Occasional white smoke and dipstick smells like gas

[Procharged2k3]

My car has recently been blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. It wasn't bad, and it was occasional. Today it was worse than ever. Still not a constant thing, but at one point I looked behind me and I basically smoke screened the entire street. This was just normally driving, pulling out of a parking lot. Maybe hit 2500 RPM tops. It seems to happen mostly after idling for a few minutes.

Now that the car has been in the garage for a few hours and it's mostly cold, I went and checked the dipstick. Oil smells fairly strongly of gas. I'm thinking this is not good at all...

Oil color is normal. It looks very clean. I don't appear to be losing any oil, although it was just changed last week.

[sutyak]

Originally Posted by Procharged2k3

My car has recently been blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. It wasn't bad, and it was occasional. Today it was worse than ever. Still not a constant thing, but at one point I looked behind me and I basically smoke screened the entire street. This was just normally driving, pulling out of a parking lot. Maybe hit 2500 RPM tops. It seems to happen mostly after idling for a few minutes.

Now that the car has been in the garage for a few hours and it's mostly cold, I went and checked the dipstick. Oil smells fairly strongly of gas. I'm thinking this is not good at all...

Oil color is normal. It looks very clean. I don't appear to be losing any oil, although it was just changed last week.

Time for a compression test. Sounds like oil getting past the rings and excessive blow-by getting into the crankcase.

[DSG2003Mach1]

is it hard to start as well? Maybe the FRPS let go... if you go to the driver side fuel rail theres a black plastic sensor toward the front of the motor with a vacuum line going to the bottom side of it. If you pull that vacuum line off it and theres fuel in there (id run the car for a minute first so it wont have evaporated) the FRPS has failed and needs to be replaced. If thats the case you need to change your oil as well

[Procharged2k3]

I'll check the FRPS first. Really hope it's not my rings. That would be nuts, I've only got 27k miles! Ugh. It does seem to run perfectly, and I don't notice any loss of power.

It's not hard to start at all unless it's been sitting not driving for a few days. Then it takes a few tries.

[311-420]

Oil will always smell like the fuel type you're running. That's 100% normal. I bet you're in need of a catch can or oil separator. I'm ordering a Steeda today. Seems the jlt ones don't work from the research I've done. May not be a bad idea to check the frps too as dsg mentioned they have been known to pop, mostly on the cobras but since you're supercharged now it may be a possibility.

[DSG2003Mach1]

^^ thats a good point, you may want to see if theres oil in any of your intake, personally Id probably just disconnect the pipe at the throttle body and look in there.

I believe when the FRPS pops it typically dumps so much fuel the car runs poorly due to being pig rich

[JeromeMach1]

If the smoke coming out of your exhaust is indeed white as you said, then it has more to do with burning water, not oil. If the smoke was blue then I would be concerned about burning/consuming oil.

Some white smoke (from condensation) will come out of the exhaust when the car is first started and shortly after. There certainly should not be a bellow of smoke behind you down the street though.

Check your water/coolant level.

Jerome

[Procharged2k3]

It's really normal? It's a fairly strong smell, and fresh oil has only been in there a little over a week. Catch can is something I have been thinking about. Wonder if I should get a compression and leakdown test to make sure nothing more serious is going on first.

[Procharged2k3]

Originally Posted by JeromeMach1

If the smoke coming out of your exhaust is indeed white as you said, then it has more to do with burning water, not oil. If the smoke was blue then I would be concerned about burning/consuming oil.

Some white smoke (from condensation) will come out of the exhaust when the car is first started and shortly after. There certainly should not be a bellow of smoke behind you down the street though.

Check your water/coolant level.

Jerome

I think it's actually more of a very light grey. I checked the coolant, it isn't losing any and it's not at all milky either. Normal color.

[bluoval]

I'm ordering a Steeda today. Seems the jlt ones don't work from the research I've done.

I have the JLT oil separator/catch can and it works beautifully.

[bluoval]

Originally Posted by 311-420

Oil will always smell like the fuel type you're running. That's 100% normal. I bet you're in need of a catch can or oil separator. I'm ordering a Steeda today. Seems the jlt ones don't work from the research I've done. May not be a bad idea to check the frps too as dsg mentioned they have been known to pop, mostly on the cobras but since you're supercharged now it may be a possibility.

I have the JLT oil separator/catch can and it works beautifully.

[Procharged2k3]

Oh I actually have breathers on my valve covers now instead of feeding the crankcase vent back through the intake. Not sure if this matters.

