[update/conclusion] White smoke on acceleration

[ben senise]

i'm a bit puzzled about something; when i accelerate,  i see quite a bit of white smoke coming out the exhaust. it dissipates immediately. it's not blue smoke like when a car is burning oil nor does it have that typical smell. it happens in warm or cold weather.

i checked the oil, and it's clear. checked the coolant and it's also clear. plugged in the OBD and no codes. levels on both were normal.

i had my wife stomp on the pedal and i went round back to smell the exhaust. it didn't seem to smell unusual but then again i don't go around sniffing exhaust very much.

nothings sounds or feels amiss while driving but stomping on the go pedal and winding it out produces quite a bit of smoke.

i'm wondering what to check next. anyone have any suggestions?

2020 ST with just over 15,000 km. (<10k miles) always running 91 octane.

Edited January 15, 2023 by ben senise

[handfiler]

Could be water building up in the exhaust from short trips. That should burn off after the engine gets up to temperature. Where I live it gets cold enough that cars constantly produce water vapor/steam clouds.

My guess is you have water building up in your exhaust which becomes a vapor when it meets the hot exhaust gases.

Edited December 12, 2022 by handfiler

[ben senise]

14 hours ago, handfiler said:

Could be water building up in the exhaust from short trips. That should burn off after the engine gets up to temperature. Where I live it gets cold enough that cars constantly produce water vapor/steam clouds.

My guess is you have water building up in your exhaust which becomes a vapor when it meets the hot exhaust gases.

 

thanks for the suggestion but this occurs even when driving 50+ km. engine gets up to operating temp for sure. wouldn't any amount of water that had built up be gone by then? do you know any way to check for said water?

thanks

[CARR142]

Check this site, he did a write-up on this issue.

https://www.youtube.com/@FordTechMakuloco

[1004ron]

2 hours ago, CARR142 said:

Check this site, he did a write-up on this issue.

https://www.youtube.com/@FordTechMakuloco

Could you link to the video that covers this issue.

[ben senise]

2 hours ago, CARR142 said:

Check this site, he did a write-up on this issue.

https://www.youtube.com/@FordTechMakuloco

 

the only video i could find was titled "2018-2020 Ford F-150 2.7L Ecoboost: Blue Smoke Upon Startup Confirmed Fix!"

 

two things; he's talking about blue smoke and it's on start-up. my problem is white smoke after driving a good distance and it's only on acceleration.

 

the oil level on my engine is at the top and the smoke doesn't smell like burning oil. so i'm thinking that either i don't have the right video or he's talking about a different problem.

 

thanks though.

[bofus]

I've noticed mine is doing this too. Drive around for 30+ minutes and under light/normal acceleration, nothing out the tail pipe. If I stomp on it, it's like I activated some smoke screen: you literally can't see anything in the rear view mirror other than white smoke. I don't appear to be burning oil or coolant and there's no odd noise. The smoke-on-startup issue appears to be caused by an oil pipe that feeds the turbo. I don't think my '15 2.7 did this, but my '18 2.7 ecoboost is doing it. It appears white, not blue; though, it can be hard to tell. Unburned fuel, maybe? No codes being thrown.

 

My "issue" sounds exactly the same at Ben's. It is cold here...35 degrees. I've not had the car long enough to know if it happens if it is warmer.

[ben senise]

On 12/13/2022 at 9:07 AM, bofus said:

I've noticed mine is doing this too. Drive around for 30+ minutes and under light/normal acceleration, nothing out the tail pipe. If I stomp on it, it's like I activated some smoke screen: you literally can't see anything in the rear view mirror other than white smoke. I don't appear to be burning oil or coolant and there's no odd noise. The smoke-on-startup issue appears to be caused by an oil pipe that feeds the turbo. I don't think my '15 2.7 did this, but my '18 2.7 ecoboost is doing it. It appears white, not blue; though, it can be hard to tell. Unburned fuel, maybe? No codes being thrown.

