A puff of smoke on startup, after car wash

[Bigskyroadglide]

Forum

Looking for collective input here as got a weird one, at least to me. Truck is 2014 5.7 RWD, RT, 80k miles, supercharged, tuned by FRP, wrapped ARH headers, AFR gauge and boost gauge. AFR is showing14.6 to 14.7 at idle and varies up and down based on throttle input. Purchased truck at 41k.

Tuesday afternoon stopped at car wash to hose off the truck from the weekend. Drove a little over 800 miles sat and sun so lots of bugs and road grime.

Car wash is the type that shoots water up underneath to wash off road salt etc.

So this am, start Truck, get a large puff of smoke on startup which is weird as truck does not smoke ever. I thought ok, that's weird and thought nothing else of it as when I parked at work, truck had performed as expected on drive in some 20 miles with no issues. As in, no unusual lights on dash, no codes, normal coolant, oil and Trans temp and normal oil pressure.

Came out end of day, walk behind truck. Remote start and get a puff of whiteish smoke from both tailpipes. Immediately my thoughts are, head gasket or something related. Drove home some 20 miles thinking I'm going to have milkshake oil when I check. Again, no codes, no issues, normal operations Temps and pressure.

Check oil, full as normal, has 4k on oil change, red line 5W30. No milkshake. Ok no water in oil, let's check for oil in water. No oil in coolant. Check catch can, think maybe it's full. Nope, half full consistent with 4 k on oil change. It gets emptied every change. Check intercooler no oil in that antifreeze. Check air filter not wet, dry as normal.

So I'm drawing a blank. Not leaking water or oil, everything is normal per my experience over 2 years I've owned truck and my only other thought is to purchase one of those exhaust gas test to see if exhaust gas are getting into cooling system. Unless. And this is a guess, Water could have somehow gotten past the header collector and into the head pipe?

Looking for thoughts ideas or comments. Tagging @Wild one due to his engine experience.

 

[Wild one]

If it wasn't white,i'd lean towards valve seals,but being white that should rule them out.
I think you're onto to something with testing the coolant for exhaust gas.
The only other thing i can come up with is either a bad head gasket,or a cracked head/block

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Thanks, it has been warm here and the water spraying up underneath could have been a factor, although I would think rain would do a similar thing. I guess I know what's on the agenda Saturday. If that inconclusive, I guess I'm driving it till it actually breaks. Gotta be in Texas Monday morning.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Trucks been shut down for 2 hours, this is restart. No smoke.

May 1, 2024

youtu.be

 

[Wild one]

Trucks been shut down for 2 hours, this is restart. No smoke.

May 1, 2024

youtu.be

Looks good now.Might have just been some water in the exhaust system,either from the under carriage wash,or a couple short trips where the truck didn't get enough heat into the pipes to evaporate the condensation

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

This morning cold start, it's 77 degrees outside so I don't think this is due to weather. Double checked this am, no oil in radiator, or in supercharger radiator, no coolant in oil. Valve seals?

May 2, 2024

youtube.com

 

[Scottly]

I'm not an expert and that video is hard to read...But that looks like moisture and not smoke. Your profile says "Montana except for work"....Are you in another state, possibly a southern state with high humidity? Because that sure does look like condensate from a rich mixture at start-up.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

I'm in Virginia

 

[Wild one]

I wouldn't worry about that smoke,as that's just cold start condensation. By product of burning gas in a cylinder is basically dirty water,which ends up in your exhaust system,and shows up as white smoke till you get a bit of heat in the exhaust pipes to evaporate it. If it was smoking like that on a hot restart,then you might have something to worry about,but on a cold start,it's nothing to worry about.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Thanks. It was a new issue so, concerning. I'll still test for exhaust games in coolant. It can't hurt.

Thank you for reviewing.

 

[Jbyron]

2013 5.7 regular cab here. I had this exact same thing happen to me once a couple years ago, and once only. Truck working like normal. Washed it in my driveway. On startup, huge clouds of white smoke - like when you seafoam an engine. I freaked out but I couldn’t repeat it and it hasn’t happened since. Just that one time after a car wash.

 

[CamperMike]

That last video did appear to have a blueish tint to it. Almost looks like oil smoke. It definitely isn't just mild condensation.

 

[crackerjack1957]

Probably head gasket leaking from increased compression from supercharger

 

[JHoward]

Thanks. It was a new issue so, concerning. I'll still test for exhaust games in coolant. It can't hurt.

Thank you for reviewing.

Well, maybe dump the oil collected from your catch can, even though you do that at your 4000 mile oci's ... wouldn't hurt.

I'm wondering if your HEMI is sucking in a little oil from the catch can, idk.

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Well, I think I might have found the issue. Definitely gonna plan out the potential repair.

Thing is, truck is running smooth, no bubbles in radiator no bubbles in intercooler radiator. No water in oil.

All of course probably future problems

 

[Wild one]

Well, I think I might have found the issue. Definitely gonna plan out the potential repair.

Thing is, truck is running smooth, no bubbles in radiator no bubbles in intercooler radiator. No water in oil.

All of course probably future problems

Did you check the coolant for exhaust gas in it?

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Yes, no change in color in the liquid. No bubbles in the radiator as well. I'm hopeful this is a leak from a hose or something else. I've dried it off with compressed air and will drive it again tomorrow to see if the leak reappears. It's a mystery to me. I'm still not 100% certain but, this sure is a leak from something. It is near the water pump, so it could be traveling, Or it could be traveling from somewhere higher. It's the front of the passenger side head. The water to air intercooler coolant reservoir is in front of the leak but nothing is wet on it and it's not coming from the cap.

If I cannot find it or it continues to smoke. I'm 63 miles from MMX, I'll give them a call to see if they will show some interest. Maybe think about upgrades....

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Additional photos, after everything is dry

 

[Bigskyroadglide]

Ok, guys decided to do the exhaust gas test again except on cold start, when i get the smoke not after truck was warm.

Results showed I was sucking antifreeze into test bottle. Drained some antifreeze and got better results but still pulled antifreeze from radiator even after about 3 minutes. Moved to overflow bottle after watching several videos and re reading the instructions. Results show no color change. Let engine get above thermostat opening temp, still no change. Maybe no head gasket but I need to address either startup tune or something else. Couple of photos and videos at various stages in testing.

May 4, 2024

youtu.be

May 4, 2024

youtu.be

 

[Burla]

You gonna try a stop leak brother?