Grey smoke - lots of it!

[John Todd]

I hope someone can help as it's driving me to distraction. I have a 2005 KJ 2.8 CRD. It loses water slowly but I've never found out why.
Recently, though, if it isn't used for a day or two on first starting up it blows a lot of whitish smoke which disappears after a few minutes.
Yesterday, though, I started it up after not having used it for about a week. As soon as it started up it began to blow out light grey smoke from the exhaust which billowed down the road. And when I say billowed, it was impossible to see anything in the rear view mirror once I got moving, and it took about 3 miles before the smoke disappeared. After that the Jeep ran as well as usual. It has done 185k miles and is a UK rhd version.
Is it possible that water (antifreeze) is leaking into the exhaust system somewhere, and the longer the car isn't used the more the water accumulates? Or perhaps into the intake system? Incidentally there is no mayonnaise in the oil filler cap nor does the oil level in the sump increase.
Could it be connected in some way with the EGR?
Any and all ideas will be gratefully received.

 

[KJowner]

It's either a blown head gasket or if you are really lucky a leaking EGR cooler.

 

[John Todd]

Thanks for responding.
The best way to check if it’s the EGR?
How about if I disconnect the water pipes to the EGR and join them together temporarily (so bypass it) and then leave the Jeep for a couple of days to see if it doesn’t happen when I start it up?
Does that make any sense?

 

[KJowner]

Yes, that's about all you can do without pressure testing it.
Make sure you are using the correct HOAT antifreeze or you can have corrosion issues with the liners.