Intermittent White Smoke/Loss of Power

[kilobravo3]

Hi gang. I'm trying to track down a gremlin in my 05 F250. Twice in the past 2 weeks I have had a strange symptom. I left the truck idling at my friends house for about 5 minutes or so. After leaving their house, I got on the pedal aggressively (not down to the floor). After about a mile, I slowed to turn a corner. After turning the corner and pressing the accelerator, there was very little power (almost like it was bogging down, and wouldn't go above 1000 rpm), and white smoke was coming from the exhaust. I hopped out and smelled the exhaust, but I couldn't tell if it smelled like coolant or not. After a minute of letting it idle, I pressed the accelerator, and the truck went like normal.

I've been reading on here for a long time trying to figure out what this could be. Most people point to EGR cooler leak, but the truck doesn't seem to be losing any coolant. Could an small amount of coolant cause this? I also pulled my EGR valve to clean it, and it didn't seem to smell like coolant, although it was coked up pretty good. The EGR valve wasn't wet, but the deposits weren't dry like dust. Also, the turbo boost never goes above about 17-18 psi during heavy acceleration.

Any thoughts on what could be going wrong? Anything I can check to help narrow down the issue further?

[kilobravo3]

any ideas?

[rdaffin]

When you run out of power what kind of boost are you making? Maybe the turbo is sticking and needs cleaning! Not sure. Just a suggestion.

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[kilobravo3]

I didn't actually look at the boost gauge when it happened, I guess I will have to check that next time. I'm guessing it wasn't boosting at all because I couldn't get more than 1000 rpm or so, and wasn't able to go faster than about 20 mph.

[kendallcschm]

white smoke sounds like an EGR leak.. no codes at all? maybe FICM although that doesn't explain white smoke.. but when my FICM was on its way out i had the bogging out acceleration

[kilobravo3]

I checked for codes, but none have shown up. I had the FICM replaced about 2 years ago, and it was having white smoke when it was going bad, although in that case, it was only when it was cold. I just can't figure it out since the truck doesn't seem to be leaking coolant.

[kilobravo3]

The truck did the white smoke thing again this AM. I've checked the coolant level, and it has not lost any at all. Where is the next logical place for me to start looking? If the FICM is going out, will checking the voltage reveal the problem, or is the fact that my issue is intermittent going to make checking the FICM difficult? Could a stuck EGR valve cause the issue? When it happened again today, I had no acceleration at all...I would put the pedal to the floor, and the RPMs wouldn't go above 1000, and white smoke was pouring out of the tailpipe. Is it possible that somehow the intake is getting blocked (perhaps through the turbo somehow?) thus causing the lack of power?

[PSDMikeB]

It if it not loosing coolant, it sounds like it is overfueling or not getting enough air.

First smell the smoke. Is it diesel or coolant?

Check the FICM as per the procedure you will find here. Could also be a stuck open EGR valve (tho u already checked that), next possibility is a sticky turbo. Take her apart and clean her up.

All easy stuff to do and essentially free.

MikeB

[SICKS-O]

sounds like sticking egr valve

[kilobravo3]

I'm going to pull the EGR valve tomorrow and give it another good cleaning. I cleaned it about 3 weeks ago, but I didn't have any carb cleaner so I just knocked the build up off of it. I'll get some carb cleaner and give her a good cleaning.