smoke at start up till warmed up

My truck smokes a good bit until warmed up. I Its not mixing oil or coolant. I don't think it is moisture in the exhaust. Anybody have thoughts on what it is diagnosing it?

 

It is white and does not dissipate quickly, after about 5 minutes.

 

Its cold here now so I would consider that normal. Unless as mention there is a smell from the fume

 

Bad head/gasket. Parts swell as they heat up and close the leak, shrink when they're cool and allow the leak.

But 'a good bit' is hard to quantify. And how 'cold' is cold? FWIW it's 18 degrees here, no smoke out of my pipe.

 

It is just smoking a lot more then usual.

 

Sounds like a head gasket to me. Go get a leakdown test and make sure they do it when the engine is completely cold and again warned up. That's is generally a solid way to prove it.

 

If a bad head gasket wouldn't the fluids be mixing?

 

Not necessarily, head gasket can break many different ways. Between cyls, water jacket to cyl, water jacket to oil gallery, oil to cyl... Many ways to break

 

I have had a leak down test about 1000 miles ago all cylinders are great. I will let it cool and start it up and smell the exhaust.

 

Did you have a leakdown or a pressure test. They are very different. You could also have the coolant checked for the presence of combustion gasses.

 

Whats the difference between the two?

 

Leakdown tests where the cylinder is leaking to by pressurizing it with compressed air and listening for the leak in various areas like exhaust pipe, oil cap, radiator, etc. Compression test just checks instant pressure during a cranking sequence not necessarily how well the cylinder can hold pressure.

 

ooo i had a compression test

 

Sorta figured (it's more common for people to mention), that's why I asked. Compression test won't really tell much other than if you engine is super worn out.

 

Leakdown is what determined my head gasket had taken a dump. Cost me $150 for the shop to do the test after I left my truck there all night.

 

So is getting a leak down test the proper route to see if it is the head gasket?

 

It's one of the ways, other would be to check for combustion gasses in radiator but it's not as definite. Leakdown can determine if other things are worn too.

 

Could be right, I wish mine was

 

the exhaust does smell sweet. So must be head gasket.

 

Lol how bout a can of ether and a bendy straw?