i am aware of what the different color smoke means, but this does not seem like coolant smoke to me. it doesnt have that sweet smell from what my friends who follows behind me said, more like an exhaust smell
its only present at WOT and its not like huge coulds just a slight fog if you will...
i am running some fuel system cleaner so could it just be carbon build up beeing burnt off?
or could it be a bad o2 sensor causeing the motor to run lean? or somthing else all together ie, clogged fuel rail/injectors, fuel pump/filter?
i have just changed the oil, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, sprayed down the TB with carb cleaner ran 1 bottle of fuel system cleaner.
seems to run great, nice an strong most of the time, somtimes it feels like it doesnt want to down shift though.
also it idles about right but seems kinda jerkey until it warms up.

any ideas?

2000 2500 automatic with 120k 5.9l v8

 

might be the cleaner, could just be a small oil leak someplace.

 

small oil leak like maybe the plenum gasget?

 

I would say that its the cleaner if its happening at wot. Its most likly just burning off the carbon and the cleaner.

 

An oil leak would create blue smoke.

 

Cylinders number 7 and 8 are especially bad to crack between the intake and exhaust valve seat across the ridge of metal there. You can definitely get these cracks in other cylinders but the rear ones are most common.

These cracks can start shallow and only later reach the coolant passages, and then only leak coolant when the head gets hot...like at wide open throttle. The cracks probably come from electrically hardening the exhaust seats and then not 'tempering' the cylinder head long enough in an oven to keep the metal from being brittle.

It might pay to examine the sparkplugs first for light colored deposits,
then do an air leak down test
or get one of those kits that chemically detects exhaust gases in the coolant fluid.

 

not nessissarly. blue smoke is usuially oil mixed with some parts of gas. mostly happening if your leaking oil and running rich.

 

i just changed the plugs, they seemed normal to me, maybe a little bit of white deposite, but it was on all of them so it didnt consern me.
so are you saying the head(s) could be cracked? heads are relatively cheap, but how hard is the replament, and besides gaskets what else do i need to replace in the process?

 

Chrysler has been having some trouble keeping Magnum replacement cylinder heads in stock...so check with your local dealership.

Hughes Engine sells a 'Magnum HD' cylinder head that is built aftermarket and some say is less prone to cracking and has slightly larger intake port volume.

Edelbrock has aluminum aftermarket heads for Magnum, but some have said that the valve guide fitment leaves a little to be desired in quality control. Conversion studs are needed for stock rocker arms.

Head gaskets and intake gaskets are needed, plus rear intake seals or liberal use of 'The Right Stuff' gasket maker in a can.

Magnum cylinder heads from a salvage yard should be magna-fluxed to make sure they are not cracked too.

 

I have been running the Hughes heads that Hank mentioned for about 25k miles with no problems. The mildly ported2.02's cfmflow blows away anything elseavailable for our trucks out of the box. Alot of guys run the portedEddy's that will flow a little better than the mildly ported Hughes and are said to have better heat dissapation characteristics. Ported Eddy's will run ~$1600 more than the Hughes IIRC.

In addition to the head and intake gaskets, several more bolts and you can replace your timing chain and water pump while you're in there. If you have considered roller rockers or a cam, that would bea good time to take care of that as well.