New Ram - Smoke at Startup

[ksjhwk80]

I bought a new 2016 Ram Sport Crew Cab 5.7 a few weeks ago. I have noticed some smoke at startup and was wanting opinions on if this is normal. I called the service department at the dealership as I'm getting ready to take it on a trip and they said it was normal up until 4,000 or 5,000 miles. I currently have 800 miles on the truck. The smoke is white or light blue, not much odor that I can tell, and there's more the longer it sits between starts. For instance after sitting overnight smoke might come out for 5-10 seconds. This is my first Ram after always owning GM and don't remember any of those doing this when new. I did check the oil and it's still showing as full. Hopefully nothing to worry about but have been on this forum a lot over the past month so thought it wouldn't hurt to post. Thanks for any help.

 

[tjfdesmo]

My 6.4 did it intermittently for a while when new, and then it quit.

 

[Rzrman328]

Strange.

This is a first for me.

 

[Kotta390]

Never heard of this.

 

[Ryan1126]

i saw mine do it once (that i noticed) when it had like 3kish miles on it.

 

[monteholic]

mine will do it too, haven't noticed it lately and I hit 3100 miles today

 

[Danno]

Nose up, nose down, parked flat? There was a problems and TSB issued on jeeps with the 5.7.

 

[Danno]

And more

"HELP USING THE wiTECH DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATION FOR FLASHING AN ECU IS
AVAILABLE BY SELECTING “HELP” THEN “HELP CONTENTS” AT THE TOP OF
THE wiTECH DIAGNOSTIC APPLICATION WINDOW.
THE wiTECH SOFTWARE LEVEL MUST BE AT RELEASE 14.01 OR HIGHER TO
PERFORM THIS PROCEDURE.
SUBJECT:
Blue Smoke From Exhaust On Initial Start-up When Parked Facing Uphill On An Incline
OVERVIEW:
This bulletin involves selectively erasing and reprogramming the Powertrain Control
Module (PCM) with new software and installing a revised engine oil pan.
MODELS:
2011 - 2014 (WK) Grand Cherokee
2011 - 2014 (WD) Durango
NOTE: This bulletin applies to vehicles equipped with a 5.7L engine (sales code
EZH) built on or before October 1, 2013 (MDH 1001XX).
SYMPTOM/CONDITION:
A small number of customers may experience blue smoke from the exhaust tailpipe when
engine is initially started after an extended cold soak period and vehicle has been parked
facing uphill on a significant incline. This condition is typically the result of oil pull over on
the rear cylinder walls. The revised oil pan incorporates an improved windage tray/oil
scraper that helps reduce the condition. The associated PCM software update
incorporates a reduced engine vacuum feature that is enabled under these conditions
which lessens the effect of oil pull over."

 

[Makin-Chips]

Did I just read on the 0900715 tsb that vehicles over 50000 miles could use 1 quart in 750 miles? [emoji851]. I think I need to get the eyes checked. This would be considered normal! Wow!


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[RodRam]

Have you been ******* it hard on occasion? If so it could just be blowing more oil than normal into the throtle body. Anyway you need to add a catch can because the hemis do throw oil in there then it burns out. I have 6 k since adding mine and i have caught about 3 oz so far. Search catch can , i use the moroso its the best imo and has a quick drain valve that makes drainig quick and easy

 

[ksjhwk80]

Nose up, nose down, parked flat? There was a problems and TSB issued on jeeps with the 5.7.

Flat for the most part. I've noticed it when in my garage, the parking garage at work, and in parking lots at restaurants and at all times it was basically flat. Thanks for the info though.

 

[ksjhwk80]

Have you been ******* it hard on occasion? If so it could just be blowing more oil than normal into the throtle body. Anyway you need to add a catch can because the hemis do throw oil in there then it burns out. I have 6 k since adding mine and i have caught about 3 oz so far. Search catch can , i use the moroso its the best imo and has a quick drain valve that makes drainig quick and easy

No, I've been taking it pretty easy. A lot of the driving has been on the highway to and from work. I did install the BT catch can the second day I had the truck from reading about them on here prior to buying a Ram. It has caught some of what appears to be oil in the first 800 miles but I haven't measured it or emptied it yet.

Other than the smoke, I'm loving the Ram. So far in addition to the catch can I've had line-x bedliner sprayed in, installed the extang trifecta tonneau cover, did the cabin air filter mod, had the front windows tinted, put in weathertech floor liners, installed the amp research bedextender, and swapped out the stock goodyear sra's for mickey thompson stz all-terrains. Now I'm hoping the smoke just goes away.

Thanks for the response by the way.

 

[ksjhwk80]

No, I've been taking it pretty easy. A lot of the driving has been on the highway to and from work. I did install the BT catch can the second day I had the truck from reading about them on here prior to buying a Ram. It has caught some of what appears to be oil in the first 800 miles but I haven't measured it or emptied it yet.