[sutyak]

Originally Posted by Procharged2k3

Oh I actually have breathers on my valve covers now instead of feeding the crankcase vent back through the intake. Not sure if this matters.

That matters a lot. Now you know it's not crankcase oil in your intake. Wish I was closer. A compression test only takes about 15 minutes on these cars.

[DSG2003Mach1]

ya, running breathers takes that out of the equation.

[311-420]

If you're using breathers on both sides then it's not blowby. Id start checking the fluids for anything abnormal then do a compression test.

Edit- looks like I was beaten by these guys ^^

[311-420]

Originally Posted by bluoval

I have the JLT oil separator/catch can and it works beautifully.

Good to know. What's your exact setup? I know with sc'ed cars the prefilters and separators from jlt do not work well. Lots of data to support this in the terminator section of svtp. If you're n/a, that would likely change things and they may indeed serve their intended purpose.

[littlemags]

you STILL can have blowby with vents...you still build large amounts of intake pressures with boosted applications...white smoke a LOT could be a lot of things...compression check is quickest way to self assurance....check plug gallaries...oil can seep down in and make a mess...pull upper intake and check for oil run off...
could be just accumulation of condensation as well...boosted apps create a lot of heat FAST and then once cooled fast water settles in....

2nd thing to check is coolant leak...could be nothing BUT make sure vehicle isn't overheating or anything like that. (compression check will rule out anything major)

worse case could be a headgasket....and again...compression test will rule out and confirm.

[DSG2003Mach1]

^^^ definitely wasnt trying to say it cant be blowby but its not sucking it through the pcv system into the intake track so no need to look for oil in the pipes or look at oil separators

[Procharged2k3]

I'll definitely get a compression test. I'm wondering if it's my valve seals though. Bad rings or cylinder wall would probably be pretty unusual for a 27k mile car. Something I read online just increased my suspicion of the seals too. I just last week changed my oil and used Mobil 1 synthetic. The car always had Motorcraft blend until this.

Read post #5 here: (the thread isn't mine)

http://forums.corral.net/forums/svt-...t-replace.html

What kind of oil are you running? On my Mach anything but Valvoline High Mileage 5w-30 would puff smoke and startup and sometimes when leaving a stoplight. It was especially bad the time I tried Mobil1 synth.

Thinking about changing it again for Motorcraft and seeing if there's any change.

[JeromeMach1]

I think it's actually more of a very light grey. I checked the coolant, it isn't losing any and it's not at all milky either.

Light grey would be closer to fuel than oil. Smoke when burning oil has a blue tint to it, not white or grey.

Glad your coolant looks good. Like others said here, perform a compression test. Inspect each plug as you pull them. See if they are black, white, or have fresh oil on them.

Jerome

[DSG2003Mach1]

Originally Posted by JeromeMach1

Light grey would be closer to fuel than oil. Smoke when burning oil has a blue tint to it, not white or grey.

Glad your coolant looks good. Like others said here, perform a compression test. Inspect each plug as you pull them. See if they are black, white, or have fresh oil on them.

Jerome

if youre gonna pull plugs Id probably throw in a fresh set if for no other reason than to have a better read on them if you have to keep trying to diagnose

[bluoval]

Originally Posted by 311-420

Good to know. What's your exact setup? I know with sc'ed cars the prefilters and separators from jlt do not work well. Lots of data to support this in the terminator section of svtp. If you're n/a, that would likely change things and they may indeed serve their intended purpose.

I'm N/A so maybe that's why I've been ok.

[JeromeMach1]

if youre gonna pull plugs Id probably throw in a fresh set if for no other reason than to have a better read on them if you have to keep trying to diagnose

Good suggestion, I agree.

Since the OP has a boosted car I suggest TR-6 gapped at .032in. For high boost and timing go with BR7EF gapped at .032in.

Jerome

[311-420]

Originally Posted by bluoval

I'm N/A so maybe that's why I've been ok.

After more reading it looks like there's as many that have had success with the jlt stuff as there were people that didnt, maybe even more. Seems like having a large canister is key because the smaller ones get full more quickly and won't catch oil at that point.

[bluoval]

Originally Posted by 311-420

After more reading it looks like there's as many that have had success with the jlt stuff as there were people that didnt, maybe even more. Seems like having a large canister is key because the smaller ones get full more quickly and won't catch oil at that point.

I've had my JLT oil separator for a few years. A couple years ago, JLT issued a recall on the inner element inside the can (which catches the oil). They sent all customers a replacement element at no charge (although I thought my original inner element worked fine). I was impressed JLT took such proactive action on such an issue. Nothing but respect for JLT in my book.