Puff of white smoke !

[ELK311]

Sunday my truck was sitting in the driveway all day. High temp of around 90. That eveninig I started her up and let 'er idle for about two minutes. It was hot so I turned on the A/C. Drove for about a block to the stop sign and POOF! A puff of white smoke (or steam) came from the drivers side of the engine compartment. The accompanying noise sounded just like an airline disconnecting via quick release from an air compressor. Everyone in the cab felt it and heard it.



Any help on what this was. I immediately checked under the hood and saw nothing. As a "newby" to diesels I wasn't even sure what to check. The truck has been running like a champ ever since. I've inspected the engine compartment several times with no obvious incidence. Rig is at 3,500 miles.

 

[p-Bar]

Radiator cap blew? recovery tank is on the passenger side , I think

 

[ELK311]

No, I checked that. There are no signs of leakage what-so-ever. Everything is clean and "appears" to be connected. I bought this truck out of town or I would stop by the dealership. I may stop by the local dealer and hope that he doesn't charge to take a look.

 

[p-Bar]

Why don't you have them pressurize the cooling system and check for leaks. Your local mechanic can do this while you wait. The dealer will make it an all day ordeal. Let us know what happens



Don

 

[ELK311]

Thanks Don. I'll see what happens over the next couple of days.

 

[DPKetchum]

Sounds like something with AC.

 

[p-Bar]

DP may be right could have been freon.

 

[J.Post]

No, I checked that. There are no signs of leakage what-so-ever. Everything is clean and "appears" to be connected. I bought this truck out of town or I would stop by the dealership. I may stop by the local dealer and hope that he doesn't charge to take a look.

If it's under warranty ANY Dodge dealer will HAVE to look at it for NO CHARGE.

 

[DPKetchum]

Freon won't leave a sign per se. Wheres the pop off valve for the ac? Just in case have you looked at powersteering fliud?

 

[John Robinson]

In think its either on the back side of the compressor or the drier

 

[RPotter]

I had a Ford that did that about 10 years ago... . big poof, and no AC..... one of the pressure connections burst on the AC... ... . that's probably what happened to yours. The dealer should cover under warranty... ... .

 

[ELK311]

thanks all ! I'll have someone look at it.

 

[MacHaggis]

I'm on board with the AC theory. Didn't/don't know that they system has a pop-off. Had an AC hose blow on a 97 Ford a few years ago, and that was no small event. Lots of whoosh, nothing momentary about it.

 

[mberry]

My '02 did the exact same thing one morning. Only difference was it was cold out and I had the defrost on (compressor running). Darn near scared the hot water out of me, literally!

 

[ELK311]

Thanks all ! This website rocks !

 

[ELK311]

Back from dealer: couldn't find anything except non-related bad gasket on transfer case. Dealership said that it was a known problem, so check your transfer case for leaking fluid. Mine was slight but they replaced the gasket.

 

[jakemeister]

I had something like that with my 05. It was early in the morning i started driving from one end of the driveway to the other(400' long)then i stopped at then end and i saw some white smoke come from under the front driverside of the truck. Then it did it again the next day. I was looking this time. What happened to me was I had a slight quartering tailwind and when i was accelerating my truck was blowing that cold morning white smoke and the wind blew it under the truck and out in the front to were i could see it. I know kinda dumb but,



Its a different angle to your dilema and hey you never know... . good luck.