04 F550 Intermittent Blue Smoke

BrunoWilimek · November 16, 2015

Customer says truck intermittently blows a huge cloud of blue smoke, then clears up and goes for a time with no smoke, then repeats smoke show. I have driven truck for almost 45 minutes with no smoke. Truck has a dump box, used in a landscape business, and manual tranny. It runs perfectly, with no DTC's. Recent work done on it was 2 EGR valves for DTC's, the second one after a short time as the first one looked fine but was setting a DTC. At that time, I noted coolant low and found the heater hose near the alternator leaking and replaced the clamp. I topped up the coolant, almost 5 litres. I warned customer about the possibility of further issues due to the low coolant level. On inspection, now, coolant is down slightly, oil level is OK. Yet, customer swears smoke is blue. :confused: The turbo was also replaced in the last year for typical 6.0 turbo seizing. I would think if the turbo oil seal was leaking that it would smoke all the time. Anyone seen any other cause for blue smoke intermittently?

forddieseldoctor · November 17, 2015

They don't always smoke all the time when the seal is leaking. But most of the intermittent one's I've dealt with only smoked at idle.

BrunoWilimek · November 17, 2015

Thanks. I drove it around again this morning. No smoke until i got back to the dealership. Got witnesses to verify a couple of bursts of blue smoke when I revved it up while stopped.

lmorris · November 17, 2015

The last oil cooler job I did, the guy had the same complaint, only did it after truck sits for a bit then goes away after a good acceleration. Turbo shaft was with-in specs and nothing else was found to be wrong. It's a 2003 that's been his work truck since new, so he bought it off the company and only uses it to pull his holiday trailer. We both think it's the turbo, he was going to change it but decided to wait when he had to fix the oil cooler.

Long story short: Yes, I have seen turbos smoke intermittently.

Matt Saunoras · November 17, 2015

That could definitely happen if the turbine seal is leaking slightly. You could get enough of a leak after a cold soak to cause smoke on startup. The new style drain tube has the potential to alleviate some of the turbine seal leakage too. Oil will travel the path of least resistance obviously.

BrunoWilimek · November 19, 2015

Thanks, guys. I am going to do a turbo under parts warranty. I was also able to convince customer to do the trifecta, as he wants to get a couple more trouble-free years(hopefully)out of the truck.