going down the road and seeing white smoke come from the tail pipe...That sounds more like oil getting by the rings and burning or something along that line....Am I reading the original post wrong?

 

I hope it is not the head gasket, that would be a project I dont want to deal with.

 

White smoke = moisture
Blue smoke = oil blowby
Black smoke = fuel

A well tuned modern engine will condense moisture in the exhaust and seem like it is running out the exhaust pipes.

If is not an intercooler issue you might try and check that hose between the firewall that goes to the bottom of the intake sump. Those get old and crack etc.

 

Sounds lean to me....

Check the fuel lines, filter, line feel off pump maybe,and relays.

Do a search on what Sal found in the one fuel system.... Kinked fuel lines.

 

Take it to Sam over at Coastal Dyno in Brandon. Here is Tampa and surrounding area....he is the only one you should let touch your L. Good luck with it

 

Thank you!!! I was waiting for someone to chime in that oil traditionally burns blue...