Smoking on startup after sitting

[l1tech]

Well, my 2020 ST was in and out of the dealer for a third time this year for the smoking issue and they didn't do anything to fix it. When I talked to the service rep after almost a week, he said they tried to replicate the problem and saw heavy smoke on one day, and light smoke on others. When I started an email exchange with him, he denied saying they ever saw heavy smoke. Anyway, they let it idle for 5 hours (?) and then took the exhaust system off and couldn't find any problems which doesn't surprise me since the cause of oil leaking into the cylinders to combust would be well north of my exhaust system so I'm really confused by this diagnosis.

As of today, I emailed the service guy back and sent him two more videos of it smoking and asked to have the Service Manager call me. I also contacted Ford Customer Care line and created a "case" to have a different Ford Tech consult with the local techs and possibly travel here to look at/fix my ST. That should be a few days is what I'm told. If there is no resolution here, I'll begin the buyback process with Ford through their Reacquired Vehicle Program.

Lesson learned, record your conversations with techs and/or communicate via email so everything is documented.

Here's a video of what's happening since I got it back from the dealer. Of note, it does seem to be worse when parked in my driveway which is a slight incline with the nose uphill.

HOLY SMOKE

If it's the turbo issue(which it sounds like it is) oil doesn't get in the cylinders. The oil leaks internally in the turbo and goes into the exhaust where it gets burnt. The engine needs to sit overnight after it has been ran and then without starting the exhaust needs to be removed. Once removed you should be able to see the oil. It only takes a few drops to create all the smoke. This may be harder to replicate when the vehicle is on the lift because it sits fairly level. Mine would only lightly smoke when on level ground but would smoke heavily when on an incline (nose up) but would not smoke at all when the nose was pointed downhill.

 

[tjrigario]

Well, my 2020 ST was in and out of the dealer for a third time this year for the smoking issue and they didn't do anything to fix it. When I talked to the service rep after almost a week, he said they tried to replicate the problem and saw heavy smoke on one day, and light smoke on others. When I started an email exchange with him, he denied saying they ever saw heavy smoke. Anyway, they let it idle for 5 hours (?) and then took the exhaust system off and couldn't find any problems which doesn't surprise me since the cause of oil leaking into the cylinders to combust would be well north of my exhaust system so I'm really confused by this diagnosis.

As of today, I emailed the service guy back and sent him two more videos of it smoking and asked to have the Service Manager call me. I also contacted Ford Customer Care line and created a "case" to have a different Ford Tech consult with the local techs and possibly travel here to look at/fix my ST. That should be a few days is what I'm told. If there is no resolution here, I'll begin the buyback process with Ford through their Reacquired Vehicle Program.

Lesson learned, record your conversations with techs and/or communicate via email so everything is documented.

Here's a video of what's happening since I got it back from the dealer. Of note, it does seem to be worse when parked in my driveway which is a slight incline with the nose uphill.

HOLY SMOKE

That's unfortunate that the dealer can't be honest. I ultimately had to take mine to multiple dealerships to get them to admit there was a problem. The first one just said "This is normal". Finally, I ended up parking at a different dealership overnight and walking out with the service writer and tech the next morning to witness and acknowledge the problem. They replaced the long block on my ST, but the problem is still happening. At this point, I'm exhausted and done wasting time over it. I started the buyback process last week, but won't know the outcome for several weeks.

 

[kneedragger]

Ford customer service is stonewalling me when I ask what the process is if they cannot repair my vehicle on the 4th attempt. The next appointment is Oct. 31st and Ford is apparently flying in a "special" tech to assist my local dealership since their techs cannot fix the problem. When I asked the local dealership Service Manager what happens if they can't fix it, the guy just simply refuses to answer my question. When I ask the Ford Customer Care rep what happens, she refuses to answer my question. It's absolutely maddening to have people that simply refuse to answer a simple process/procedure question.

