What does white smoke mean? i have a diesel?

Question

i think i'm losing engine oil, it was topped off and now it's 3/4

what would cause this? i am not finding any oil leak anywhere

anything that would lose 1/4 of oil anyways

Answer 1

i would be checking the fuel filter and the quality of the fuel.  diesel is prone to having water in it which will cause smoking when it burns.

as for the engine oil, if its burning you'll have dark blue/black smoke, so maybe you need to recheck the leaks.

Answer 2

Diesels are prone to head gasket failure.  Bluish white smoke means your oil is mixing with the gas before ignition.

Last diesel I had the heads under the gasket were so scoured that I had to junk the car.

Hope you have better luck.

Answer 3

You could be having white smoke coming out of the back for a few different reasons , one of the reasons could be that your engine is burning oil, in other words the oil is getting around the piston rings to the top of the piston where it's blowing it out at . Another reason could be that your fuel filter needs to be replaced, a dirty fuel filter wll make a diesel engine put out white smoke.You may need to replace your fuel filter.

Answer 4

Check your coolant as well.  I agree on the possible head gasket issue, or very worn rings.

Answer 5

White smoke is water.

Blue smoke is oil.

Black smoke is fuel.

You have water from the cooling system entering one or more cylinders.

The excess oil consumption is probably ring damage do to the water in the combustion chamber.

The most common cause of this is a blown head gasket and/or cracked head but a damaged injector pre-cup can also allow water into a combustion chamber.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

a piston ring could be bad which means that its pushing oil past the rings and com busting the oil with the fuel in short its burning the oil

Answer 7

You could have stuck rings, worn valve guides or seals, it could be a number of things, especially if there is no visible signs of a leak.  How long did it take to lose 1/4 of the oil?  Also, light blue smoke is typical of burning oil.  White smoke usually means water in the cylinders from a blown head gasket, cracked head, cracked block, etc., along with an increase in water from the tailpipe.