 

My "issue" sounds exactly the same at Ben's. It is cold here...35 degrees. I've not had the car long enough to know if it happens if it is warmer.

 

it was happening to me last summer and i was wondering if they put too much oil in during its last service. But i concluded that this was not the problem.

 

did you ever ask the dealer or mechanic about this problem? it does sound exactly like my issue as well.

 

to me, the white smoke that dissipates very quickly is more indicative of water/coolant rather than oil. when i've seen engines that put out blue smoke, that smoke seems to hang around a lot longer. this white stuff rises and disappears very quickly.

[dabangsta]

I frequently see this from other vehicles that are generally not driven hard, but for one reason or another (like...me in my lowly 11 year old sedan having the gall to pass them) they go WOT for a sustained period of time. Most of the time it is the 2.0 Ecoboost Escapes and Fusions. The smell of sulphur from them running extremely rich (not as bad as failing cat).

 

I think that light black smoke from a turbo engine going WOT due to being overly rich is common.

 

I never could get it to happen in my 2017 Escape with the 1.5, but it was driven at 75% most of the time, never babied, even by my wife.

 

Same with the tuner E85 crowd, but the smell is is different, but the tale tell soot on the bumper cover tells the real story.

Edited December 14, 2022 by dabangsta

[ben senise]

3 hours ago, dabangsta said:

I frequently see this from other vehicles that are generally not driven hard, but for one reason or another (like...me in my lowly 11 year old sedan having the gall to pass them) they go WOT for a sustained period of time. Most of the time it is the 2.0 Ecoboost Escapes and Fusions. The smell of sulphur from them running extremely rich (not as bad as failing cat).

 

I think that light black smoke from a turbo engine going WOT due to being overly rich is common.

 

I never could get it to happen in my 2017 Escape with the 1.5, but it was driven at 75% most of the time, never babied, even by my wife.

 

Same with the tuner E85 crowd, but the smell is is different, but the tale tell soot on the bumper cover tells the real story.

 

i must say that i've been driving quite conservatively as is evidenced by my 10.1 liters/100 km fuel economy. 23.29 mpg (US gallon) according to a conversion website. just don't have the chance to drive it hard. 

 

interesting that you mention the sulphur smell. i did notice a very faint smell when i had my wife step on the gas but i couldn't identify it. now that you say sulphur, i think that's what it may have been but very very faint. i'll check it out again.

 

basically i just want to be sure that i'm not harming the engine or that it will fail the day after my drivetrain warranty expires.

[bofus]

A sulphur smell indicates a bad catalytic converter, typically. I don't believe that would cause smoke, however. My '18 only has 22k miles on it, so I wouldn't think the cat could be bad. I'm not behind it when I punch it, so I can't say if there is a sulphur smell (rotten eggs) and certainly don't smell anything in the cabin while driving. I've been under the car and everything looks to be in order with no signs of a crushed exhaust, leaking exhaust joints, a catalytic converter issue, or a rusted muffler.

 

I've not had it to the dealer. I might see if they would have a gander at it while it is still covered by the factory engine/powertrain warranty.

[1004ron]

42 minutes ago, bofus said:

A sulphur smell indicates a bad catalytic converter, typically.

If caught in time, damage to the CAT can be avoided - the smell is an indication that unburnt fuel is entering the CAT and will destroy the CAT fairly quickly if the cause of the fuel isn't addressed.

 

Quote

Whenever gasoline accidentally makes its way to the catalytic converter, it will convert hydrogen sulfide into sulfur dioxide. The rotten eggs smell is most likely sulfur dioxide. Consequently, you will probably need to have your catalytic converter replaced. 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by 1004ron

[bofus]

I think if the smoke is unburned fuel, then it would be more gray/dark than whispy-white stuff I'm seeing. Mine certainly looks like water vapor, but the sheer quantity of it doesn't seem right. I've only had this car for a few hundred miles, not enough to tell for sure if I'm losing coolant and/or oil. I'm watching it. I might try to get a video of it, somehow. I don't have a gopro to strap out back, so I'll need to find some way to secure a phone or have the Mrs in the back and capture it out the rear window. Again, it's like something out of a James Bond movie when he presses the "smoke screen" button.