 

[tjrigario]

Ford customer service is stonewalling me when I ask what the process is if they cannot repair my vehicle on the 4th attempt. The next appointment is Oct. 31st and Ford is apparently flying in a "special" tech to assist my local dealership since their techs cannot fix the problem. When I asked the local dealership Service Manager what happens if they can't fix it, the guy just simply refuses to answer my question. When I ask the Ford Customer Care rep what happens, she refuses to answer my question. It's absolutely maddening to have people that simply refuse to answer a simple process/procedure question.

I'd just turn the case over to a Lemon Law attorney. Missouri law states there must be at least 4 attempts to repair the same problem OR out of service for 30 days for it to qualify. There may be some other criteria as well, but that's where you'd have to get a consultation with an attorney to discuss that. They'll have a paralegal hear the case and decide if it's worth pushing forward or not. Virtually of the lemon law attorneys work for "free" to the consumer as they get paid when the settlement is finalized by the manufacturer. In short, they won't take your case unless they are confident you will win.

 

[kneedragger]

I'd just turn the case over to a Lemon Law attorney. Missouri law states there must be at least 4 attempts to repair the same problem OR out of service for 30 days for it to qualify. There may be some other criteria as well, but that's where you'd have to get a consultation with an attorney to discuss that. They'll have a paralegal hear the case and decide if it's worth pushing forward or not. Virtually of the lemon law attorneys work for "free" to the consumer as they get paid when the settlement is finalized by the manufacturer. In short, they won't take your case unless they are confident you will win.

An attorney is definitely on my radar. I mentioned being advised by my attorney in one of my emails and my contact at Ford called me and said if I'm officially being represented, they stop talking to me and turn me over to their Legal Dept.

I'm going to give them one last shot at fixing it in a few days and see what happens.

 

[statix6900]

I just found this thread. I remote cold started my 2020 explorer st and then walked outside to find a huge plume of smoke surrounding my explorer... it sits nose up in my driveway...crap..

 

[kezell17]

My 22 will randomly do this on start-up. I park on a flat carport. I would like to believe that if it was the turbo seals then it would do it all the time, but I can go weeks in between times when it smokes. It has been at least 3-weeks since it has last puffed a little.

 

[l1tech]

My 22 will randomly do this on start-up. I park on a flat carport. I would like to believe that if it was the turbo seals then it would do it all the time, but I can go weeks in between times when it smokes. It has been at least 3-weeks since it has last puffed a little.

I am not the original of my ST but I saw it smoke when I started it at the dealership but I knew then what the issue was. For the next month or so after I bought it would only smoke about once a week then it progressed to every couple of days until finally it did it every day. This is one of those issues that starts off intermittently and them becomes permanent.

 

[kneedragger]

Well, after a few days, they have come back and said they replaced the drivers side turbo this time (pic attached of the old one) and stated it was caused by "a leaking seal on the turbo charger."

My customer care rep from Ford claimed they were going to send a tech to my dealership to assist with the repair but when I ask her questions about it, she's very evasive. The Service Manager won't answer my question either as to whether or not someone from Ford assisted. I should get it back today or tomorrow and we'll see what happens. This is swing number 4 for them which is the magic number here in MO.

I hope it's fixed correctly this time.

 

[boosted_st]

Well, after a few days, they have come back and said they replaced the drivers side turbo this time (pic attached of the old one) and stated it was caused by "a leaking seal on the turbo charger."

My customer care rep from Ford claimed they were going to send a tech to my dealership to assist with the repair but when I ask her questions about it, she's very evasive. The Service Manager won't answer my question either as to whether or not someone from Ford assisted. I should get it back today or tomorrow and we'll see what happens. This is swing number 4 for them which is the magic number here in MO.

I hope it's fixed correctly this time.

The driver side turbo does seem to the common cause of this now, with people being all set after it's replaced. Hopefully that is the case for you as well. I am another story and have engine #2 (this year) along with both turbos being replaced this time, I might actually get it back today finally (been almost 6 weeks again).

 

[statix6900]

Well after ford having my st for over a week they finally went outside to do a cold start. They claim it did not smoke on cold start after it smoked for me every day for a week...but now they are going to keep it longer to check on a recall to replace the driver side catalytic converter. the recall says it will Crack at the flange where it connects to the turbo. But only if they find cracking..

