White smoke at idle
 

I pulled up to the gas station to day to fill and put my truck in park and looked in my mirror and I could see a little bit of what looked to be white smoke. It smelled more like oil than coolant. Any ideas?? I have a 2006 6.0 f350 with a s&b cold air intake and s&b intake manifold sct programer

Are you sure it smells like oil? First i would pull the egr valve and see if it is wet and look inside to see if its wet. If it is then its a bad egr valve and most likely a clogged oil cooler. If your sure its oil check your turbo to see if its leaking oil into the exhaust. How many miles are on the truck and how hard do you run it?

It's got 148k on it and every now and then I run it hard I do a lot of pulling like tractors, dozers, drill pipe, ect

check your egr and let us know what you find. also is your coolant level dropping at all?

Ever since I've had the truck the coolant level has always stayed at low even if you fill the resivor all the way up that's just where it levels out at.
Other than that it stays where it should

yea the new fill to line is the lower line. Alright looks like your good there i would still check your egr valve which takes about 10 mins if that.

A lot of 6.0's will just "self level" with coolant. Mine isn't happy until there is about 1" of coolant in the bottom of the bottle. Then it just stops pushing it all together. It's nice that it stops, but it's not quite enough to keep heat in the cab in the winter at an idle lol.

can we get more info about the truck? Maintenance schedule, filters used etc... how the truck is used, other mods?

My egr valve was damp but not wet it had the usual amount of build up on it

I change the oil reguraly every 3000 to 3500 miles, fuel filter every 8000. I use the truck just as an every day driver pull heavy loads often. The only mods are cold air intake and intake manifold I had new injectors put in it about 10000 miles ago no problems after that new transmission about 13000 miles ago the guy who had it before me ran it hard and also had a bully dog on it I took it out and got a sct and use a mild tune while regular driving and stock or a tow tune while towing depending in the load.

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I use wix filters

If it is oil coming out the exhaust the only culprit would lead me to your turbo bearings.But i would imagine bearings failing right away not failing slowly. With that programmer on before you and towing heavy loads thats definitely putting a strain on the turbo from take off.Do you only see the smoke when you idle?

It just quit smoking all together and now everything is running normal :jump:

awesome! :c:

Yes it was only at an idle and it was very little smoke

If you have no Cat on exhaust a little smoke at idle is common, sometimes the sun has to hit it just right to see it, there is always oil in the intake fromthe crankcase vent unless it has been modded, if it wee a turbo leak there would be sluggish spool up.

I have a 4inch straight pipe

Only thing I'll add is that factory Ford/Motorcraft or International filters are HIGHLY recommended for the 6.0, both oil and fuel. Most aftermarket fuel filters don't have the water membrane to separate the water from the fuel properly, and a lot of the aftermarket oil filters come with their own cap and some have a hard time pushing the release button (if that's what you want to call it) in the bottom of the oil filter housing to allow oil in properly, I've heard some horror stories about guys starving the motor for oil this way. Wipes out the cam and all the rockers etc...

I never have heard that that's good to know next time I change filters Ill be sure to get that

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I'm about to put arp head studs, egr delete, and sinister black onyx head gaskets. I already have them i just have to find someone who wont rape me on the price.any other mods worth getting or need to be done I also just got my blue spring and banjo bolts in today

My truck did the same thing ! That's what started my mods and part replacements ,
I couldn't tell what mine was and no one could pin point the problem either. So I was thinking I had an injectors stuck as it didnt smell like coolant. I thought smelled like fuel or oil.
I ended up putting in (only because I bought before I torn in to it) 8 new injectors , sinister egr cooler, new ford oil cooler , (and I figured i might as well as i had 250 000 km on it)and all in the end all I had to do was look at the turbo ! My bearing seal on exhaust side was leaking I only noticed this as I was going to put the international vane rebuild kit in it. Mine at first only light white - grey smoke at idle when off idle would clear up and burn off oil leaking .

So if I were you and it comes back just pull the exhaust pipe off turbo and see if there is any oil build up - my two cents- and it's easy spot to start !

Don't use the BO gaskets, they're junk and you're going to be doing the job again, get Ford gaskets. Well worth it. The BO are the incorrect thickness (they're too thin!) They're actually too thin before they're even compressed. Do a quick google search and you'll see all the failures with them.

Sounds like you're on the right track. What do you have for gauges? Do you have a coolant filter yet? I would also buy an oil cooler rebuild if it's never been done. It's about $250.

Being your truck is an 06, you should do the updated STC fitting (snap to connect) it's on the high pressure oil pump and will crack over time and cause a hard hot start, this should be done on every 05+ truck. You should also do the upgraded stand pipes and dummy plugs, that kit runs about $105 if memory serves, and the STC fitting is like $40 or $50 I can't recall. You can check prices and order from http://www.tousleyfordparts.com/

The P/N's you need are:
STC fitting: 4C3Z-9B246-F $38.50
dummyplug/standpipe kit: 6E7Z-9A332-B $102

There are also upgraded turbo feed line and turbo drain line parts too. I would at least do the drain, it's not very expensive.

The drain is: 6C3Z-9T515-A $21.45
The feed is: 3C3Z-9T516-A (for your 06) $77.

I got the drain myself, but skipped out on the feed...

That's a good idea too, quick and easy to check.

Just regular ford gaskets that's on it

Yep, get new Ford gaskets. You'll need to figure out the build date of your truck to see if you need 18mm or 20mm though. Or did you already know from when you ordered the BO?

The engine is 12/05 so it's a 18 mm

I believe this is the P/N you need, for 18mm gaskets. This is the P/N for ONE SIDE. It should be just gaskets and the stupid TTY bolts. If you order them online and need them shipped, you can call and request to have the bolts taken out to save on shipping too. The gaskets are universal so you can use them on either side.

4C3Z-6051-EB

Your best bet is to call with your VIN when ordering the gaskets though, just to make sure you're getting what you need. I scored mine on ebay for $200 shipped for both sides, brand new.

So will I still have the same chance of blowing a gasket with new ones as the old ones or have they enhanced the quality of them. Regaurdless I'll be putting new ones on when I'm getting the new work done I just like to know what I'm working with

The gaskets themselves were never the problem. They blow due to the crappy design of 4 bolts per cylinder, and the use of TTY (torque to yield) bolts. The bolts are torqued down beyond their yield strength, so they become very "stretchy" if you will. The idea was to allow it to flex some to absorb heat/stress etc, except they stretch too much and the gaskets pop. Add to this, Ford's spec for flatness of the heads, and more importantly, how they call that spec out and measure it, flat out sucks. Even brand new heads from Ford should be taken to a machine shop and decked flat. Flat heads, flat block, and studs with good OEM gaskets are the best recipe available to us.

For those who want to get crazy, GoGo diesel can get you copper head gaskets in any thickness you want...