[bofus]

Ok, I just got back from a 40 mile drive and I gunned it a quite a few times and saw white puffy smoke. I let the car sit for 30 minutes on the flat and I'm about a pint low on coolant in the reservoir. So, I think I'm burning coolant. That would normally suggest head gasket. Is the turbo cooled at all by the coolant, or just fed oil? It's odd that I see nothing when normally driving and only when I stomp on it does it happen.

 

I guess I'll be booking a trip to the dealer for evaluation. Looks like it was first titled in november 2018, so engine/powertrain should cover a head gasket, right.  Right?

[1004ron]

2 hours ago, bofus said:

Ok, I just got back from a 40 mile drive and I gunned it a quite a few times and saw white puffy smoke. I let the car sit for 30 minutes on the flat and I'm about a pint low on coolant in the reservoir. So, I think I'm burning coolant. That would normally suggest head gasket. Is the turbo cooled at all by the coolant, or just fed oil? It's odd that I see nothing when normally driving and only when I stomp on it does it happen.

 

I guess I'll be booking a trip to the dealer for evaluation. Looks like it was first titled in november 2018, so engine/powertrain should cover a head gasket, right.  Right?

What model, engine and year? - please add that to your signature - https://www.fordedgeforum.com/settings/signature/

[bofus]

Make/Model/Year is shown on my profile to the left of my post. Do you not see it? 2018 Ford Edge Sport. 2.7 ecoboost v6. 22.2k miles at the moment.

[1004ron]

1 hour ago, bofus said:

Make/Model/Year is shown on my profile to the left of my post. Do you not see it? 2018 Ford Edge Sport. 2.7 ecoboost v6. 22.2k miles at the moment.

Unfortunately the owners of this forum are unable or unwilling  to fix the profile display - only you can see your profile info, crazy but true, and that's why we promote putting it in the sig.

 

 

[bofus]

Added a signature.

 

I am booked for Ford to examine the issue on the 22nd. I'll not drive it until I get a resolution. Dealers have NO loaners or even cars to rent, so figure out alternative transportation. If it wasn't so cold here, I'd just ride my bike; alas, currently there is a forecast of light snow on the ground when I am scheduled to take it in.

[1004ron]

18 hours ago, bofus said:

Ok, I just got back from a 40 mile drive and I gunned it a quite a few times and saw white puffy smoke. I let the car sit for 30 minutes on the flat and I'm about a pint low on coolant in the reservoir. So, I think I'm burning coolant. That would normally suggest head gasket. Is the turbo cooled at all by the coolant, or just fed oil? It's odd that I see nothing when normally driving and only when I stomp on it does it happen.

 

I guess I'll be booking a trip to the dealer for evaluation. Looks like it was first titled in november 2018, so engine/powertrain should cover a head gasket, right.  Right?

5 years, or 60,000 miles for the powertrain warranty, so you should be covered.

 

Yes, a head gasket should be covered unless they find and can prove its related to something you did - can't think of anything.

 

The manual calls for coolant replacement at 10 years, so it can't be blamed on that.

[bofus]

I've only had the car for six weeks and maybe 500 miles. Bought from a Toyota dealer lot that was traded in. Carfax shows all the proper services done at dealers, so oil changes and such are all documented. I can't think of any way to blow a head gasket unless it was run without coolant and overheated. The Toyota place claimed they did a full service but would not provide paperwork. I went ahead and did an oil/filter change and did see a new air filter installed. So, they did do SOMETHING. The proper amount of oil came out when I changed it and the oil life indicator did match when they said they changed it. I just wanted to be sure and went ahead and did an oil/filter change just to be safe. It was a skosh low on coolant when I got it home, so I topped it up. I notice about 300 miles later that it went from the "FULL" line to the "MIN" line. No errors/warnings on the dash. There are two head gaskets, one for each bank of three. If they find one bank with a blown head gasket, do you just replace the one bank or do you do both in case something was faulty?