Other than the smoke, I'm loving the Ram. So far in addition to the catch can I've had line-x bedliner sprayed in, installed the extang trifecta tonneau cover, did the cabin air filter mod, had the front windows tinted, put in weathertech floor liners, installed the amp research bedextender, and swapped out the stock goodyear sra's for mickey thompson stz all-terrains. Now I'm hoping the smoke just goes away.

Thanks for the response by the way.

It's been a busy few weeks, I forgot that I also installed the deezee tailgate assist, switched out the antenna for a 12" black antenna and the air filter for the AEM dryflow. The air filter shouldn't have anything to do with the smoke, right? It seems I've noticed it a lot more since putting the AEM in but that's probably just coincidence.

 

[Dr.Lou]

Possibly rings need to seat. Go drive it like you stole it, then see if it still smokes.

 

[ksjhwk80]

Likely rings need to seat. Go drive it like you stole it, then see if it still smokes.

I'll be driving it 1000+ miles over the next few days so hopefully that helps. At some point in those miles I'm sure I'll drive it like I stole it!

 

[Ak47bravo]

My truck did something extremely similar with some differences. See below:

2014 Lonestar Crew Cab 5.7L HEMI


Truck was at least 35-45k miles. So it was well broken in at the time of this occurrence. Prior to this happening, I never had any issues with start up/smoke/shudder, etc.


I was at my buddies fixing to leave for a track day and I got in the truck to start it and it had some trouble turning over. It started but it took longer to start.... almost like the motor was having trouble igniting in a sense.

If a normal start up takes about 1-2 seconds from when you turn the key, then this was taking about 3-5 seconds. Then once the motor had started it seemed like it was about to die. It had a very rough idle and was also very low. I saw all the white/blueish smoke in my mirror and my buddy also commented on how much smoke there was. (It really was a lot..... obviously not normal...).

Truck was parked on flat surface and it was not a cold start. I had a maintenance plan with MOPAR and also had it serviced at proper intervals at the dodge dealership. Temperature outside was warm (80-90s IIRC). I turned the truck off and turned it back on. Similar experience except this time not nearly as much smoke. I put the truck in gear and it seemed to drive fine. So we drove 3 hours to our track day, did our thing and left the next day. I never seemed to have any issues with it again that weekend. Then the next week it was doing the same exact thing again.... but it was intermittent. It had done it on hot starts, cold starts, level surfaces.



Well, I take the truck to the dealership and explain what happened. I leave it there with them and they get around to checking it out in a day or so. The service advisor called me and said that they never saw the smoking or starting issue. Though he said that the last oil change over filled the capacity. I then said... well every oil change on that truck has been from y'all. Ha... he kind of back tracked and said "Ooooh, yea it does look like we did the oil change".. then I'm thinking well I'm glad you didn't hydro lock the thing (I guess you would have to REALLY overfill to do that. Not sure if you even can do that with oil? or if there is some overflow valve that would not allow it to do so).

Anyways, the day I was going to go pick it up, it did the issue on start up. They called and told me they experienced it and were not sure what was going on. They told me they thought it was the fuel pump. So they were ordering a new one. I took my truck and just continued driving it. I never really experienced it again (if I did it only happened like one other time). They never seemed to order the fuel pump/ follow up with me so it just kind of went away.



So.... yea. I don't know if this helps at all but knowing that similar stuff has happened on other trucks that clearly were broken in. The service advisor described it not as a weak start but rather a long start. Frankly they were extremely puzzled and had never seen anything like that.

 

[Danno]

Who changed to the oil last? Could it be over serviced. 5.7 takes 7 qts and it has been noted that the dipstick are not exact. I would do the oil change yourself next time and check to see where the oil is on the dipstick with exactly 7 qts.

 

[ksjhwk80]

Who changed to the oil last? Could it be over serviced. 5.7 takes 7 qts and it has been noted that the dipstick are not exact. I would do the oil change yourself next time and check to see where the oil is on the dipstick with exactly 7 qts.

It hasn't been serviced yet since it's less than a month old and has less than 1,000 miles on it. I'm planning on changing the oil myself to Pennzoil Platinum with a Fram Ultra filter in the next couple of weeks though. I'll be sure to put exactly 7 quarts in when I do. Thanks for the information.

 

[Ak47bravo]

I forgot to mention..... from when my trucks oil was changed (and supposedly overfilled with oil- according to the service advisor) at least 4-6k miles had been driven. So if it my issue truly was caused by the overfilling of oil, you would think I would of experienced the issues much sooner than 4-6k miles after the overfilling occurred... at least to me that seems like it would have.

 

[Buckfat]

It is normal for first few thousand miles. If you search you will find other threads about the same things.