Ford - Explorer :: 2003 - White Smoke After Long Steep Hill
Dec 15, 2014
I have a 2003 Ford Explorer with around 93,000 miles on it. I got the oil changed just before going on a long trip. It had been about 4,000 miles since the last oil change. My trip was about 3.5 hours in each direction with mostly highway driving where I was cruising at around 65-70 MPH but some long steep hills mixed in as well. On the way to my destination after cresting over one of these long steep hills, and going about 60 MPH while heading up the hill, white smoke started billowing out of the exhaust every time I hit the gas pedal.
I pulled over and white smoke was creeping off the muffler as well. I'm not very mechanically inclined, but opened up the hood anyways, and no smoke or anything in there. I let the car sit for about 5 minutes until the smoke stopped creeping off the muffler then drove the rest of the 30 minutes or so to my destination with no more problems.
On the return trip, the same thing happened (different hill) with about the same timeline. I was about 30 minutes out from home, had just crested over a long steep hill going around 60 MPH and the white smoke started coming out again every time I hit the gas. Pulled over again, waited for the smoke to dissipate and for no more to be coming off the muffler and finished my drive home with no problems.
I've only owned the car for about 6 months. I haven't encountered anything like this up to this point. And in the month or so driving it since the trip and incident, I have not seen any white smoke . There are no warning lights on, the temperature gauge looks completely normal. From what I have read online it seems like coolant would be causing this white smoke, but I can't figure out why it only happened on these two occasions. What is going on or what I should do?
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As the title says, leaking/blowing gas from exhaust. Here's what i have done so far...
Compression check: 145 to 150 across all 6 cyl
Fuel Psi check: 65psi
New plugs, wires and injectors along with new intake gasket
Checked for vacuum leaks and found none
Starting to think headgasket but coolant levels were normal, but not driven for a couple miles after the misfire/smoking gas smell started.
I have fire, compression and to much gas, the spark plug on #1 looks clean, #2 show more black and 3 thru 6 look blackish/normal. I am at my wits end on this.
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I was coasting down a steep hill yesterday when the CEL came on. I pulled the code this morning and got code P0174, system too lean bank 2.
I cleared the code. Should I just wait to see if it happens again? The truck is running great. There is no sign of a problem. BTW, it's 99 F150 5.4.
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Was climbing a steep hill at 35 mph just before truck down shifted to 2nd, I was hearing a pinging sound. Sounded like only I cylinder was doing so. What it could be. I am currently running a 1/4 tank of Fppf fuel injector cleaner. Is this a injector noise. No knocking just a slight pinging.
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I have 2003 f250 7.3 automatic 181,000 miles completely stock. Never had chip,tuner or anything on it. I am second owner and got it when it had 70,000 miles on it. Ok here we go I live on top of a mountain and soon as i start up the mountain or any steep hill, or pull or tow something my service engine light pops on. First time it came on I took it to diesel shop they hooked it up to scanner and said it was code p1211 said icp sensor was bad so they put new one on. Couple days later light started popping back on so i decided to order a auto ingenuity after doing some research.
Hooked up to truck started up mountain while scanning at wot light pops on code p1211 and think it was live data I remember seeing icp pressure at 1922 and duty cycle at 63% i was trying to drive and read it at same time and my lap top went dead. What does this reading mean 1922 pressure/ at 63% cycle done little research but dont really understand. Year and half ago replaced all orings on all injectors, new rebuilt hpop pump. New ipr valve, glow plugs, past month 2 different icp sensor new,and new ipr valve new pig tails on both and light still popping on.
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My 2003 Nissan Sentra was doing fine a few days ago until I started up a very steep hill and went into 1st gear. There was a burning smell for about 2 blocks so I shifted to 2nd gear. The smell went away. When I was in 1st gear it did not sound or feel like I was trying to go too fast for the gear. I just smelled the burning. Same hill in 2nd, no smell. How much should I worry?
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The last couple weeks my excursion had started to have a stumble and smoke white ate the first startup or after I let it sit for a long time. I did get progressively worse. I noticed the hpop line to the driver side head was leaking from the fitting so I rebuilt the boss fitting and now it's not leaking but when I started it up this morning it did the same thing.
If I give it throttle it clears up pretty quickly but if I let it just idle it will put white for probably 5 minutes. I have no codes showing when I looked with the scanner I don't see any other oil leaks and I don't smell a fuel leak.
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I have an E-350 with auto trans and 460 engine. I am away from home and hope to make it back where I have tools to do the major work. I drove up a very steep hill and the trans fluid leaked at the steep part, but only when pointed uphill. I did it a 2nd time and it only leaked at the steep part (I was not aware of this the first time or I would not have done it again). Fluid was dripping out pretty good at the bell of trans. No leaks when in drive or R when engine running and level.
I added fluid and tried to back uphill to get van out of this place and it worked fine for a min, but now just rolls downhill. My question is can I just add fluid and get home? What the leak is? How long I can drive it, or if it will leak too much? When I get home (150 miles) I can do any repair needed, Im just trying to get home now.
I know we will be guessing a lot. Van is a 1995 Ford Cube Van, formerly a Ryder moving van. E-350 with the 460 engine, and 3 speed OD trans. I don't know any more detail on the trans. It should be heavy duty given it was a moving van. Van is probably 10-12,000lbs.
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Ok...not sure were to go with this or how to explain it, while climbing a steep paved hill at 5-10 mph I get a rumbling vibration and noise. If I were to guess almost like axle wrap is causing the U Joints to bind or something. Runs and drives fine other then that. If I put it in 4x4 it does not happen, only seems to happen when wheels cant slip while climbing hills at LOW speed.
