OT: my F-150 has me worried

This weekend I noticed a 2-3 second puff of white smoke right after start-up, maybe every 3rd start. Also, now getting some light pre-ignition clatter. No "check engine" or "service engine" lights. Filled her up w/ gas twice this past week, no changes in gas mileage(15-16 mpg).

Is this one of those deals where it could be 20 different things, or will a can of seafoam fix me up?

Any opinions? Ideas?

Jeff

I don't know your computer and good luck on the snake oil fix.

If the snake oil don't do it (I use sea foam for various occasions myself) you might consider haveing the computer scanned like at an auto parts place for free.

Some computers can have codes in them, know in the old days as soft codes. They could be the result of an intermittent problem that will not fix a hard code and keep the service light on. My 99 is capable of doing that trick.

I would be careful of throwing parts at it but it would be in best interests if it were me to know what is going on.

I am assuming that you have all the service things up to date like air cleaner, oil, filter, etc.

Hang in there

One often starts to hear lifters complaining as the car approaches 100k miles. If the lifter is not working properly, it is possible that a valve is not closing completely, which allows oil to leak into the combustion chamber from above.

If the leak is slow enough (and they usually are) one sees a little puff of oil smoke at start up, which disappears after the oil burns off.

Check your plugs to see if one looks oily or carbon-fouled.