A few times a week for the last few weeks I get this big cloud of white smoke coming out my duel exhust the first time I start the truck for the day.the cloud of white smoke is pretty big then it goes away and I don't see it for the rest of the day.Then about 2 or 3 days later it does it again what do you think this could be?a bad head or some other thing?.how do I check to see if its a bad head the oil is not white milky on the stick.also my coolant keeps having to be refilled all the time but no leaks but I got a bad heater core so I was thinking it was that hmm this trucks turning into a money pit grrrrrrrrrrr.

 

White smoke = Coolant. How thick is the smoke? Does it linger and blow around with the wind or does it quickly dissipate?

It's normal for there to be some steam out the exhaust, especially on a cold morning.

 

thick enough that it leaves a big cloud and I can see it in my mirrors,but i would say it does linger in the air for a while looks like smoke not steam. coolant= white smoke is right I have been adding tons of coolant for the last few weeks.Im guessing its a bad head don't even want to know what tone of those will cost me a lot im sure.its not steam its smoke tons of it I have to fill up the coolant reservoir ever week or every 5 days and the coolant aint cheap.i didn't go out yesterday till 3 pm and it was warm out 65.should I have a compression test done?

 

how does a shop test for bad heads anyway?i brought my truck to a shop and the guy says he put something on the resovir cap and it tested 15psi and so that its not a bad head..i asked if he did a compression test and he said shops really don't do that anymore whats ups with that?then I asked since im losing so much coolant wheres it going and he said he doesn't know.im pretty mad at the guy and im taking my truck after work Tuesday but doesn't white smoke out the back and losing coolant mean a bad head gaskets?i fee like im being lied to anyone?

 

He would have just put an adapter on your overflow to attach a pressure gauge. If you had major pressure in your radiator system it would have put the gauge up higher but you would have seen bubbling in your overflow at cold idle anyway.

It wouldn't hurt for you to pull out each spark plug and have a look at them to look for anything odd between them. There are 8 of them so if anything looks out of the ordinary you'll know where to look.

I don't know much about how the 4.7 is assembled but you could have leaks anywhere. Some engines leak coolant through the exhaust via EGR connections, some do it from bad manifold gaskets, etc. The fact that it is a 4.7 is bad news as it could be that you need a new engine and radiator.

You'll just have to try and work on it yourself or find a mechanic that is more concerned about your cause.

Steve

 

I did have him change the plugs and one if the plugs is stuck in and he cant get it out and scared hes going to snap it and its down so far in he wont get it out if it snaps and tells me maybe that's where the coolants going where the stuck plug is lol....I think he doesn't want to fix the truck so he says he doesn't know whats wrong .I have a new radiator it was put on 5 months ago.he did put the adapter on my over flow and told me it r ead 15 psi and he keep it on for 15 min does this sound right to you guys?and told me since it reads 15 psi so its not the heads and says it may be oil.not really sure whats hes talkling about.i only have one small leak on the passenger side under the truck size of a dime.the coolant is being blow out the back I think tons of smoke when I first start it .

the plugs they are the plugs they put in from new and they were never takin out they were champ plugs took all but 1 out 1 is stuck in.can you tourch it out?

 

They can also do a hydro carbon test. They put a chemicl in a tube put it on the rad where the cap goes. It will turn colors if there is hydro carbons in the coolant. Also with the cap off, truck running if it blows coolant all over, you have excessive pressure in the coolant system

 

thanks for the info I think im going to bring it to another shop cause this place isn't giving me any good answer.

 

I have said this many times.....

If you are not leaking externally then you are leaking internally

Nothing at all new with 4.7s

 

As for finding the leak.. The shop should attach a compression gauge to each cylinder and measure the compression.

If they find one or more cylinders with lower compression, they can follow up with a leak down test. Essentially dumping a measured amount of air into the cylinder and seeing just how much compression is being lost. It can also tell you with some confidence WHERE that leak is. Run air pressure into the cylinder and listen for air hissing out, either through the intake, or exhaust (indicating a bad intake/exhaust valve/seat), oil fill tube (indicating bad rings or possible crack in cylinder), or radiator (indicating a head gasket leak).


If you can't find a leak in the engine, look at the LIM as those flow coolant. A bad gasket here can leak coolant down into the cylinders, giving all outward appearances of a headgasket failure.