Whitish/Gray Smoke After Pulling Steep Hill

[lesndes]

We have 1989 Chieftain with a 454.  It is in pretty good shape.  The only real problem we have is when we pull a long-steep hill it will start seriously smoking after we crest the hill or a little before.  It will smoke a minute or two and then it is over.  It is not running hot, nor missing.  In fact we wouldn't even know about it (unless we caught it in our rear-view mirror) except we drive a second vehicle behind it when we travel. 

We want to fix this problem. 

Thanks,

[RV Mech Tech]

lesndes - it sounds like you may have developed an antifreeze leak into the cylinders - whitish/gray smoke is usually antifreeze leaking into a  cylinder and whitish/blue smoke is usually oil getting into a cylinder(s) and being burned -both of these are internal leaks - you can have the cooling system pressure checked to see if there is a leak that could possibly be a head gasket or even a cracked cylinder head and a pressure check will indicate this -  another possibility is a defective intake manifold gasket that allows antifreeze to be drawn into an intake port under load when the engine is working hard - I have seen a few of these that will not leak under light load but will start to leak when the engine is under a heavier load such as climbing a steep grade so have it checked out. 

[lesndes]

Thank you so much!!  It has been one of those things that has not happened often because we are not in the mountains often.  We will have it checked out.