Don't notice it if climbing a dirt hill. There is a hill at the kids baseball fields that is steep and paved that its really bad on, way to busy right now to play on it to see what's happening. Tranny was looked at and oil changed.
New BDS 4" lift - had same issue prior to lift, though stock springs were worn.
Searched the form but really didn't come up with anything at this low of speed. While in Wisconsin the resort we were at the paved hills were so steep it felt like something was going to break. Put it in 4x4 and it was fine. This was with stock leafs.
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I have a 2006 f-250 super duty with a 6.0 and auto trans. I was pulling a trailer with about 5k of vehicle on the trailer.
Problem : after a long trip on good roads, I had to pull a steep hill. climbing the hill i did not shift into tow mode and all of a sudden my engine raced up to about 3k rpms and seemed to either shift to low or ( maybe ?) the Governor may engaged ?
Anyway I made it to the top of the grade and it seemed to be fine from there.
Question Is the trans broken, or did the computer maybe try to protect the trans ? It seems to work fine still?
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Every time I go up or down a steep hill (usually about 30mph) I can smell something burning when I get out of the car. Going down hill, I figure breaks. Going uphill when I never touch the brakes, not so sure. Also, it's too early to tell but after my 5,000 mile oil change ($56.85 BTW) I seem to getting about 1 mpg better.
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I recently drove my 2004 Prius up some steep hills in the Smoky mountains. The next morning while driving to work, my dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree, with multiple idiot lights suddenly on simultaneously (none of them informative).
I turned around and drove to the nearest Toyota service center. They informed me that the timing belt was cracked, the HV computer was bad, and the PCV valve as dirty and needed replacing. I think the hills were too much for the car. I will never take the car into the mountains again.
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I have a 2012 Nissan Versa with a 1.6 Engine/CVT transmission. When going down a steep hill the RPMs rev up to at least 3000 or more...is this normal for a car to do this?
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My TDI has slow acceleration, just curious if that was common. How do u check turbo. I can still hear it. its now very loud though. Its especially slow when going up a steep hill. anyway to make that faster???
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I've noticed that my 2012 Passat TDI heats up a bit when going over a steep hill or mountain pass. When driving up steep hills I notice that the temp gauge climbs from the dummy position 190* to about 200*. Once I crest the hill the temp will go down and it won't go up again unless I go up another hill. Is this normal? I had assumed that the temp gauge was a dummy gauge like in most cars so seeing the temp actually climb has me concerned.
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My 2012 transmission seems to slip a fair amount (much more when it's cold).
When I say slip, I mean, when I give it the gas, it will rev up sometimes, and not move or move very little, while other times it will jerk around like a wild horse. The engine will rev / jump from 2,000 rpm to 4000 back and forth, back and forth. It will do this until it shifts to a higher gear and will stop doing it after 5 - 10 minutes?
On one occasion while going up a steep hill, it starting going backwards while I was giving it the gas. It caught up to itself and started jerking forward until it caught and went forward.
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I am not a mechanic by any means, but have picked up a lot of stuff over the years. I drive a 2003 Hyundai Sonata with a 4 cylinder engine. Several days ago while going up a steep hill I lost power and my check engine light came on. This has happened before when my coil went bad so I figured it would be a breeze fixing it. I limped it home and ran the code. Sure enough it came back as cylinder 1 misfire. This vehicle uses 2 coils so I swapped them to try and get the problem to follow, but it did not. I have tried a new spark plug, new wires, and swapped injectors without success. There is still no activity on cylinder 1.
I ran a compression test. I get about 60 PSI on cylinder 1 and between 180-210 on 2-4. This would point to head gasket, so I am told. I do burn about a quart of oil every 500-1000 miles, but I do not seem to have any coolant leaking issues. I have not noticed any smoke from the tailpipe. The spark plugs were generally good looking, except for number 3 which had a hard white substance all over the electrode. There does not appear to be any oil in the coolant or coolant in the oil. This seems strange to me as everything I have read said that one of those would happen.
Is there anything else I should look into or is my engine toast?
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On a steep hill, mine rolls back when the transmission is in high range, but it does not roll back when it's in low. On a mild incline, mine does not roll back when the transmission is in high.
VIN: '04 43xxx; latest tranny flash ("520" was the number, I think).
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What besides a 4" exhaust can I do to lower EGT? When I tow with my tow tune the EGT gets high on long steep pulls. Would like to be able to use it with the tune because there is more power and it pulls nicer, but I want to lower my EGT. I have a 4" flo pro system coming. What else can I do? Would a new intercooler make much of a difference? Already have an S&B cold intake and Banks Hi Ram.
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I own a 2006 B6 and I'm just ticking down the list of common repairs... The last series started with boost lost anytime the car was pulling a steep hill or high acceleration. Eventually I lost boost altogether. I replaced the PCV valve and got back a little power but still no boost. This last weekend I replaced the DV valve. The old one was visually shot. The new one is the latest revision of that valve. Now, the boost will kick in, and cut out, kick in, cut out, in a rapid cycle during any acceleration. I double checked that it was installed and tightened (stripped the bolt heads) and reseated the electrical connection. I'm still getting the rough on/off of the turbo. If I slowly increase the acceleration it will act better, but that isn't a sure thing. I love the car, but I'm about to reach the point of pushing it off a cliff.
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I just bought a 97 f150 4x4 4.6L v-8 and keep having problems. The check engine light came on saying that it is running too lean. The truck had been sitting for a while so I changed the air filter, maf, and pcv valve. After changing the pcv valve it is now blowing white smoke. What can be causing this to happen?
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