Occasional smoke on startup

Howski

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2009
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209
Alabama
Getting occasional quick puff of not very thick, white/gray smoke immediately on startup in my LR3. Sometimes it will go away for months, sometimes once or twice a week - this is one of those weeks. Runs smooth and fine before and after. No loss of oil or coolant. I occasionally get a P0420 - which a can of Cataclean solves - but it’s not directly correlated to these individual smoke events. I’m leaning toward possibly a partially stuck/leaking injector. Have tried some injector cleaner, including BK44, in the past and it’s not made much difference. Any way to hunt this down further until I get a code for a specific cylinder? Frankly the issue is more a pain in the ass (and mildly embarrassing) than anything else so far
 
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DiscoHasBeen

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Aug 7, 2016
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Indy
Being from Alabama maybe you don't know this, but up here where it's cold often it's not uncommon for that to happen on cold mornings due to condensation. Could that be what you are seeing?
 

Howski

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2009
1,483
209
Alabama
Being from Alabama maybe you don't know this, but up here where it's cold often it's not uncommon for that to happen on cold mornings due to condensation. Could that be what you are seeing?
Know what you’re taking about but that’s not it (plus it’s been warm all this week). It’s just an immediate quick puff of smoke on startup. Isn’t present at any other time when the car is running
 

DiscoHasBeen

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2016
1,171
262
Indy
Know what you’re taking about but that’s not it (plus it’s been warm all this week). It’s just an immediate quick puff of smoke on startup. Isn’t present at any other time when the car is running
>In areas or seasons of high humidity, it's normal for a vehicle to produce some white smoke during engine warm-up, due to moisture condensation within the exhaust system.<

It's almost got to be that or a slight HG leak. Whitest smoke is mosture.
 

discostew

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Sep 14, 2010
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Northern Illinois
Getting occasional quick puff of not very thick, white/gray smoke immediately on startup in my LR3. Sometimes it will go away for months, sometimes once or twice a week - this is one of those weeks. Runs smooth and fine before and after. No loss of oil or coolant. I occasionally get a P0420 - which a can of Cataclean solves - but it’s not directly correlated to these individual smoke events. I’m leaning toward possibly a partially stuck/leaking injector. Have tried some injector cleaner, including BK44, in the past and it’s not made much difference. Any way to hunt this down further until I get a code for a specific cylinder? Frankly the issue is more a pain in the ass (and mildly embarrassing) than anything else so far
Probably valve guide seals. If you take it apart you'll probably see the soot building up on the valve stem.
 

DiscoHasBeen

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2016
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262
Indy
Probably valve guide seals. If you take it apart you'll probably see the soot building up on the valve stem.
I thought about that, but it would be a more reocuring problem with a more blue/grey burnt oil smell thing. My Colorado has bad valve seals. After it's set for a while, after the oil has gotten a chance to leak past the seals, it smokes. Every time.
 

Howski

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Oct 19, 2009
1,483
209
Alabama
Thanks for the responses. It definitely does have a bit of petroleum smell. I do 90% of my driving stop/go around town so I’m sure that could contribute to possible deposit buildup. Would a treatment (like Seafoam) in the intake + Italian tuneup be the best way to try to clean it up? Used to do that on my Discos but haven’t on the LR3
 

discostew

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Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
If it was those seals, wouldn’t it puff on hard acceleration too?
No. But the only real problem with these 4.4 engines burning oil is the PCV valve. It’s an oil separator that sits at the front of your right valve cover. It’s round and held on by a torx head screw. But when that thing goes bad it blows lots and lots of smoke all the time.
 
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discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
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Northern Illinois
To be honest I wouldn’t do much. I’m just suggesting to pull plugs to inspect them. I’ve never seen your LR3 but I would bet that valve stem seals would exceed the value of the truck. So if it’s running and has no check engine light on just drive it.
 
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Howski

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Oct 19, 2009
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Alabama
Absolutely. Just wanting to know if there’s anything outside pulling the heads. I could give a shot to either improve it or to keep the situation from getting worse. I’ll pull the plugs for kicks when I get a chance
 

DiscoHasBeen

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Aug 7, 2016
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Indy
'stew is probably right. I'm just a mook on the internet and he's a LR tech. What made me not consider valve guides is this word you used, "occasionally". I didn't know these seals leaked occasionally. I thought either they were bad or they weren't. You learn something every day.
 

Howski

Well-known member
Oct 19, 2009
1,483
209
Alabama
To come a bit full circle on this. Issue went away for most of last year but cropped up again over the winter with more frequency (almost once a day) and often thicker smoke in the last few weeks. Last week I swapped in an OEM PCV valve and added some AP-205 snake oil (BMW guys swear by this for valve guide seals). No far no smoke since (but I’ve probably just jinxed myself).
 

Howski

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Oct 19, 2009
1,483
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Alabama
171k. Was a Brit(shit) Part PCV replaced with my old OEM PCV. Frustrating part is I replaced it preventatively a few years ago. Of course made mistake not go to OEM (and was told no big deal by vendor). No good deed…