White Smoke on long pull?

[Tristan]

We were all loaded down with the camper on the back and were cruising up the pass on I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass when I noticed a cloud of white smoke out behind the truck. A quick check of the guages showed nothing to be worried about. Water temp at about 220, boosting at about 9, and EGT holding at about 1000 degrees. The truck seemed to be running fine and nothing seemed to be amiss, other than the smoke cloud behind me. It didn't seem to be coming out of the exhaust, but out from under the truck itself. Will a transmission put out smoke when overheating? I don't have a temperature guage for the transmission, unfortunately. Did I just overheat my transmision? Any other ideas on what else could it have been?
Thanks!

 

[bikepilot]

Tranny shouldn't put out any smoke, and if it were it wouldn't do it for very long!

I'd guess that maybe you've an oil leak that's dripping onto the exhaust.

 

[Tristan]

Hmm, possible. It does it rarely though, only when heavily loaded and working hard. Then stops soon after the load is eased off.

 

[Tristan]

Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[towcat]

guessing aside, a trans temp gauge is a good help for watching the heat level in your trans.
there is a "burp" tube at the top of your trans for fluid levels that may be overfilled. it's possible that the fluid ran off the side of the case and onto your exhaust and burned off. again, all of this is pure speculation.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

I have had that happen with both oil leaks and hot transmissions. Once the tranny starts to boil you will get smoke like that out the rear. It is usually accompanied by fluid, so I would think you would have a film on your camper. My old IDI used to smoke like that when worked hard as the oil that had leaked from the valve covers down to near the exhaust manifolds burned off. There was a much larger volume of smoke when I boiled the transmission and once I got to the top of the mountain I found I was two quarts low on fluid.
I'd check the tranny fluid level and if it is ok and you have an auxillary tranny cooler then assume that it was oil burning off the motor.
BTW, I have never smoked a ford tranny like that, it was a GM TH400. I added two quarts at the top of the mountain, added a bigger tranny cooler the next week, and never had a problem out of the tranny again.

 

[HammerDown]

I have had that happen with both oil leaks and hot transmissions. Once the tranny starts to boil you will get smoke like that out the rear. It is usually accompanied by fluid,..

Yup mine did that once...pulled a box trailer into a strong head wind on a serious hot day and trany fluid would spit out the vent > can't say I recall any smoke because this was during daylight hours.
I installed a trany cooler when I got home and all was good to go > of course I changed out the old fluid.

 

[Tristan]

There were some oily looking spots on the back of the camper. Sounds like it is time for a tranny cooler. Thanks Guys!