Aloha, I've got a question and I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with this situation.
Yesterday I helped a friend recover a junked SUV from his property, we used a tow strap and pulled it about 200 yards in neutral. I used my ranger, 4.0l Sohc manual and had it in 4 low. While towing it out, I misjudged the strap length a couple times had ended up having a few hard yanks on the strap. It didn't stall the engine, but after we were done my next startup puffed out a decent amount of grey exhaust. I chalked it up to oil in the intake or unburned fuel but I cant stop thinking about it. Is there any way to damage an engine with a towing load impact? My drive home was fine, no gear noise and no NVH issues, also no smoke on startup this morning. I'm probably overthinking this, just wanted more informed opinions. Thanks!

 

No, you will be fine

On a manual trans it is best to keep the "jerks" to a minimum because its a direct connection along the driveline, no torque converter, and manuals just are not that strong

I would image the puff of smoke was from engine load prior to shut down, might of had a bit more blow-by oil vapor coming in to intake via PCV and breather during the pulling
And on re-start it showed up as smoke out the exhaust

So no engine damage, just higher load pressure than normal driving

Just FYI for towing another vehicle with a strap, have the driver of other vehicle hold their foot on the brakes so there is never slack in the strap, tell them "they are the brakes for both vehicles", they don't have to press hard on the pedal, lol, just keep enough resistance so strap stays tight
Or set e-brake on a bit, not tight just want some resistance

 

Mahalo, that's what I was hoping for. I'm doing driveline fluids soon so if there's any damage I'll see chunks :)