18-wheeler smoke screen

[markm]

Going down the highway the other day, I came up behind an 18-wheeler that was pouring bluish-white smoke out both stacks. It covered both lanes and actually was so thick it obscured your vision of the road. Any ideas what could have been wrong?

[pullinpower]

Sounds like he had a blown head gasket allowing coolant into the combustion chamber.

[c5dura]

I remember seeing a large charter bus in a city once that was smoking so bad that you literally could not see anything. I was driving through an intersection. A very scary experience. This smoke was grey/black as I recall, but it might have had some blue to it as well.

Several cops pulled him over within minutes. I have never experienced driving through something where you literally had to guess where you were. I didn't want to just stop since others were behind me and you could not see any of the stop lights, so nobody knew if it was their turn to go or not.

[biker Wayne]

Another idea. When a big truck diesel is cold, it puts out a lot of white colored smoke.

[Jelisfc]

Could be a million mile motor. Helped a buddy working at a truck stop to fuel a rig so we could get going quicker to a party. The guy hopped out said "Fill it with fuel, top of the radiator with water, about 5 gallons, and top off the oil, 4-5 gallons." I gave him a goofy look. He said it's got 700,000 miles on the engine and this is the last run before it goes in for it's first major. Besides the fuel I couldn't belive the amounts of water and oil I dumped into that engine. That truck smoked period. Out the stacks under the cab (cab over truck) everywhere.

[Kennedy]

Biker Wayne hit it. Could also be somewhat tired, but generally it takes a bit to get the temps up. Of course, the easier you can be on it until it warms up, the better, but it sounds like this guy was just horsing it...