 

[hbalek]

Well after ford having my st for over a week they finally went outside to do a cold start. They claim it did not smoke on cold start after it smoked for me every day for a week...but now they are going to keep it longer to check on a recall to replace the driver side catalytic converter. the recall says it will Crack at the flange where it connects to the turbo. But only if they find cracking..

I just had this done on mine. The driver side cat was replaced and no more loud noise and exhaust fumes at cold start. I had put up with this for over a year or more. I feel like I traded in an old vehicle for a brand new one! I have just over 33,000 miles on mine. Sometimes you just have to keep after the dealer service especially if it's something they don't observe and have to do some close inspection.

 

[statix6900]

I just had this done on mine. The driver side cat was replaced and no more loud noise and exhaust fumes at cold start. I had put up with this for over a year or more. I feel like I traded in an old vehicle for a brand new one! I have just over 33,000 miles on mine. Sometimes you just have to keep after the dealer service especially if it's something they don't observe and have to do some close inspection.

Hopefully this is the case for mine!

 

[hbalek]

Hopefully this is the case for mine!

I have also not seen smoke after start on mine. My 2013 MKZ started to do this intermittently before I traded it in at 80K miles. I recall it was bluish white smoke.

 

[powerby50]

I wonder how many people actually check for this. I just looked at mine after coming across this and it doesn't immediately smoke, but then does for a little bit.

 

[JeffSpicoli]

It's super easy not to notice it. The wind must have been just barely blowing enough to make the smoke drift to my driver window the first time I noticed. Now I routinely remote start while watching. I too park my 2022 with 20k miles uphill slightly in the driveway. I'm in FL so temperature isn't a factor.

Seems to smoke less after days I've given it the mustard vs days just using it normal.

 

[hbalek]

It's super easy not to notice it. The wind must have been just barely blowing enough to make the smoke drift to my driver window the first time I noticed. Now I routinely remote start while watching. I too park my 2022 with 20k miles uphill slightly in the driveway. I'm in FL so temperature isn't a factor.

Seems to smoke less after days I've given it the mustard vs days just using it normal.

I do the same thing. I watch most times I start remotely and no smoke. Knock on wood! I have 36,000 miles

 

[Insite986]

Add another smoker to the list. My first thought was turbo seal, however now i've read this thread & see that on occasion, this does not resolve the issue. I have a question:

My Porsches will smoke on start up, but on occasion they do it a LOT. they use what Porsche calls an Oil Separator in the crankcase. it's job is to allow water vapor to exit boil off & exit the system. on occasion, the diaphragm in the oil separator will crack. this allows additional vacuum from the crankcase, directly to the engine intakes. when parked on an incline, the oil separators will ingest some oil. on start up, it get sucked into the intakes & burned immediately, resulting in a massive cloud of blue smoke that dissipates immediately.

The test for this is simple: remove the dipstick and check to see if there is significant vacuum pulled by the dipstick tube itself. if yes, replace the oil separator. sort of like PCV on steroids.

just putting this out there...

 

[JSalata]

I know this is an ST Forum, but after reading through the posts and replies I thought I would mention that my 2020 Explorer Platinum is having the same smoking on startup problems. Mine has to be parked on an incline for the issue to occur. I am going on week 3 at the dealership. They duplicated the problem, but can’t resolve the issue. Will post again if I get any good information.

Hello,
I'm having the exact same issue with my 2020 Platinum Explorer and it has been at the dealership for a month. Did you ever find out what was wrong with your vehicle.

Thanks

Jfsalata

 

[ryan.larkin]

I have the same thing with my 2021 ST and only happens parked nose up (my driveway is fairly steep). About 2-3 secs after start then 4-5 seconds of smoke out both exhausts then clear. I took once to the dealer and the returned it saying it was “normal” condensation. I took 20 videos and sent the car back. It’s now been at the dealer for 2 weeks and they can’t figure it out. I have a loaner explorer from them so not picking mine up until it stops smoking.