Symptoms

White smoke from the exhaust

What causes it depends on the engine. 23 documented failures on 13 engines list this among their signs. Pick your engine for the causes ranked, how to tell them apart and the usual fix.

7.3 Power Stroke (1994.5-2003) 1 known cause: Glow plug / glow plug relay failure 6.0 Power Stroke (2003-2007) 3 known causes, most widespread: EGR cooler failure 6.4 Power Stroke (2008-2010) 1 known cause: EGR cooler failure -> #8 hydrolock 6.7 Power Stroke (2011-present) 3 known causes, most widespread: Piezo injector wear and fuel dilution of engine oil 5.9 Cummins (1994-2007) 2 known causes, most widespread: Common-rail injector wear / nozzle carbon (03-07) 6.7 Cummins 2007-2018 3 known causes, most widespread: DPF clogging / regeneration problems 6.7 Cummins 2019+ 3 known causes, most widespread: Grid heater bolt and relay failures (2019+ 6.7) Ram 1500 EcoDiesel (2014-2019) 1 known cause: EGR cooler cracking and coolant loss (recall 19V-757) Duramax LB7-LMM (2001-2010) 2 known causes, most widespread: EGR cooler clogging / failure (LB7-LMM) Duramax 3.0 (LM2/LZ0) 1 known cause: EGR system failures: valve, cooler, wiring (derate-prone) 3.2 Power Stroke (Transit) 1 known cause: EGR cooler failure: overheating and coolant loss (three Ford field actions) Sprinter 3.0 V6 (OM642) 1 known cause: Glow plug module and cold-start roughness Sprinter 2.1 (OM651) 1 known cause: EGR system: coking and cooler coolant leak

Built from the failure-mode records on this site: a failure is listed when its own symptom list describes this sign. Engines not shown have no documented failure with it in our records. How we tier and source facts.