Blue smoke, rings or vlv guides, seals ?

[96ccdd]

I noticed over this past weekend I'm starting to get a little blue smoke from the drivers side exhaust. The motor was at operating temp and had been running for a few hours. What typically goes on the 6.2's, the valve seals like the Small Block Chevy? If so can I just install umbrella seals ? I only use the truck once a month to go wheeling.

Thanks

[More Power]

Worn valve guides are rarely the cause of oil consumption in these diesels. A gas engine pulls about 20" of vacuum on the intake valve at idle, but these diesels run without a throttle valve, so there's very little vacuum.

Smell the smoke. I suspect it is more likely to be fuel. A worn injector with a bad spray pattern or one that leaks (dribbles) fuel can cause a cylinder to smoke at idle.

Jim

[Robyn]

I agree with Jim 100% here.
I had an 84 blazer that would do this same thing.
Yank the injectors out and have them tested on a pop tester.

If the pop pressure gets too low the burn is horrible and the resultant dribbling, post injection, allows a small amount of fuel to fall into the hot cylinder and then get expelled into the exhaust as more or less unburned fuel.

A fresh set of squirts will very likely fix this issue but also facilitate easier starts and more power as well as better mileage.
Nozzles are only good under the best of conditions for about 100K miles.' Yes I know we all have seen engine with 250K on them and still running the original parts.
I have and have owned rigs that had the issue you talk of. My DaHooooley could stand a set of squirts too and probaly this summer I will do it.

Good luck

Robyn

[Robyn]

If you want to try a little experiment, dump a couple quarts of tranny fluid in the fuel tank as you top it off.
Run that though the little beast and see if the issue improves. Tranny oil has a buttload of detergents in it and will clean out a lot of sin.

This will not heal the issue but may allow you to see some improvement.
Many times the innards of the injectors get coated with crud that the detergents will disolve allowing a little better performance.

Expect to replace the squirts though for optimal function.

Robyn

[96ccdd]

Many thanks for the input. Now I know what direction to head, I will try the tranny fluid trick. This was an old farm truck and now I just use it for of roading so the fuel system is possibly a little cruddy.

Thanks
Mark