 

Dealer claims to need the car for 2+ days and it is just a few days before Christmas. It's going to be pretty easy to replicate my complaint. Just warm up the car, get it onto the freeway, slow down a bit, then step on it to catch up to traffic and witness the lack of visibility out the rear window due to the smoke show you just created. There doesn't appear to be any oil in the coolant. I've not done one of those tests to see if there is exhaust gas in the coolant. I'll defer to the dealership and report back with their findings.

 

I thought the 2.7 was pretty bulletproof?  Hmmm...

[1004ron]

My 2017 Sport has just over 85K miles on it and I've never topped up the coolant and it's still on the mark where it was when I bought it new in March 2017.

 

I baby my Sport but have seen many here that give theirs a good beating, and don't recall any posts here reporting issues with the 2.7L.

 

The decision to replace one or both head gaskets would be based on what's found - if it appears that it overheated at some point then pretty obvious both heads need to be done.

[bofus]

I had a '15 Edge Sport for nearly 3 years, no problem. Same engine as this. Never burned coolant. I don't "thrash" it, so I only discovered this when I had to get on the freeway quickly and was surprised. Normal driving...I don't see anything.

[BillE]

For the past few week  I have been noticing the same white smoke coming from the exhaust pipes of my 2019 Edge ST with ~11,000 on it.  I bought the car new in September of 2019.  The car has not been abused.  The white smoke is primarily visible when I take off from a stop sign or traffic light. Does not require WOT.  After reading what others have written I checked my coolant level and found it to be at about at the low level marker.  I have ordered a gallon of Genuine Ford Fluid VC-7DIL-B Gold Prediluted Antifreeze/Coolant from Amazon.  The 2019 Edge requires yellow or orange coolant depending on the manufacture date.  Motorcraft  says orange if  manufactured before 7/8/19 and yellow if manufactured on or later than 7/8/19.  My car's door post sticker says 7/19 and  has yellow coolant.  Seems very suspicious that several owners in our forum are experiencing the same phenomena.   I am interested to hear what the dealer has to say.  Hope Ford doesn't try to hide the issue like they did with the 2019 ST's  3rd gear.   The dealer waited for the 2020(or 2021? ) model to remove the 3rd gear with a software change.

[JoeVic]

4 hours ago, BillE said:

For the past few week  I have been noticing the same white smoke coming from the exhaust pipes of my 2019 Edge ST with ~11,000 on it.  I bought the car new in September of 2019.  The car has not been abused.  The white smoke is primarily visible when I take off from a stop sign or traffic light. Does not require WOT.  After reading what others have written I checked my coolant level and found it to be at about at the low level marker.  I have ordered a gallon of Genuine Ford Fluid VC-7DIL-B Gold Prediluted Antifreeze/Coolant from Amazon.  The 2019 Edge requires yellow or orange coolant depending on the manufacture date.  Motorcraft  says orange if  manufactured before 7/8/19 and yellow if manufactured on or later than 7/8/19.  My car's door post sticker says 7/19 and  has yellow coolant.  Seems very suspicious that several owners in our forum are experiencing the same phenomena.   I am interested to hear what the dealer has to say.  Hope Ford doesn't try to hide the issue like they did with the 2019 ST's  3rd gear.   The dealer waited for the 2020(or 2021? ) model to remove the 3rd gear with a software change.

 

Just an FYI. The correct coolant should be Motorcraft Yellow VC-13DL-G (prediluted)  or VC-13-G.   Not the Motorcraft Gold.

[BillE]

15 hours ago, JoeVic said:

 

Just an FYI. The correct coolant should be Motorcraft Yellow VC-13DL-G (prediluted)  or VC-13-G.   Not the Motorcraft Gold.

Thank you.  My 2019 owners manual calls out orange CVC-3DIL coolant, but the car has yellow coolant.  The 2020 owner manual calls out the VC-13DL-G yellow as you stated.  Ordered a couple gallons from Rock Auto. Thanks again.